Joy Behar celebrated her last day as a cohost of the long running and much celebrated show The View. To help transition Joy onto her new place on television, singer Tony Bennet, Television Personality Joan Rivers, and Morning Host Regis Philbin were there along with other guests to make the day special. The episode recounted the best moments in comedian Joy Behar’s tenure on The View, since the premier of the show in 1997.
The tribute had the theme of “this is your life†and showed clips of her with Bill O’Reilly, LL Cool J, Tom cruise, and Mathew McConaughey. Various clips of Behar greeting famous stars in her own way were on screen, while stars dished about Joy’s past and sunny personality. Joan Rivers commented that the thing she loves most about Joy is that they share things in common, they are both grandmothers. Among other famous stars that came into the party to give Joy a wonderful send off were Alan Alda, Susie Essman, Aziz Ansari, Debbie Reynolds, and Steve Martin. Tony Bennet performed “the good life†in her honor and there was a lovely white cake with red roses at the farewell.
The View commented “Joy Behar has been instrumental in the success of The View from the very beginning. We wish her all the best in this next chapter, and are thrilled that we have her for the remainder of the season.†Behar’s rep confirmed the news and added that Joy felt that 17 years was enough. She loved the show but wanted to do something new, a brand new venture in the upcoming months. Joy herself commented that she wanted to finish the play she was writing, and come back to standup- that there are other things that she loves and wants to continue.
Finally Mrs. Behar commented on her transition from The View, “I do like talk shows, I’m interested in talking to people. I want to do an intelligent talk show where you have room to breathe.â€