Aurora Starchild
Joy Behar just revealed the reason why Good Morning America fired her. While speaking with Kumail Nanjiani on The View, the topic came up in the context of Chippendales. “I’m familiar with Chippendales,” said Behar.
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Joy Behar Was Fired From Good Morning America But Given a Sweet Goodbye Present
Behar explained that she was fired from Good Morning America because she was “the worst receptionist they’ve ever had.” But despite being fired, the show gave her a goodbye present. And that goodbye present was a trip to Chippendales.
“So, let’s talk about Welcome to Chippendales,” Behar started. Nanjiani is starring in the TV miniseries, which just premiered this month. The show is about “the origin story of Somen ‘Steve’ Banerjee, an Indian American entrepreneur who started the stripper troupe, Chippendales.”
“First of all, I’d like to say that, when I was fired from Good Morning America, years ago — I was the worst receptionist they’ve ever had. True story,” said Behar. “So, I was fired. And they took me to Chippendales as my goodbye present. And you put the money in the guys’ thingy there, and it’s fabulous. Anyways. So, I’m familiar with Chippendales.”
“So, that was a good and a bad day for you,” Nanjiani chimed.
“It was a great day all around, believe me,” said Behar.
“You lost a job, but you get something more,” joked Nanjiani.
“No, I liked both of those things,” Behar assured.
Joy Behar’s Been Fired from The View But Now Is Its Longest-Running Host
Behar has spoken candidly to Time Magazine about being fired in the past. She was once fired from The View in 2013. Behar said she was “glad” it happened.
“I was glad to be fired,” she told Time. “I basically was sick of the show at that point for some reason, I don’t even remember why.” She’s been on The View since 1997.
At that point, Behar had already tried her hand at a couple of other shows, HLN’s The Joy Behar Show and Current TV’s Joy Behar: Say Anything!, neither of which lasted long on the air. Then she was on TLC’s Late Night Joy, which was pulled after five episodes in 2015. Miraculously, Behar ended up back on The View that same year. But this time, it was as a full-time host. And she’s done a fabulous job, as Behar is one of the first people that comes to mind with the show and its longest-running host.
Behar Knows Having a Microphone Is Power
Behar also told Time that she sees a power in being able to speak her mind on TV.
“You have a power when you have that microphone,” she said. “People don’t like it. They don’t like it that I’m a powerful person on The View, saying things that they don’t like, but I’m sorry, that is where I’m at. I’m a powerful person on The View; I was a powerful person as a comedian holding a microphone. Too bad.”
Indeed, Behar is a powerful woman. While her popularity ratings are about equal to her dislike ratings, according to YouGov America, about 78% of people have heard of her. And she gets to hold her microphone 5 days a week for about an hour a day. That’s 15,600 minutes a year, although The View does take summer breaks. So, some of those minutes are re-runs, but people still get to hear Behar’s opinions most days of the year.
And on a side note, how bad could Behar have been on Good Morning America if they brought her to Chippendales?
Welcome to Chippendales Is a “True-Crime” Story
Nanjiani went on to explain the origin story of Chippendales. He plays Banerjee, who founded the dancing troupe. Apparently, the story involves a lot of crime and murder.
“Will your family be watching this? Because it’s a little X-rated, isn’t it? Or, R,” asked Behar.
“Well, the last text I got from my mom was, ‘watching,’ and then it’s been radio silence,” Nanjiani said. He then said that Banerjee was an Indian immigrant and that he himself didn’t know the story until he became involved in the show.
“A lot of wild stuff happened behind the scenes,” said Nanjiani. Like, people got murdered over Chippendales. He was setting fire to other male strip clubs because he thought other people were stealing his ideas.” He added that his character is a bit of a “bad guy” and a “dark character,” contrasting from his past work which was often centered in comedy.
Co-host Sonny Hostin then said she’d been to Chippendales quite a few times with her girlfriends. “It was amazing,” she quipped.
Chippendales Is the World’s Most Successful Male Strip Club
The club was established in Los Angeles in 1979 but now has additional locations in New York and Las Vegas. It’s primary audience demographic is women, making it unique in the strip club world. Chippendales dance troupes also tour around the world.
Welcome to Chippendales was inspired by the book Deadly Dance: The Chippendales Murders. It’s produced by Robert Siegel and Kumail Nanjiani. A Hulu press release describes its synopsis as “a sprawling true-crime saga” and “outrageous story” about the “unlikely founder of the world’s greatest male-stripping empire” who “[lets] nothing stand in his way.”
Welcome to Chippendales premiered November 22 with back-to-back episodes on Hulu. New episodes come out every Tuesday with 8 episodes slotted for season 1.
