Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager’s Fourth Hour of ‘Today’ Undergoing Major Changes

Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager began co-hosting the fourth hour of Today together almost one year ago, and the morning slot is about to undergo a few changes. During Thursday’s show, the two hosts announced that beginning Feb. 6, they will film the Thursday and Friday episodes of their show in front of a live studio audience.

“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.”

“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,” Kotb chimed in. “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 shows will be titled Hoda & Jenna & Friends and both episodes will be filmed on Thursdays in Studio 6A, where Megyn Kelly Today and Late Night with David Letterman were previously housed.

“Those seats are so comfortable,” Bush Hager said of the new location.

“They are cozy!” Kotb confirmed. “We hope we’re going to have snacks, but we’re not sure. I’m voting for snacks… We want to have something so y’all are well fed and taken care of.”

Both Kotb and Bush Hager took maternity leaves last year, so they haven’t spent much time behind the desk together. Viewership has only increased since they permanently reunited in November, and now, they’ll be together with a whole lot of their friends.

“The ladies having an audience will make them better at what they do,” Joanne LaMarca, executive producer of the slot,” told Variety. “There’s a certain energy when you perform on stage, when you have people react to what you are doing. I think that the audience is really going to change things up and I can’t wait for Hoda and Jenna to get to meet the best friends they don’t know they have.”

Photo Credit: Getty / NBC