Andy Richter Bashes Leno, NBC on 'Live with Regis & Kelly'

Andy Richter bashed Jay Leno and how NBC handled the Tonight Show incident while filling in for Regis Philbin on Live with Regis & Kelly.

Andy Richter was filling in for Regis Philbin on Live with Regis & Kelly when Kelly Ripa prompted the former Tonight Show sidekick with the question of whether or not he harbors any ill will towards Jay Leno to which he replied, “Ah, yes, yes I do. Why wouldn’t I?”

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Richter explained his feelings towards Leno saying,  “I’ve got to be careful, I do. I have children. I still need work. But it’s very frustrating, when somebody says — and especially when they’re on videotape — and say, I’m going to take this number one show and hand it over and hope the next guy makes it the number one show, and then doesn’t.”

From there Richter got a little more scathing, saying of Jay, “he says I didn’t have any choice, they wouldn’t let me out of my contract. You know how multimillionaires are always being forced to do things they don’t want to do. I’ve calmed down about it.”

But Richter also gave some insight into the logistics the Tonight show mess, “I thought, oh, I’ll have time on the ‘Tonight Show,’ That’s as good as it gets. I’m a tenured professor of show business now. I guess I’m really good at getting kicked off the air cause that’s what I’ve been doing for the last 10 years.”

Ripa commented, "I feel your fans need more, they want more."