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The Today show group preparing to say their final goodbyes as Hoda Kotb will hold its final show on Friday, January 10.
After seven years in the co-anchor seat next to Savannah GuthrieKotb officially retires.
But before she signs off for the last time and leaves her anchor chair behind, the people in the Today show control room pulled one last prank on Kotb.
After coming back from the break following the first half hour of the show, Guthrie started the script.
“We’re back at 7:30 it’s Friday morning,” Guthrie said. “And it’s a day of mixed emotions as we prepare to say goodbye to an icon here at 30 Rock.”
“Let’s face it, all over the world we’ll be counting down to it,” Guthrie continued as she burst into laughter and the cameras panned their way over to the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree which is still lit and standing behind the tree. Today studio in New York City.
Hoda Kotb is leaving the Today show after five years as a chef and nearly three decades at NBC. Kotb, 60, announced the news on air with Savannah Guthrie on Thursday, September 26, with both women becoming visibly emotional. “I realized it was time for me to turn the page at 60, and try something (…)
“Yes, our beloved Christmas tree is coming down tomorrow.”
The prank turned what would have been tears into belly laughs as Kotb’s successor, Guthrie and Kotb Craig Melvin realized Kotb wasn’t talking about Guthrie but the iconic Christmas tree so many people travel to see every holiday season.
“What? Did you think we were talking about something else?” Guthrie joked as Kotb buried her face in her hands.
Guthrie and Melvin praised the control room for their lightening joke.
“Great,” Melvin added. “They had to get one last crack at you,” Guthrie told Kotb on behalf of those in the control room.
The news of Hoda Kotb’s Today show exit is bittersweet for her co-hosts. “I just turned 60, and it was a huge moment for me when I turned 60 because I started thinking about that decade, like, what does that decade mean? What is it holding? What will it get me?” Kotb, (…)
Kotb’s decision to retire comes after celebrating her 60th birthday on the Today plaza.
She said she saw her career so clearly and knew it was time to shift her focus to her beloved mother and two young daughters.
Before her final broadcast, Kotb took to Instagram to share a quick message, writing, “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”
