"Enough Already": Gene Shalit Bids Farewell to Today With Blurb-Friendly Sound Bite

Pun-loving film critic is putting down his pen after nearly four decades on NBC talk show

The man, the hair, the hyperbole...is saying goodbye to TV.

Gene Shalit, the pun-loving film critic and author with the famous handlebar mustache, is calling it quits after nearly four decades on NBC's Today show, effective Nov. 11.

Shalit, 85, confirmed his retirement in a pithy statement released by his publicist, saying "it's enough already," adding that after years of offering up advertising-friendly sound bites for movie trailers, he's moving on to "pursue other activities" in publishing, radio, commercials and the Internet.

"The Mustache" joined Today in 1973. During his tenure, he critiqued movies and conducted scores of celebrity interviews while working alongside a slew of news legends, among them Barbara Walters, Tom Brokaw and Jane Pauley.

Today will air a 40-year retrospective salute to Shalit on Thursday.