It’s Live with Kelly and Mark… and Gelman, of course.

Widely referred to by his last name by co-hosts Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, Live viewers, and the show’s starry guest lineup alike, executive producer Michael Gelman is a familiar face to those tuning in to Live at home, often being called upon by the co-hosts during their daily host chat. But production on the beloved syndicated daytime talk show is obviously not a one-man job, though you might be surprised by the small but mighty team.

“On a lot of shows like ours, and a lot of the big talk shows—daytime, and nighttime—I mean, they may have 200 or 250 people. We have, like, 24 people on the production staff, and there’s some more support from that, but it’s not such a ginormous team,” he explained to DECIDER during a recent phone call.

Gelman, who has attributed the fairly minimal man power to “one of the reasons” for the show’s success, cited how it’s “kept it very efficient, very family[-like].”

“I think you get a better creative output out of it. And at the same time, it makes the show more successful overall,” he added.

While a new Labor Day episode of Live will air on Monday, Sept. 7, Live Season 39 officially kicks off on Tuesday, Sept. 8, marking Ripa and Consuelos’ fourth season co-hosting together (though as Gelman pointed out, Consuelos has been “part of the show” since his wife debuted as a co-host 25 years ago, even stepping in to guest co-host from time to time). While the co-host couple will be “celebrating” their four years together on Live with a special segment next week aptly called “Kelly and Mark 4-Ever,” Gelman—who has been part of the morning show since before it became known as Live—also teased new music and graphics, and even “some secret new variations” on the Live‘s signature game, “Stump Mark.”

“So we’re always updating and improving,” he shared.

For more on what to expect from Live with Kelly and Mark Season 39, the constant work that goes into maintaining new content (even during seasonal hiatuses), and the status of Live‘s legendary Halloween show, check out our full conversation with Gelman below.

DECIDER: I wanted to say, because I saw it on the show and on Instagram: happy belated birthday!

MICHAEL GELMAN: Oh, thank you very much, yes.

How did you celebrate?

I was out in the Hamptons. My daughters came home and I had a big party surrounded by a lot of friends that I host, so it was a lot of fun.

That’s awesome. You were saying you’re now in full work mode, your summer’s coming to an end. How early on do you begin prepping for another season of Live?

Even though we have a little hiatus over the summer, we’re constantly working, and it’s not really that we stop and then restart. So it’s like, we’re working on the new season even— last May and June, we’re already thinking about and starting to plan, and then we go into full production mode these uh weeks in August leading up to it. So we’re pretty good, everyone had a nice break, and at the same time, we’re, we’re still, we’re still in touch. I’m having my big kind of production meeting tomorrow afternoon. Today, early this morning, I had an hour-long call with Kelly and Mark. We went over a lot of things for the new season, and so everything’s falling into place.

When it comes to these production meetings, I’m just so curious what they look like. Who is present at these meetings? How big of a team is it behind the scenes? Because obviously we get to see you on Live, but there’s obviously a ginormous production team behind the scenes.

You know, there is, but on a lot of shows like ours, and a lot of the big talk shows—daytime, and nighttime—I mean, they may have 200 or 250 people. We have, like, 24 people on the production staff, and there’s some more support from that, but it’s not such a ginormous team. I think that’s one of the reasons for our success is that we’ve kept it very efficient, very family[-like], and I think you get a better creative output out of it. And at the same time, it makes the show more successful overall.

Definitely. And what is the chain of command when it comes to the production team?

I’m the EP, then I’ve got senior producers, some producers. There’s very few assistants. I’ve got myassistant who also does a lot of other production responsibilities. There’s some people with the audience, there’s our press person, there’s some digital people, like three people on our digital team. So again, it’s compact, but everyone is hardworking, efficient, and we’ve all been doing this for so many years. We’re coming onto our 39th season. So everyone’s been together. We all know the drill. And with Mark and Kelly, we’re coming into our fourth season, that we’re actually celebrating. But, having said that, Mark was part of the show in some ways, and even co-hosting sometimes, for over 25 years. So there’s a lot of continuity there that really helps make the production efficient and makes it have that family feel, between the family on-camera and the family off-camera.

You mentioned that you had a meeting with Kelly and Mark earlier ,and with Kelly also being a producer on the show, how hands-on in the production process are they?

[Kelly’s] informed and involved about every big decision that we make. We keep her in the loop and she has insight. She and Mark, they’re both the hosts, so they have a lot of access and a lot of say in what happens because we’re trying to make the show work for them. They’re the key. I find the hosts are such a key to making a show like this successful. It really is a personality driven show and that’s what we’re going for.

Another special thing about Live is its guest lineup. The show is now entering Season 39 and must have a tremendous network of stars and PR teams that love to stop by Live, but what does guest outreach look like ahead of a season?

The outreach is constant. We’re talking to every movie company, every TV company, every PR company, you know, six months [to] a year in advance, looking at their schedule [and] what do they have coming up. My two bookers are talking to them, and so they know, like, this is when this movie is scheduled to come out, and these are the stars in it, and what’s our availability, and who do we want to book, and we’re asking for certain people. So it starts getting laid out maybe six months in advance or sometimes more. But as we get closer, things start to come into play about what the reality is. Sometimes dates move and also sometimes we have to wait until they know their schedule and we know our schedule. It’s like a putting together a puzzle every day to get the guests on the show. It’s tough, but we get the best guests. People love coming on our show because it’s a lot of fun and it’s not like a threatening atmosphere. We try to make it fun for them.

 I know you’ve been in this industry your entire career, but has there ever been a guest that you’ve been starstruck by or most excited to bring onto the show?

In the early days when I’d have my kind of rock star dreams, it was very cool to have those people on the show, or when [we] got to meet Mick Jagger backstage at the Oscars. People like that are the people I would get starstruck by. But at this point, I’ve met almost everyone and I’m not into heavy celebrity worship, myself. I respect their talents, but as you probably have, too, the more you work with people, you realize everyone’s the same. They’re people, they have special talents. But that’s about it.

Completely. With this new season, I was curious about the process of renewal and season pick-ups. Are there official renewal announcements?  The show is syndicated and has a storied history at WABC, but what does that kind of look like? How far out are you notified when it comes to finding out if you’re getting another season, or is it kind of just assumed at this point?

It’s assumed, and I don’t even really wait around. I don’t even know how long we’re renewed for. It’s a long time, and then every couple of years they —I don’t even know if there’s actual announcements that happen. It’s not something I wait for. It’s not like a show that’s on the edge and we’re waiting to see [if] we have a new season pick-up. We always have a new season pick-up, and I think the announcement will come when we don’t [laughs]. But I assume we’re gonna go on. Our ratings actually this summer have been extraordinary. We’ve been the number-one entertainment talk show now for years—daytime, nighttime, all times. But the fact that even this summer, usually things are tough because the viewership is outside at the beach, we’ve had a really strong, strong summer this year. So I’m happy to see that.

You mentioned the summer. As you mentioned, this is kind of a continuous production process, and even with the hiatus, Live, I feel like, pulls off what a lot of talk shows can’t, when it comes to  still including new content during the summer hiatus.

Yes.

Whether it be host chats or even some new interviews thrown in. What does this process look like for taping these pre-packaged episodes? Like, how far out are you thinking about them when it comes to these hiatuses?

Well, we’re thinking about it all year. But we do more new shows than any of the entertainment talk shows. So, we’re constantly—I’m trying to put in as much new material, and we put new material into almost every show of the year. And then, even if we’re gone, we’re doing some new shows to sprinkle in there to give people some good content. And I think that’s one of the reasons why the numbers continue to stay up. 

There was a period of guest co-hosts before the break. Is there kind of a network of guest co-hosts that you reach out to? Are they kind of people that you’re like, “Hmm, they would be good on the show, let’s try”? How does that work?

Yeah. It’s a combination. I mean, some people are tried and true and they’re friends of the show, and we’ve used them on and off for years. Or some people, they may come on as a guest and we’re like, “You know, they have what it takes,” and we try them out and. And sometimes, we keep having them [and] they become one of the regulars. But it really depends. There’s so much in our business that just has to do with availability, also. So you could have someone who’s a friend of the show, they’re terrific and they want to do it, you want them. But they get other projects and other dates and they’re traveling and they’re doing things and they have families and lives, so sometimes it just doesn’t work out. But that doesn’t take them off our list. It just means we’ll try them the next time.

With Season 39 coming up, are there any new additions or anything that you’re most excited for this season?

We’re celebrating Season 39. We’re doing a series the first week back, “Kelly and Mark 4-Ever,” to celebrate the four years [they’ve officially been co-hosting together]. And we put on our digital platforms a bunch of the favorite clips over the last four years the two of them have been hosting together. People voted and then we’ll reveal the top ones each day—‚the top four— when we get back. Then we’ll be looking back at other great clips that we’ve had. We’ve also redone our entire package of graphics and new contests for our trivia and “Stump Mark.” We’ve got some secret new variations on the game and some really cool new, music and graphics. So we’re always updating and improving.

With these new graphics, is that all kind of within the production team, or is there a design team? How is that kind of put out?

Our graphic designer is a big part of the show. She works for WABC and also is assigned to our show. Yumi is terrific, and she and her team work with us constantly for every new project we have.

Are you able to tease any of the upcoming guest stars or anyone that you’re most excited to have on the show?

The first week we have Lizzo, Kal Penn, Gal Gadot, Sandra Bullock, Theo James, Sherri Shepherd. We have a great first week lineup, and it continues. This entire fall—September, October—we’ve got a lot of great people coming in. Some big stars. There are some big movies coming out.

You mention October. Live is known for their Halloween shows. Where are you at in the process, if you can tease, when it comes to the Halloween show?

We just actually, in that conversation with Kelly and Mark, we went over some of the big ideas and we’ve decided on an overall concept which we all think is really fantastic and, which highlights pop culture. We parody a lot of things, and it’s been a good year in the media for giving us material to spoof and to have fun with. So yeah, it’s gonna be a great year. We’ve been talking about it for ages with my team and then we got [Kelly and Mark’s] input today. Now we’re going to have another meeting this week and then when we get back, we’ll actually start taping some of the pre-taped things, and then we do the show itself live.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Live with Kelly and Mark airs on weekdays. Check out their website for your local listings.