Savannah Guthrie Makes Al Roker Joke as She Returns to ‘Today’ After Vocal Surgery

After one month away from the NBC morning show, Savannah Guthrie officially returned to her hosting role on Today.

Guthrie joined Craig Melvin at the anchor desk on Monday, January 26, marking her first episode since going on medical leave last month. “Welcome back to Today. [We] so appreciate you being with us on a Monday morning. [We’re] so glad you’re starting your week off with us,” Melvin said at the top of the show’s 8 a.m. ET hour before telling Guthrie, “So glad you’re back.”

Guthrie joked that no one was as happy about her return as Al Roker, stating, “He was literally just doing a little dance over there.” The camera cut to Roker doing, as Melvin put it, a “little ditty” in front of the weather board on set.

Guthrie’s return also coincided with a major winter storm, as the New York City area received nearly a foot of snow over the weekend, per NBC New York.

“So the [30 Rockefeller] Plaza, by the way, is closed because of the weather, obviously,” Melvin shared. “But check it out, we did have a few hearty souls who managed to stroll by our window on the world to say hello this morning. We sent them home, but thank you for coming by and we’ll be back tomorrow.”

NBC

The show aired footage of Melvin and Guthrie greeting fans standing outside of Today‘s Studio 1A. Many members of the show’s main hosting lineup braced the winter weather to appear on Monday’s episode, including Carson Daly, Jenna Bush Hager, and Sheinelle Jones. Dylan Dreyer, meanwhile, was absent from the third hour of Today. NBC News’ Savannah Sellers filled in for Dreyer on the show.

While Monday marks Guthrie’s first day back in her hosting role, Guthrie made a handful of virtual appearances on Today since undergoing vocal cord surgery last month. She returned to the Today studio on Friday, January 23, to air a prerecorded package about her surgery and recovery.

“Back in 2008, my first year working for NBC News, I not only looked different, I sounded different, too. Over the years, I noticed as my voice got deeper and scratchier,” she explained via voiceover. “But what I thought was just normal wear and tear and aging over time got much more noticeable, and this past year, much worse. Sometimes, it was hard to get through a sentence. No longer able to just ignore it, I went to see Dr. Peak Woo, one of the country’s leading voice specialists.”

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Dr. Woo noted that Guthrie had a “hemorrhagic polyp on one side and [a] vocal nodule on the other side.” She underwent microlaryngeal surgery to remove the polyp and will continue to undergo vocal therapy. Following a week of vocal rest, Guthrie returned to the doctor’s office to test out her new voice. For her first words, Dr. Woo had Guthrie pretend she was reporting on Today.

“Good morning. Today is Tuesday, January 13, 2026. I am using my voice for the first time, and it sounds good. I could cry,” Guthrie stated before tearing up and hugging Dr. Woo.

After the package, Guthrie admitted it was “hard” to embrace silence during her recovery. “But I found it to be a beautiful, beautiful moment and a spiritual moment, and I’m so grateful,” she told her Today cohosts. “I’m grateful to all of you and this place and my bosses at NBC who have been nothing but supportive. To take three weeks off is a big, big deal, and I so appreciate it. And I’m just so grateful to be back, and I’m ready to go!”

Today, Weekdays, 7 a.m./6c, NBC