Hoda Kotb Looks Back at Early Days With Kathie Lee Gifford on ‘Today’

Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford changed each other for the better during their time as Today cohosts.

The two women reminisced about their time working together on the NBC morning show on the Wednesday, January 21, episode of Kotb’s Making Space podcast. Kotb helped launch the fourth hour of Today in 2007 with Ann Curry and Natalie Morales. It wasn’t until Gifford filled in for one of the hosts one day that Kotb knew they had something special on their hands.

“I’ll never forget it. It was like, it’s like someone turned the lights on. Kath came out in the crowd. You were just dazzling. I was like, I almost wasn’t even paying attention to anything else. I was just watching you,” she shared. “And the powers that be have done something they’ve never done at NBC. They came across the street. Remember? They were like, ‘Kathie Lee, oh, my God, that was amazing.'”

Kotb said that NBC execs wanted to decide who would lead the fourth hour of Today with Gifford. However, Gifford said she would only take on the job if she got to do it with Kotb.

On the podcast, Gifford admitted she was hesitant to join Today after nearly two decades of cohosting Live with Regis and Kathie Lee with Regis Philbin. “I said, ‘You know, if we ever did have a show together, I think we would have a great show.’ But I said, ‘But I don’t think we can at 10 o’clock in the morning,'” she explained. “It was hard enough for Regis and I to get that kind of success because people stop watching TV, at least they used to, at that time. They left the TVs, and they went to work, or they went about their days. We would have to create something that was not there, and that takes time.”

Jessica Miglio / © NBC / courtesy Everett Collection

Gifford ultimately accepted the hosting role, and Today With Kathie Lee & Hoda officially launched in 2008. Kotb has nothing but fond memories of working with Gifford, as she said her cohost was welcoming to everyone on set.

“I remember you inviting everyone to your house and taking care of our staff coming over. [They were like,] ‘Let’s go to Kath’s! Let’s go to Kath’s.’ [You were] passing out wine to everybody. Everybody felt [at] home. “You had this ability, and it was something that we had at the show, you and I,” Kotb shared. “[You were] seeing people, like, seeing them, knowing names. When you came in, you were like, ‘What happened with your niece? Tell me about the birthday.’ Like, it was that kind of a thing.”

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Kotb also credits Gifford for helping her come out of her shell as a host. “Every time I give a speech today, and I still give them, I always say the same thing. Like, ‘I spent most of my professional career putting a circle in a square and trying to be something I wasn’t, until you. Until I sat with you,'” she revealed.

Kotb continued, “The funny thing is, I remember not even knowing that I was putting a circle in a square. I thought, ‘That’s how it fit. That’s how it felt.’ And then when I sat with you, it was like, ‘I didn’t know it could feel this way.’ And you kept saying, ‘Just because it’s fun and it feels effortless,’ because for us it did, it didn’t mean it wasn’t work. I understood from that minute, from the minute with the cards, from the minute we sat next to each other.”

Gifford left the fourth hour of Today in 2019, after which Jenna Bush Hager took over her role as Kotb’s cohost. Today With Hoda & Jenna ran until Kotb’s departure in January 2025. Bush Hager continued to lead the fourth hour, retitled as Today With Jenna & Friends, with a rotating lineup of celebrity guest hosts.

In December 2025, it was announced that Today‘s Sheinelle Jones would become Bush Hager’s new cohost. The fourth hour of Today relaunched as Today With Jenna & Sheinelle on January 12. Kotb and Gifford even surprised Bush Hager and Jones on-air to formally pass the torch to the show’s new hosting duo.

Today With Jenna & Sheinelle, Weekdays, 10a/9c, NBC