Between floats, performances, celebrity appearances and, of course, Santa Claus, there will be plenty to see during the 2024 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade — but Jenna Bush Hager and Hoda Kotb will Today show viewers something special to watch on Thursday, November 28.
In the episode of November 27 TodayBush Hager, 43, and Kotb, 60, recalled coming up with a secret sign for Kotb to perform on air during last year’s parade, which she hosted with Savannah Guthrie.
“Last year, Hoda and I came up with this secret symbol, and it was Hoda brushing her teeth with her finger, remember?” Bush Hager said.
Watch Hoda Kotb send secret signals to her daughters during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
Kotb remembered. “That was an indication that I was thinking about Jenna,” she said.
According to Kotb, Guthrie, 52, “had no idea” about the meaning of the gesture.
“Just to be clear, no one knew this except all of you, Hoda and me,” Bush Hager continued. “So even Savannah, she said to me later, ‘Why did she do that?’ ‘Because she said: ‘Doesn’t he know he’s on TV?’ So I’m just asking, since this is our last Thanksgiving together, would you make another token for me?”
Savannah Guthrie (left) and Hoda Kotb on the ‘Today’ show on September 3, 2019.
Nathan Congleton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
Kotb, which will come out of Today show in January, respected.
“I thought a lot about the symbol,” Kotb said. “I was thinking, what could it possibly be? And there’s only one thing that could be. So, I don’t know if you guys remember, but there’s a song called ‘RockaFellaCenta’ that Matt Rogers does with Bowen Yang, and there’s a part of it where he says, ‘I’m waiting outside looking for Jenna Bush Hager, Jenna Bush Hager.’ Whenever I see Jenna, I go like this.”
The mother of two raised two fists and shook them towards her as Yang, 34, does in the video.
“It’s kind of our call sign,” Bush Hager explained.
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Kotb decided that would be her secret gesture for Bush Hager this year and had her co-host act out a scenario in which she did it while commentating on the parade
“Watch out!” Kotb said.
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Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager on the ‘Today’ show on October 5, 2021.
Alliance for Women in Media Foundation/Getty Images
Bush Hager also asked viewers to keep it a secret from Guthrie. “Don’t say Savannah, people!” she begged.
The Sisters first the author admitted that last year she actually missed Kotb performing the secret teeth-brushing move live during the parade because her Christmas tree fell over. Fortunately, viewers informed her about it on social networks.
Jenna Bush Hager smiles with her three children as she celebrates her 43rd birthday at home: ‘I feel so grateful’
“You really helped me out last year because last Thanksgiving we decided to put up a Christmas tree on Thanksgiving because we read that Whole Foods was having a sale,” Bush Hager said. “And so [husband] Henry raced down and unfortunately, our tree fell over at the start of the parade with all the stuff on it, over, over. Henry was trying to put a star on him, he collapsed. Maybe I never told you. But so I paused it and because I was looking for this moment and somebody texted me and a bunch of Xs or twitterers or whatever, Insta, ‘Hey Jenna, go, go! She succeeded!’ So then we have to watch.”
Bush Hager said capturing that moment “made my whole Thanksgiving.”
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The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will air Thursday, Nov. 28, on NBC and Peacock, beginning at 8:30 a.m. ET.
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Source: HIS Education