Jimmy Fallon Replacing Kathie Lee for a Day; 'Buckle Up,' Says Hoda Kotb

By Elizabeth Townsend Posted Jan 12th 2011 04:45PM

'Today' host Hoda Kotb is getting the cocktail shaker ready for Jimmy Fallon, who is guest co-hosting the show's fourth hour with her tomorrow, Jan. 13.

"I hear he's already placed his drink order," Kotb tells PopEater. "I can officially say that the 'Today' show will never be the same again, ever. Jimmy Fallon at the anchor desk with me? Can you imagine? I cannot wait -- so buckle up!"

Kotb is bracing herself for a lot of laughs and some unexpected zaniness with the host of 'Late Night with Jimmy Fallon' on the fourth hour of 'Today,' which Time magazine has dubbed "The Happy Hour" because of the cocktails Kotb and co-host Kathie Lee Gifford enjoy with guests on the show.

Fallon is filling in for Gifford, who has the day off. Gifford's advice to Fallon? "Don't eat bacon or you'll bloat and won't fit in your Spanx."

For the record, Kotb says in her recent memoir, 'Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee,' that even though alcohol makes its way into the fourth hour often, she actually doesn't drink a lot.

"Never have," she writes.

The mid-morning cocktailing started when Chelsea Handler came on the show to promote her book 'Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea.' "The morning she appeared, our producers decided to make three vodka drinks for us in Chelsea's honor," writes Kotb.

"We had so much fun that day that we decided to sample some libations on another show, too. Our guest was a wine expert and we took our glasses with us into the next unrelated segment. Then, all of a sudden, we were featuring Wines Under Seven Dollars off the top of the show. We knew when Time magazine called our hour 'The Happy Hour' that a theme had developed. And that's really what we try to be (not in a boozy way) -- an escape from all the bad news reported around the world. We're escape artists."

While Kotb writes that she assured her worried mom that she only drinks on-air, she admits, "I can see where our ten o'clock hydrating could send a different -- burp -- message."

Tags: hoda kotb, Jimmy Fallon, today show