Whether she’s denouncing ’90s fashion or schooling Gen-Zers on rotary phones, Kelly Ripa sure does love a good Kelly-splain. During this morning’s episode of Live with Kelly and Mark, the longtime co-host left her seat at the desk to demonstrate to a young audience member how people used to capture video back in the day.
Mark Consuelos brought up the conversation as he recalled a story about Ripa’s first pregnancy when he used a camcorder to take a video of her while she was asleep. But before he could get further into his story, he called out to any kids in the audience who may be confused over the vintage device.
“There’s a kid right here,” Ripa said, pointing to a lucky audience member. “We used to have cameras. A machine. I’m talking to you, yes. We’re talking to you. Young person. Hi, I’m Kelly.”
Ripa then rose from her seat and ventured over to the first row, where a young boy was sitting with his family. She pointed to the cameras in the Live studio and acted out how camcorders of that nature were once used in everyday life.
“So back in the day, before you were born. This was like on your shoulder and you would photograph your children like this. With a giant camera. Have you heard about this?” she asked, to which the child innocently replied, “Yes, I have.”
But Ripa couldn’t stop there. Still standing in front of the boy, she recited a laundry list of old technology that he’ll never have to encounter.
“We used to have phones attached to walls. It was crazy,” she said. “You would’ve been the remote control in our house. You’d be standing next to the television and I’d be like, ‘No, I don’t want to watch that. Keep going, keep going, keep going.’ And sometimes, if the TV was fuzzy, you would have to take the antenna and like [adjust it].”
Ripa added, “So yeah, kids used to work.”
Meanwhile, Consuelos jumped in with his own recollection from the past.
“And then cable came along!” he said. “You’d have these Rated R channels your parents wouldn’t pay for but they were scrambled. My left eye still doesn’t work. Because every now and then you’d catch something [on the screen].”
Live with Kelly and Mark airs on weekdays. You can find local listings on their website.