Joy Behar returns to work as Good Morning America receptionist 43 years after being fired

Joy Behar took a trip down memory lane on Friday, Nov. 14’s episode of The View, returning to her first job at ABC in honor of Good Morning America’s 50th anniversary.

Long before becoming a comedian and a mainstay on daytime television, Ms. Behar worked as a receptionist at GMA from 1979 to 1982. She first worked as a general receptionist, then moved to the field department, but was eventually fired. She has been joking about this for years.

During Friday’s segment, Behar, 83, took viewers through her early days at the network.

“I think what makes a good receptionist is to be polite and have a malicious voice. You have to be quick-witted, you have to be efficient. You have to be fun to be around,” she said, then quipped, “I didn’t have those qualities.”

“That didn’t stop me from taking a job as a receptionist in 1979,” she added.

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Behar said the phones at the time were a constant mess. “People have been calling me asking all kinds of questions that I can’t answer,” she said. “The calls ranged from, ‘Can you give me the Julia Childs soufflé recipe?’ ‘Where’s Joan Landen?'”

Lunden, a former GMA anchor, also vividly remembered those days. “One day my assistant came up to me and said, ‘Joan, I just heard her answering your line, and she turned to someone who didn’t know who was on the other end of the line and said, ‘Oh, Joan Landen is breastfeeding somewhere in here,’ because I was breastfeeding my child at the time,” Landen recalled with a laugh. “I thought it was quite interesting.”

ABC News senior executive producer David Sloan agreed: “[Joy]would answer the phone, and she’d text me a message, and it had a six-digit number written on it,” he recalled. “I said, ‘Joy, your phone number is seven digits.’ Without apologies, she’d say, ‘What!’ ”

Behar joked that she had no intention of staying long. “You know, as far as I’m concerned, they were lucky to have me there,” she said. “They didn’t want to hold me back because they knew I was planning on bigger and better things. That’s Spin.”

Ms. Sloan added with a laugh. “We finally let her go. She took all her office supplies.”

So for Friday’s anniversary celebration, Behar offered to take on the job once again. “I’m going to go back to GMA and work as a receptionist for the day. Who doesn’t like a side job?” She deadpanned. “By the way, do you get paid for this?”

When she returned to her desk, she quickly fell into old habits. One of the callers asked if I had the frittata recipe that Rocco DiSpirito had previously shared. “No, sorry, that’s not true. You can find it online,” Behar replied, hanging up the phone and returning to her crossword puzzle.

Then, GMA’s Chief Meteorologist and Chief Climate Correspondent Ginger Gee stopped by with a request. “Could you please make sure to type this note for the weather meeting?” Gee asked.

“Type?” Behar shot back. “I wouldn’t do that. I’m not a very good typist.”

“That’s easy,” Gee said.

“I’ll leave it to the intern,” Behar said, handing the assignment to GMA’s weekend co-anchor Gio Benitez. “She threw this at me,” Behar said. “Please type that and give it to Ginger!”

This segment also featured surprise cameos from Marilu Henner and Will Reeve. Will Reeve innocently asked Behar if he could order lunch. Instead, he received a different kind of instruction.

“I want to help you, but I can’t leave my seat,” she told him. “I keep getting these calls. So what I would suggest is that you go to the fridge over there. There’s a ‘George Stephanopoulos’ sandwich in the fridge.” Eat it. ”

“I…I hope he doesn’t mind,” a nervous Reeve replied. “I’ll tell you Joy told me.”

Eventually, after many phone calls, Behar decided she had had enough. “No, that’s it,” she said. “I’m getting out of here. I won’t answer.”

Before leaving, she did exactly what Sloan remembered. She pulled out her tote bag and started sweeping out the things on her desk. As her surprised assistant tries to stop her, she says, “I’m setting up a home office and could use some of these supplies.” “They don’t need this. And what’s important is, look at this amazing thing!”

As the other receptionist reached for the phone, Behar shared her final tip. “If you don’t answer, the call will stop.”

On her way home, she grabbed a small tinsel Christmas tree. “This works for me, too,” Behar said. “It was fun, goodbye!”

“It’s not even two o’clock yet!” her former colleague yelled back.

The View and Good Morning America air weekdays on ABC.