Joy Behar was making her usual announcement about how Whoopi Goldberg was still on the mend from her extended battle with pneumonia on Thursday morning when the Oscar-winning actress and comedian emerged from backstage surprising the audience and her co-hosts who leapt from their chairs to embrace her. “Seriously, you can never leave me again! Ever!” Meghan McCain shouted at her once she took a seat. “We are shocked,” Behar added.

“The only way this is going to get better is if I begin, so this is my beginning,” Goldberg said. Last week, she appeared via video on the show to ensure viewers that she was “not dead” but “came very, very close to leaving the Earth.” She plans to be back on the show “more often” starting next week.