Go Behind the Scenes of 'Today' -- Exclusive Tour!

By Rob Shuter Posted Oct 19th 2010 12:31PM

You'd be hard pressed to find a more well-oiled machine on TV than NBC's 'Today' show. How do they keep things churning for (gasp!) four hours every day? Thankfully, the last 60 minutes are in good hands with my pals Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb at the helm. Now, for a rare treat, they've invited PopEater backstage and into their dressing room (a first for cameras!), where the peppy pair run down for you how they prepare for their hour of interviewing celebs and talking the hot topics of the day. Watch after the jump!

Hoda starts her morning at work by reading through her notes and the morning papers. Then comes the "crucial part of the day," as she puts it: Picking out an outfit that won't clash with Kathie Lee's. If they do have a mishap, who changes first? "Kathie Lee," Hoda jokes. "Because she has more money. And more clothes."

PopEater also got to go where no cameras have gone before: the duo's makeup room, where KLG zings that the intrepid makeup artists are "exhausted by the time they get me in the chair. They've done everybody but Willard Scott by the time I get here."

As you've seen, Kathie Lee gets unbridled joy out of picking on Hoda about men and her social life, but what do the pair really think of each other? Executive producer Jim Bell calls them "the girlfriends" of morning television. "They love each other; they support each other. I think there's a real bond there that you don't see anywhere else."

We agree, and nowhere else do you get that sense of sisterly love between the two than in Hoda's fab new memoir, 'Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer and Kathie Lee.' Nice title, right? "I sprung it on her during a wine-soaked lunch," Hoda tells me. "She loved it -- after the third glass of Chardonnay."

Stay tuned for more footage and interviews from our exclusive tour of 'Today'!

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Tags: hoda kotb, kathie lee gifford, today show

Comments

(34)

Wednesday 20 October

By bsti

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So I guess they're just not relevant !

Thursday 21 October

By Blue Kentucky Girl

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Kathy Lee is pitiful. It is apparent that she thinks she is youthful and cute. Her attempts at humor fall flat and her tired old insults have been around longer than Frank Gifford.

By scsk

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Kathy Lee looks so bad, she makes her husband look good. She's so plastic..reminds me of Joan Rivers

By sandi

Get over yourself. Have you not ever heard wisdom brings youth? Kathy is a lovely Christian lady that sees the good in all people.

Kathy Lee has her face pulled so tight, she looks like Nncy Pelosi

Kathy Lee looks almost as bad as Joan Rivers

joan Rivers

By litmjeans

Inspired by her decades of dilemma in finding the right jean to fit her curvy figure, visionary entrepreneur Lee Ann Park launched the Little in the Middle ™ website in 2002. What was her goal? It was to determine if there was a need for clothing that truly fit a woman's curves. The first production was delivered in the fall of 2005. Finally, there was a jean on the market created one size smaller in the waist than the hips, appropriately honoring the moniker, Little in the Middle ™ .

Kathy Lee looks so bad, it makes her husband look good

By Lisa

You better hope that you look so "bad" when you get to be her age.

By Sandra

Kathy Lee makes Joan ivers, Nancy Pelosi and even her husband look good.

By Dan

Put them both on the view as they both get on my nerves!

By Mark

Who really cares anyway? Kathy Lee is soooo yesterday. Hoda Kotb seems to be more real. Kathy Lee's face is sooo tight I am surprised she CAN smile. Hoda's smile is a very real one and not affraid to show a wringle or two. Seems down to earth. I never could stand Kathy putting her kids threw the airwaves like somebody cares. I think it is kind of a danger for someone of her status to do that, but she did not seem to mind. Could not stand her with Regis and I still can not stand her now.

By vicvod

I'd do both of them, but I'm an alcoholic though!

By dan

it wpold takesome concentration!

I would NEVER watch any part of "Today" EXCEPT for Hoda and Kathie Lee!! I love them and they are a breath of fresh air!! So poo on you haters out there!!

Friday 22 October

By ray

they are Both WAY beyond their "prime" and even with 5 pounds of Makeup they "look" it !!!

By mikey

hey so what ,she is tight faced and liped ,but for us guys that could be nice in one way,she still has a great body..

By John

Staggers the mind to think how ugly Hoda must be without makeup intervention...

By bsonicsoul

Let them put their makeup on in piece. Right Oprah?

By blondie

Kathie Lee is funny & gorgeous.......

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