Joy Behar is briefly stepping away from The View to work on a passion project.
“You better tell people why I’m not [going to be on the show],” Behar, 83, shared on the Tuesday, May 26, episode of the “Behind the Table” podcast. “I fly to Paris this week, and then I go take the tunnel to London after a week, and I’ll be in London a second week doing my play, My First Ex-Husband, at the Boulevard Theatre in the West End. We have Jackie Hoffman and I [playing] the two American women talking, then we have two British actresses. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”
Because of Behar’s temporary hiatus from ABC’s daytime talk show, The View’s executive producer Brian Teta revealed that some guest cohosts will be stepping in to help.
“We’re going to have some folks filling in for you,” he shared. “Week one, we’ve already told people that Sheryl Underwood is coming for two days. Next week, we’re going to have [journalist] Kara Swisher, who is very funny, very smart. Ana [Navarro] will be here some days and Whoopi [Goldberg] will be on the Friday shows.”
Underwood, 62, who was previously a cohost of The Talk, made a positive impression on the audience when she briefly filled in for Alyssa Farah Griffin during her maternity leave.
Behar joked that she will be back in no time and warned viewers that producers “made me bank the weekend shows even though I’m not here.”
America’s most-watched daytime network talk show previously expanded into weekends with a new streaming series titled The Weekend View. The 30-minute show tackles various Hot Topics that weren’t covered during the week.
Before Behar takes a brief hiatus from The View, she will continue to voice her opinion on the daytime talk show for the week.
During the Wednesday, May 27, episode, Behar sounded off on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tackling two snakes at Dr. Mehmet Oz’s Florida house. She also weighed in on the debate as to whether it’s OK to speculate on President Donald Trump’s health.
One day earlier, Behar — who is an outspoken critic of Trump, 79 — made headlines when she slammed New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart for attending a political rally with the president.
“For somebody to back a guy like Trump, whose history of discrimination and racism goes back to housing discrimination in the ’70s, DEI attacks and posting pictures of the Obamas as apes — when he’s on a team that’s 55 percent or 60 percent of the NFL, that much percentage of Black people,” Behar shared on Tuesday’s show. “That is just the definition of stupidity and racist in my opinion.”
The View airs weekdays on ABC. Check your local listings online.
