“Live with Kelly” … from Fort McPherson?
Kelly Ripa’s reinvention of herself as a suddenly single talk show host continued Friday with the unveiling of a new “summer beach house” set.
“It’s because we have no budget to travel anywhere,” Ripa told guest Tyler Perry about the cool-yet-obviously-fake backdrop that features a table and chairs, sand and a screen shot of rippling ocean waves.
“So you bring the beach to you, I love it,” Perry chuckled. “I love it, the (overhead) fan and all.”
Two weeks had passed since Ripa's co-host Michael Strahan had officially bolted for a fulltime gig on "Good Morning America," setting off a who-really-done-who-wrong drama. Since then, the show's been renamed "Live with Kelly" and brought in different male co-hosts every day, some of whom may be auditioning for the gig fulltime. On Friday, it was Andy Cohen, host of his own late night Bravo TV talk show and a close bud of Ripa's, who filled the ex-Strahan chair.
“So, you’re still in Atlanta, (where) you have a massive, massive compound … ?” Cohen quizzed Perry, who was there to promote his role in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2,” which opens in theaters this Thursday.
"You haven't seen the new place," Perry interjected, then went on to explain he'd recently bought much of the former Fort McPherson Army base in southwest Atlanta for the new site of his Tyler Perry Studios.
"Wait, you bought an Army base as a television studio?" Ripa marveled.
“Yeah, it’s pretty incredible, ” Perry responded.
“Can we move there?” Ripa asked. “It sounds so nice.”
Perry smiled like the cat who’d swallowed the New York canary.
"I'd love it," he chuckled. "And listen, I would actually put in a real beach and sand for you. And a fan."
Ripa looked like she was already packing up the “Live” studio in her head.
"I like the way you think!" she told Perry as the audience burst into applause.
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