The Reeg is a lifer.
The folks behind the Daytime Emmys have announced plans to fete Regis Philbin with a lifetime achievement award.
"Regis Philbin has perfected the unscripted, spontaneous banter that has now become a staple of the talk-show genre," said Peter Price, president of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. "Dozens of shows have tried to duplicate it over the years, but no one does it better than Regis."
The prolific boob-tube personality will take a break from yakking it up on ABC's Live with Regis and Kelly to pick up the hardware at the 35th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards, which will air live June 20 on the Alphabet net from Hollywood's Kodak Theatre.
Philbin and cohort Kelly Ripa cracked wise about the kudo on air Tuesday. Ripa ribbed her pal, saying he was only chosen for the honor because their talk show "is never going to be good enough to win"—Live scored seven consecutive Emmy nods for Outstanding Talk Show from 2000 to 2006 but was always an Emmy bridesmaid.
"That's kind of what it sounds like," cracked Philbin, adding that at 76, his career now has nowhere to go but down and he's now ready to "go slowly into oblivion."
But he did seem touched by the trophy, saying it was "quite a thrill" to learn of the award and that he appreciates it "very, very much."
Over his four-decade career, Philbin served as second banana to Joey Bishop on The Joey Bishop Show before hitting his stride as a morning man. Joking aside, he does have three Daytimes Emmys in his collection: one for hosting Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, one for hosting Live and one for his work covering Walt Disney World's Christmas Day Parade special in 2006.
Philbin moonlighted as emcee of ABC's Oscar red carpet coverage last month and is set for a prime-time return as host of another game show, CBS' Million Dollar Password, debuting this summer.