‘Today’ Fourth Hour With Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager: How to Be a Part of the Live Studio Audience

Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager recently announced they’ll be hosting their show in front of a live studio audience every Thursday morning moving forward, starting Feb. 9. The two co-hosts were so excited to share the news with their viewers, Bush Hager even referred to the announcement that they were “having a baby.” If you or someone you know is interested in signing up for tickets to be part of the fun, you can do so here at the official NBC website.

“I’m so excited I want to cry,” Bush Hager said on Thursday. “Why am I crying? Because we’re having a baby, y’all! This type of baby. Not a person, but a show.”

Kotb chimed in with, “We’re not sure who our guests are gonna be, we don’t know any of the stuff. A lot of things are surprises, even to us. But I have to say, when we’ve done the show in front of an audience, it’s been really fun. Because sometimes it’s us and our awesome crew, but we always wonder, ‘What are you guys thinking? What do y’all like?’ And now you’ll be here and you’ll be able to tell us.”

“To open up the show for all of y’all is so much fun because we’ll know! It’s a conversation,” Bush Hager added. “You’ll be part of it!”

The two began hosting together a year ago after longtime morning personality Kathie Lee Gifford made the shocking announcement to leave her gig to pursue other opportunities. The new show will be titled Hoda & Jenna & Friends. The new episodes will be filmed in Studio 6A, where Megyn Kelly Today and Late Night with David Letterman were previously filmed.

Bush Hager and Kotb made a comment about how comfortable the seating is in there, so the audience should have no problem enjoying that part of the show either. While fans of the longtime show were worried about how everything would go after Gifford left, were relieved to find out that viewership has actually gone up since Bush Hager started hosting full-time. However, the two were on maternity leave last year so their time has been limited together behind the desk, but with the new announcement, fans are excited to see more of their favorite hosts in person!

As for Gifford, who worked on the show for more than 10 years, moved to Nashville and was welcomed with a lifetime achievement award from the Nashville Pops Orchestra.

“On the 16th, there’s a gala. They’re very sweetly giving me an award that I do not deserve, some Lifetime Achievement Award. I said to Jeff Bown, who’s the Pops conductor, I said, ‘Why, what have I done?’ And so apparently he thinks I deserve it. I don’t, but I’m gonna take it!” she told PopCulture in an exclusive interview.

She joked that she “can’t be rude” since she just moved to Nashville and has remained busy since pursing other career aspirations since leaving New York.

Photo credit: Nathan Congleton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images