How is it Joy Behar has escaped our attention as a masterful interviewer for so long? Subbing on Larry King Live last night, she had her way with a prickly, pushy Alec Baldwin.

Baldwin didn't want to talk about his past heartache even though, hello, he wrote a book about it. When Behar pressed him, he asked Behar what color her underwear was, to show what it feels like to be asked a personal question. She answered without blinking. Twice. (We were swooning at this point. About the question, not the underwear. Whatever.)

She pressed on, even when Baldwin tried to ask her more personal questions (Behar shut him down), or ridicule her journalism half-jokingly-but-half-seriously. Behar was not only far more at ease asking personal questions than King — not hard — but also far more at ease with such material than, frankly most TV journalists. She was utterly comfortable and unapologetic and, most importantly, totally uncowed by Baldwin. Credit her time on the View, or personality, whatever, but it was awesome!

Then Baldwin tried to butter her up at the end, and Behar totally wasn't having any of it.

Not that the two were at each other's throats. There was some underlying chumminess. But also plenty of underlying tension.

CNN should seriously consider Joy Behar Live, when Larry King retires, in the 22nd century.

(Excerpt video above.)