‘Today’ at the Olympics
Hoda Kotb, Savannah Guthrie medal in Q&A.
Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie, the new team at NBC’s Today, are heading to Pyeonchang, South Korea, this week for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Don’t look for them on the luge track — “I broke my ankle just walking across the (30 Rock) plaza,” Guthrie says — but they’ll have plenty to root for in their first trip as a team since Kotb was named permanent co-anchor last month. USA TODAY caught up with them Tuesday for a chat.
Question: What are you most looking forward to at the Olympics?
Kotb: Hanging with the athletes, watching them in their critical moment when they’re about to be on a box of Wheaties, and are about to be a household name.
Guthrie: How many times do you get to actually witness someone’s dream coming true, and you are right there in the moment? That’s incredible, and we’re going to be witnesses to it. It’s contagious, and you get caught up in it. When you are at an event, and we win gold and they play our national anthem, it’s a goose bumps moment every time.
Q: What surprised you most about working with each other?
Kotb: I knew Savannah was really smart and I knew she had a big heart. I watched her do these political interviews like nobody’s business. What I was unaware of is (that) she’s incredibly hilarious, crazily funny.
Guthrie: It’s been great to, along with the rest of the country, be rediscovering and seeing Hoda’s absolutely impeccable news chops. She’s really one of the best interviewers out there. I already knew she was a barrel of laughs with Kathie Lee (Gifford). We’re very lucky; it’s not feeling like work, it’s feeling like fun. She’s exactly who I want to sit with at 6 in the morning, with my wet hair and no makeup, (after) my husband snored all night.
Q: You both have young kids, Hoda has a new book ( I’ve Loved You Since Forever, inspired by adopted daughter Haley) and a bigger workload. How are you managing?
Kotb: All I know is my alarm goes off around 3:15 or 3:30, and usually the end of the day comes around 2. I get to go home to be with Haley. Once you know what’s important, the rest of it works. All my life I’ve dreamed of Haley, and she came true. I love everything I do in my life, but everything will always be secondary to her, forever. I’m loving work, but when I go in the door (there), no one is going to kick their legs and arms in the air for me.
Guthrie: One of the advantages of being an older mother is that in our careers we have a little more control and a little more say about our schedule. When you wait a long time to have kids, you’re not laboring under some misimpression that something else is more important. There’s literally nothing more important.
Q: Were you surprised that Today started beating Good Morning America in the ratings for several weeks only after Matt left the show?
Guthrie: Everything about that whole situation was so unprecedented and so surprising. The ratings were literally the last thing on our mind. I know all the golden-age history, the 15-year winning streak, but that was long gone by the time I came along. The fact that people stuck with us through what was a ... heartwrenching time makes us feel good.
Q: What was going through your mind when Matt was fired?
Guthrie: I think you saw what I was going through. We had a really great and close relationship with Matt. He was our friend and colleague. We woke up to news that was shocking, just like everyone who turned on the show every day. Man, it’s hard to get through something like that. We all try to keep our eye on the ball and try to manage this the best we can, with compassion and integrity and truth and honesty and authenticity, and that’s all I know how to do. I hope we are succeeding.