Larry King's Leaving CNN Show

Larry King, 76, made the announcement on Twitter that he would be ending his Larry King Live interview show this fall after 25 years on the air -- and less than 25 minutes later, it was already the punchline of Twitter jokesters.

Most popular was the speculation that someone even more "experienced" might replace him; Dick Clark, for instance, or Jermaine Jackson. One punchline will surely be repeated on the late-night shows that will, until later this year, follow King's nightly appearance: "You guys, this thing about Larry King retiring is a hoax. He's been dead since 1993."

Part of CNN's Primetime Lineup

Instead of the show that has been a feature of CNN's primetime lineup for decades, King will host occasional "specials on major national and international subjects," he wrote on his network blog.

In the statement, he remembers his first-ever episode of Larry King Live, whose guest was then-New York Governor Mario Cuomo, and writes that he is "incredibly proud that we recently made the Guinness Book of World Records for having the longest running show with the same host in the same time slot."

King wrote that he wanted to have "more time for my wife, and I to get to the kids' little league games," which prompted another joke referencing his famously frequent divorces. A few months ago, in fact, he and his seventh wife announced they were reconciling, preventing his eighth divorce. (He married and divorced one of his wives twice.)