Regis doing well after heart bypass surgery, co-host says

New York – Kelly Ripa says Regis Philbin, her co-host on “Live With Regis and Kelly,” is in good shape after having heart bypass surgery this week.

Ripa said Philbin, 75, came through his surgery Wednesday with flying colors.

“He is already up joking around with the nurses and the doctors and harassing people and picking on people,” Ripa said. The doctor “told us what we already knew: that Regis Philbin has the heart of a 19-year-old.”

Ripa, 36, said she plans to keep her promise to give Philbin some special attention: a sponge bath.

“I’m so thrilled that you’re feeling better,” she said, “and nursie-poo is coming with her sponge!”

Philbin said on Monday’s show that he was having the surgery because “there’s some plaque in some arteries and I’ve got to get it cleaned out.”

‘Survivor’ winner Hatch says prison life ‘horrendous’

New York – Richard Hatch, who won $1 million on the first season of “Survivor,” says being in prison for failing to pay taxes on his reality TV prize and other income is no day at the beach.

Hatch, who became known as the “naked fat guy” for refusing to wear clothes for much of the CBS show, was convicted last year. He was sentenced to 51 months in prison, and is at the Federal Correctional Institution in Morgantown, W.Va., a minimum security facility.

“Obviously, this is better than the county lockup,” Hatch tells People magazine in its March 26 issue. “There’s no fence here. But people think I’ve come to a country club. It’s not. This is prison. Just because it’s got a beautiful view of the countryside doesn’t make it a resort. And it’s horrendous because I’m an innocent man in jail.”

Following his conviction, Hatch says he spent “six horrendous months” at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility in Plymouth, Mass.

“We were all in a small room – 52 people: child molesters, murderers, rapists and me,” he recalls. “For six months I never left that room. There were no doors, no privacy. There were two TVs in that room, so I lived all day long with ‘Jerry Springer’ blaring.”

Internet sites spread false rumor of Sinbad’s death

Miami – Actor-comedian Sinbad had the last laugh after his Wikipedia entry announced he was dead, the performer said Thursday.

Rumors began circulating March 10 regarding the posting, said Sinbad, who first heard about it from his daughter. The gossip quieted, but a few days later the 50-year-old entertainer said the phone calls, text messages and e-mails started pouring in by the hundreds.

“Saturday I rose from the dead and then died again,” the Los Angeles-based entertainer said in a phone interview.

The St. Petersburg-based nonprofit organization, which describes itself as “the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit,” leaves it to a vast user community to catch factual errors and other problems. Apparently, someone edited it to say Sinbad died of a heart attack. By the time the error was caught, e-mail links of the erroneous page had been forwarded to hundreds of people.

A note on Sinbad’s Wikipedia page Thursday night said the site has been temporarily protected from editing to deal with vandalism.

Burnett files $2M suit for ‘Family Guy’ cleaning woman

Los Angeles – Carol Burnett has filed a $2 million copyright infringement lawsuit against 20th Century Fox, claiming her cleaning woman character was portrayed on the animated series “Family Guy.”

The U.S. District Court lawsuit, which was filed Thursday, said the Fox show didn’t have the 73-year-old comedian’s permission to include her cleaning woman character, Charwoman, in an April 2006 episode.

The episode shows Charwoman as a porno-shop maid, and it uses what the lawsuit called an “altered version” of Burnett’s theme music. The characters in the show also perform Burnett’s signature ear tug, the lawsuit said.

The studio said it was surprised by the lawsuit over what amounted to about an 18-second scene.

“‘Family Guy,’ like ‘The Carol Burnett Show,’ is famous for its pop culture parodies and satirical jabs at celebrities. We are surprised that Ms. Burnett, who has made a career of spoofing others on television, would go so far as to sue ‘Family Guy’ for a simple bit of comedy,” said 20th Century Fox Television spokesman Chris Alexander.