'Live with Kelly and Ryan' travels to the multiverse for Halloween

NEW YORK -- It's become a tradition on "Live with Kelly and Ryan" to dress up for Halloween.

Regular fans of this show often say the Halloween episode is their favorite of the entire year, which is just one reason why the members of the staff spend months planning for it.

They called this year's edition "Live's Multiverse Halloween: The Best in the Universe."

It was a wild ride to different entertainment worlds, separated by time and space - which meant hosts Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest were definitely outside of their comfort zone.

Kelly says the Halloween show, for her, is "all treat and no trick." But there were still plenty of surprises.

This hour of "Live" featured more than 70 different costumes.

"The glue, the wig, the sweating. It's very uncomfortable!" said Ryan.

"Sandy, he wouldn't last five minutes being a woman on television, that's all I have to say," Kelly told me.

And speaking of women, there was Kelly's turn as Courtney Kardashian, saying 'yes' to a wedding dress.

"I thought it went great," said Executive Producer Michael Gelman, motioning to Kelly and Ryan. "These two were unbelievable. The editing was incredible... the special effects... I think everything went perfectly."

Cameos by real stars added to the fun.

There was John Stamos in a "Full House" - "House of the Dragon" mash-up.

And Kal Penn came to the studio dressed as, and speaking in the voice of, Cookie Monster!

"I was going to talk like this the whole interview, but then I decided I shouldn't," he said.

In years past, the "Live" audience has been packed with folks in very elaborate costumes, but not during the pandemic.

So the return of the costume contest, with five finalists and one winner, amounted to a welcome return to life as it once was.

"And we start working on next year now, right?" said Ryan after it was over.

"Exactly, yeah," said Gelman.

I have posted photos from inside the "Live" studio to my Instagram account, @sandykenyon7, so head there for a lot more behind-the-scenes Halloween fun.