Larry King misses TV, plans next gig

By Cindy Clark, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON ? Larry King is anything but retired.

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  By Michael Schwartz, WireImage

  Larry King, pictured recently at an event in Hollywood, hit Washington, D.C., to raise money for his cardiac charity.

By Michael Schwartz, WireImage

Larry King, pictured recently at an event in Hollywood, hit Washington, D.C., to raise money for his cardiac charity.

In fact, he's found himself to be busier than ever these days. The 77-year-old former host of CNN's Larry King Live spent the weekend throwing out the opening pitch at the National's game, catching up with friends and raising money for a cause that is very close to his heart. "I never thought it would last this way," says King of his charity, the Larry King Cardiac Foundation.

"We've treated over 1,525 individual people," said King on Saturday evening at a VIP reception held at the Ritz-Carlton shortly before An Evening with Larry King and Friends began. The annual gala, which featured American Idol's Nigel Lythgoe and a roof-raising performance by Mary J. Blige, raised over $1 million for his foundation, which provides funding for life-saving cardiac procedures to individuals in need. King had a heart attack 24 years ago, when "I was still in diapers," quipped his wife Shawn Southwick-King, 51. She serves as chairperson for the foundation.

"I have less free time," says King, who retired from Larry King Live in December after 25 years on the air. The couple say there are working on a new business venture together. "I've never had business meetings (before)," says King. He's keeping mum on the project, and will only say it is "international in scope."

He does, however, admit to missing his nightly show. "I do," says King. "I miss it when there's a big event. I missed Japan, I missed Egypt, Mubarak. I interviewed Mubarak, I interviewed Gaddafi?I have a lot of contacts, and I would have liked to been on."

What he doesn't miss is the celebrity news grind. "I don't miss tabloid stuff," says King. For instance, Charlie Sheen's recent shenanigans "would not fascinate me.?I would have had him (Sheen) on (the show) once, but I wouldn't have had panel discussions. I never liked pop psychology, I never liked psychologists analyzing people they don't know. We had to do that and I never enjoyed it, and I never bought it in my own mind. Because I don't think you can analyze someone you don't know."

His retirement has given him a chance to spend more time with his two young sons with Southwick-King, Chance, 12, and Cannon, 10. "I'm coaching the kids," says King of his son's baseball games. "In fact, I am missing tomorrow's game. But they'll keep me posted."

The couple, who split briefly last year, has put that firmly in the past. "We get away," says Southwick-King. "Larry and I took a drive up the coast for two weeks this year. We would have never ever done it unless I said we must go." And had he still been working on Live, "it wouldn't have been possible."

Southwick-King says it was jarring at first when King stepped down from his show. "When the show ended and the first few weeks?it was a huge change," she says. "People underestimate what a huge change it is. I was taking him to movies, just keeping him busy because otherwise it was crazy for me. Who is this person in my home? It's not that I don't love him, it just messes up the routine."

A routine, it seems, has since been established and the pair seem quite happy to be working together. "I've never emailed," says King. "She emails. She Twitters. I dictate it to her. I've never typed a Twitter. I don't know how to do the whole thumbs thing."

He does know how to entertain, and in May will will kick off a one-man comedy tour ? expect "lots of funny stuff." He also jokes that he might be partnering up with his friend Regis Philbin, who will soon retire from Live With Regis and Kelly. "Someone suggested to me that Regis and I do a show together ? from a nursing home!"

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