Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers pay tribute to Regis Philbin: 'He was the king of New York'

Though only a few late-night talk shows aired Monday night, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers made sure to take a moment in honor of Regis Philbin, the TV host who died at the age of 88 on Friday.

On The Tonight Show, Fallon called Philbin "the king of New York." "When I started to become famous on Saturday Night Live and people would ask, 'What's it like when people recognize you on the street?' I would be like, 'I feel like Regis,'" he said from the NBC studio. "And everyone understood that and there was no need for explanation because he was the king of New York."

Philbin was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show and even got his start as a page on the program back in the days when Steve Allen was host in the '50s. Fallon, who grew up in an Irish family, remarked how Philbin never forgot his Irish roots. "We got to know each other pretty well," he said. "He'll be remembered as a genuinely nice person; a funny human; a good husband, father, and grandfather. And he always had that smile and when Irish eyes are smiling, they'll steal your heart away."

Meyers, speaking from his at-home Late Night desk, also shared memories from his meetings with Philbin.

"It was a delight how he was exactly the same in person as he was on television," he recalled. "The most amazing thing about Regis wasn't his contagious enthusiasm, it was how many years he maintained that contagious enthusiasm."

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