cover image I'm Only One Man!

I'm Only One Man!

Regis Philbin. Hyperion, $22.45 (286pp) ISBN 978-0-7868-6154-5

The morning talk show Live with Regis and Kathie Lee has been so successful in building a huge base of loyal fans that it requires no crystal ball to predict that Regis's account of the year 1994 in his life will sell very well. With gentle, self-deprecating humor, the performer, assisted by freelancer Zehme, recalls his youth in the Bronx, his education at Notre Dame, his early years on TV in San Diego and Los Angeles, his stint as second banana to comic Joey Bishop and his eventual triumph in New York. He relates many anecdotes about his friends among the famous and the lesser-known and about working with co-star Kathie Lee Gifford and producer Michael Gelman, who serves as his mock whipping boy on camera. And he describes the almost incredibly frantic pace of his daily existence, aptly referring to himself as a ``commercial machine.'' Still, as he notes, after a long climb, his life is ``pretty darn good.'' Photos not seen by PW. (Sept.)