Pat O’Brien has been fired by celebrity gossip show The Insider, begging the question: What took so long?

The guy has been in and out of rehab, survived a sex scandal involving drunken voicemails, and most recently sent a colorful e-mail to his co-workers criticizing The Insider while touting his own popularity.

The email included the following sentiment: “Watching … Lara [Spencer] pick out accessories makes the viewers want to vomit. I’ll get killed for this, but I’m actually the one not afraid for my job.”

It seems that despite years of covering celebrity scandals, O’Brien still hasn’t figured out that juicy e-mails get leaked fast on the Internet. So who will take over for O’Brien as co-host of The Insider?

I hear Mark McGrath’s available.