NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa filled most of a city block beside the Mississippi River with devoted fans Monday, taking their syndicated talk show to New Orleans where they danced to a brass band and spoke of adventures touring alligator-infested swamps and sampling spicy Cajun fare.The hosts arrived days ahead of the Monday and Tuesday taping of “Live with Regis and Kelly,” readying four consecutive shows to be aired through Thursday. On Friday, they return to their New York studio.Philbin said he ate his way through four succulent New Orleans restaurants. Ripa, her actor husband Mark Consuelos and their three children took a boat tour of a south Louisiana swamp where they eyed alligators and wild boar.”The weekend was very exciting,” Philbin said after Monday’s show, which included guests Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets and celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse. Megan Joy, the latest castoff of the Fox reality show “American Idol,” also performed.This is the fifth time the show has gone to New Orleans. “Live with Regis and Kelly” last came to New Orleans in May 2007, when Philbin and Ripa helped volunteers build playground equipment at an elementary school damaged by Hurricane Katrina two years before.”We love it here,” said Ripa, who took a weekend streetcar ride with her family and visited the Aquarium of the Americas and the Audubon Insectarium with her three children.Ripa also spent time with actress Faith Ford, a Louisiana native, who starred with Ripa in the sitcom “Hope & Faith,” which aired for three seasons on ABC from 2003 to 2006. Ford took Ripa out for fried chicken and pralines.Footage of Philbin visiting a tattoo shop is scheduled to air later this week. Philbin told viewers he wants a tattoo, but it wasn’t clear Monday whether he would go through with it, leaving audiences in more than 200 markets nationwide in suspense.Some waited hours to see the live taping, filling almost a city block along New Orleans’ Fulton Street.”I’ve been waiting at least four hours,” said Eliska Guidry, 29, wrapped in a blanket against an unseasonable cold snap Monday.Guests for the rest of the week included Reggie Bush, a star running back with the New Orleans Saints; teen sensation Miley Cyrus and her father, country music singer Billy Ray Cyrus; actor Harry Hamlin; and singer and actor Jesse McCartney.—–Contact The Daily Reveille news staff at [email protected]