Speed Reads
surprise!
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