Hoda Kotb Remembers Kathie Lee Gifford’s ‘Hair Extensions’ and ‘Boobs Out’ When She Landed ‘Today’ Job

For Hoda Kotb, working with Kathie Lee Gifford on Today was full of incredible memories and tons of fun! But their cohosting partnership came after an unlikely interaction.

Hoda, 59, remembered how Kathie Lee, 70, landed the cohosting gig on Today after she was asked to make an appearance as a guest host on the show.

“We saw Kathie Lee sitting there. We’re like, ‘Oh my God. It’s Kathie Lee Gifford.’ So we walked over to her table, and we’re like, ‘Look. I know this is crazy and last minute. You don’t know us, but would you please come on as a guest host for one day? Just one day only,” the broadcaster shared during a clip of her appearance on Busy This Week obtained by People on Wednesday, July 3.

Of course, Kathie Lee was juggling multiple projects at the time but decided to check her schedule to see if a guest slot on the show could work. Thankfully, it did!

“She goes, ‘Let me check.’ So she said she’d come,” Hoda recalled. “That woman showed up, hair extensions, boobs out, ready to play. She was amazing. She dazzled the crowd. She did what she does.”

With her bright personality and years of experience on camera, Kathie Lee was a natural next to Hoda.

“When it was over, the bosses came over, and they came over [and] they shook her hand,” Hoda remembered. “They said, and from that moment on, Kathie Lee was going to be on the Today show. Like she changed the face of that part of morning TV.”

Beginning in 2008, Kathie Lee sat alongside Hoda on Today With Kathie Lee and Hoda. Fans of the singer-songwriter were happy to see her back on morning television after she left Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee in 2000. She left Today in 2019 after 11 years on the program.

“I’m leaving a building. I’m leaving a certain job,” Kathie Lee said of her departure from the series during an interview with Hoda on SiriusXM in March 2019. “I’m not leaving Hoda. I’m not leaving my dear friends at NBC that have been there for me through the years. I’m setting out on the rest of my journey.”

“Hoda’s going to get on a plane with me the minute we end that [final] show, and she’s going to go and we’re going to have a girls’ weekend,” she added. “We’re going to have many girls’ weekends.”

On April 5, 2019, Kathie Lee waved goodbye to the Today audience in a star-studded final episode. Her kids, Cassidy and Cody Gifford, took part in an emotional video tribute to mark the milestone.

“To you, mom is a TV legend,” Cody, 34, said during the clip. “To us, she’s a legendary mom.”

“The best qualities that my mom has, the ones that I’ve looked up to in my life — her heart, her kindness — is something that she leads with,” Cassidy, 30, shared. “She is one of the kindest people on the planet.”