‘Today’: Who Has Cohosted the Most ‘Jenna & Friends’ Episodes?

Many famous faces have joined Jenna Bush Hager at the Today With Jenna & Friends desk, but one has appeared alongside her more times than anyone else.

“You know what we discovered? Something very exciting. Very, very exciting,” Bush Hager said at the top of the show’s Thursday, December 18, episode. “There have been a lot of friends who have sat with me over the last year. Many, many a friend. But there’s only one person who tops the list of most appearances.”

Bush Hager went on to reveal that the person who has cohosted the most episodes of Jenna & Friends is none other than her cohost of the day, Sunday Today‘s Willie Geist. “You’re my No. 1 friend, Willie,” she exclaimed, adding that the pair have hosted 26 episodes together over the past year.

“I am so honored. I actually didn’t know that,” Geist stated before expressing his gratitude for Bush Hager. “I’m always so happy to be here with you, you know that. I would come if you called five minutes before the show. There’s nothing more fun than being on TV, or off TV, with Jenna.”

He continued, “Forget me in this — Jenna has been, for the last year, so amazing. I don’t think everyone appreciates that it’s not so easy to kind of speed-date and have a new person in the chair every day. And you have stepped up in such an amazing way, and I cannot wait for you and Sheinelle [Jones] to do your thing here coming up soon.”

NBC

Bush Hager returned Geist’s kind words, telling her colleague, “Having a friend like Willie, who’s a real friend, who would just show up, and I’m like, ‘Oh, thank goodness. It’s somebody I love and know, and is an Emmy award-winning journalist.’”

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Geist corrected her for calling him an Emmy winner, stating, “I think nominated, but keep going.”

Geist is one of many people who have cohosted the fourth hour of Today with Bush Hager since Hoda Kotb‘s exit from the NBC morning show in January. Following Jenna & Friends‘ one-year anniversary next month, Jones will take over as Bush Hager’s permanent cohost starting January 12.

Geist made his Jenna & Friends cohosting debut back in March before returning for more episodes in June, July, September, and October. Al Roker was the latest Today host to make his Jenna & Friends debut earlier this week, while Weekend Today‘s Laura Jarrett and Peter Alexander remain the only two Today personalities who haven’t appeared on the show.

Geist returned to the fourth hour of Today on Wednesday, December 17, and will continue to cohost through Friday, December 19.

Today With Jenna & Friends, Weekdays, 10 a.m./9c, NBC