Kelly Ripa Gives an Update on Live! With Kelly's Co-Host Search

Live! With Kelly viewers can expect more guest co-hosts in the show’s future.

Andy Cohen invited pals Anderson Cooper and Kelly Ripa on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live Wednesday, and naturally, the talk turned to whether Live! With Kelly is closer to narrowing its search for Michael Strahan‘s replacement. Responding to a caller, Ripa said, “We really didn’t set a time frame for ourselves. We just wanted to wait until we found the right person. What we didn’t anticipate was that we would have such an outpouring of interest, so our list got very long very quickly. We’ve been trying to keep it as narrow as possible, but then people pop up.”

That was an understatement.

Both Cohen and Cooper have appeared co-hosted Live! With Kelly, though neither wants to the job full-time. Since Strahan’s sudden departure in the spring, Michael Bublé, Mark Consuelos, Josh Groban, Joel McHale, Jerry O’Connell, Fred Savage, Christian Slater and Jussie Smollett have appeared as guest co-hosts. Upcoming guest co-hosts include Corbin Bleu (Dec. 5), Ilana Glazer (Dec. 6), Octavia Spencer (Dec. 7), Scott Wolf (Dec. 8) and Taraji P. Henson (Dec. 9).

Ripa loves bringing on a variety of guest co-hosts. “We’ve had a great time. I have to say, I feel really lucky and really embarrassed at our good fortune,” she said. “It’s a fun job to begin with.”

Cooper was in agreement, telling Ripa, “It’s the best job.”

Regardless of his interest, Cooper was one of the front runners. “Anderson re-signed with CNN, but he would have been your No. 1 pick, right Kelly?” Cohen asked. Ripa responded, “He’s my life. He really is. He’s the one that got away and keeps getting away and gets away all the time.”

During the after-show, a viewer called in to ask if it’s true that Live! With Kelly is planning to relocate from New York City to the West Coast once a co-host is chosen. “I have not heard that rumor. That sounds like a rumor I would start, but I did not hear that rumor and I can’t imagine [it would happen]. We’d have to do the show at 6 a.m. and getting guests to come on at 9 a.m. can be challenging,” Ripa, 46, told the viewer. “So, 6 a.m., I think would be out of the question.”

(E! and Bravo are both members of the NBCUniversal family.)