Times Square Gossip

Talk Show Star And Friend Regis Philbin Getting Better TV veteran Regis Philbin is "recovering well" just a week after undergoing a triple heart bypass operation. The talk show host was admitted to the Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City on March 14, but early Friday took time to contact his co-host on "Live! With Regis and Kelly," Kelly Ripa, to inform viewers he is on the mend. Seventy-five-year-old Philbin conceded he is in pain following the surgery -- especially when he sneezes -- but remains positive he will soon make a full recovery. He says, "Well, you know, I think I'm through the worst of it. I guess I was a little unprepared for, you know, the first week and what they actually do to make this thing happen -- and so, some of it came as quite a shock. "Other than that, I'm dancing, I'm having fun. Last night I was yelling -- I'm a little embarrassed to tell you this -- but I was yelling, 'I haven't had sex in thr...

Daytime television host Regis Philbin was cracking jokes with nurses a day after heart surgery, co-host Kelly Ripa told the "Live with Regis and Kelly" audience on Thursday. Philbin announced on the show on Monday that he would undergo open-heart surgery to clear out plaque in his arteries that had caused chest pains and shortness of breath. Ripa said Philbin, 75, had bypass surgery on Wednesday morning and is already "up and joking around with nurses." Philbin, former host of the hit game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," has been a national morning TV fixture since 1989, first with Kathie Lee Gifford and since 2001 with Ripa.

Regis Philbin And Kelly Ripa Regis Philbin, co-host of "Live With Regis and Kelly," announced on Monday's show that he will have heart bypass surgery this week. "Well, listen, I gotta tell you something. ... I had been feeling chest pains, you know, and, uh, shortness of breath and all those little symptoms that you hear about," Philbin, 75, told his TV audience. After a number of tests, doctors recommended bypass surgery. Philbin said he was hoping to have angioplasty because "you know, you get in - bang, bang, bang - they blow it open and you leave the next day." But, he said, "there's some plaque in some arteries and I've got to get it cleaned out." He's not looking forward to the surgery. "Darn it, I don't want to do it," Philbin said. "Nobody wants to do it, I guess. And I had a second opinion, I did all those things, and so they're all in agreement that it should be the bypass. And so that's what ...