Regis Philbin’s TV debut was as a doorman.
The 82-year-old Fox Sports talk-show host got his start as an NBC page on the “Tonight Show With Steve Allen,” he told guests at the 80th anniversary party for the network’s famed page program Wednesday night at Rock Center Cafe, hosted by NBCUniversal chief Steve Burke.
Philbin revealed how he was caught on camera holding a door open for Eddie Fisher. When he told his mother, she was more concerned with where Fisher was headed than with Regis’ TV debut.
Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, Brian Williams, Al Roker, Hoda Kotb and Carl Quintanilla joined the party, which had entertainment from the “Peacockapellas” — the NBC page a capella group.