Watch a shellshocked Steve Kornacki take over Hardball after MSNBC's Chris Matthews retires on-air

Longtime Hardball host Chris Matthews made his own news on Monday night's show, announcing his retirement, effective immediately. After a commercial break, MSNBC's Steve Kornacki came on, apparently as surprised as viewers that he was taking over the rest of the show.

As Kornacki addressed the camera in apparent shock, the female NBC News staffers on the other side of the glass wall behind laughed, ate, and smiled as they worked. "We're not going to have any bells or whistles here," Kornacki said after paying brief homage to Matthews. "We do have to fill the rest of this hour. We're going to take a quick break and come back with today's news."

You can watch Matthews' brief farewell below. Peter Weber

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up