Al Roker knows he’ll one day say goodbye to the “Today” show like his colleague Hoda Kotb — but don’t expect him to walk away anytime soon.
America’s beloved weatherman, 70, who’s been on the NBC show since 1996, addressed his inevitable retirement just days after Kotb, 60, announced her departure after 26 years.
“You know when you know,” Roker told People at the first Food & Wine Classic festival in Charleston, South Carolina.
“That was the kind of the beautiful thing for Hoda. You even look at … Joe Biden. It’s like, everybody has a reason that they decide it’s time to go.”
While he knows the “time will come” for him to hang up his fedora, it’s not happening yet.
“I don’t feel like that’s my time yet, but who knows. Maybe a year or two. Maybe not, but I’m enjoying it. I love this,” Roker shared. “You don’t get off the train until the last stop.”
Kotb tearfully announced her “Today” departure while surrounded by her colleagues Roker, Savannah Guthrie, Craig Melvin, Jenna Bush Hager and Sheinelle Jones last week.
“I had my kiddos later in life and I was thinking that they deserve a bigger piece of my time pie that I have. I feel like we only have a finite amount of time. And so, with all that being said, this is the hardest thing in the world,” she said, crying.
“I’m gonna be here through the first of the year — past the first of the year — and I’m gonna stay in the NBC family, but it’s kind of a big deal for me.”
Roker shared his excitement for Kotb’s next chapter with her children, Hope, 7, and Haley, 5, telling People he’s “just so thrilled for her that I can’t possibly feel any sadness.
“I would feel much worse if she was leaving, but she’s just doing something else within our NBC News family,” he explained.
“And look, I’m very fortunate in that I’ve watched my kids grow up. Especially when Courtney was younger, I was in local news, so I was home in the morning with my kids. But she’s got two young daughters, Haley and Hope … Those moments, those kids grow up. I mean, it’s cliché, but because it’s true. It’s like you blink,” Roker added. “So I understand exactly why she did it.”
While Roker’s ecstatic for his colleague, Guthrie, 52, who co-anchors the first two hours of the news show with Kotb, is reportedly having the hardest time accepting the news.
“No one is taking the news worse than Savannah Guthrie,” Melvin, 45, said in a clip on X posted by the “Today” show.
“I love her so much,” a tearful Guthrie said during a segment. “And like I always say, Hoda, hold hands and I’ll go anywhere with you. And I will always be by her side whether we’re sitting there or we’re sitting in lazy boys on the porch in our old age.”
Kotb told her colleagues about her exit in an emotional letter.
“As I write this, my heart is all over the map,” she wrote. “I know I’m making the right decision, but it’s a painful one. And you all are the reason why. They say two things can be right at the same time, and I’m feeling that so deeply right now. I love you and it’s time for me to leave the show.
“My time at NBC has been the longest professional love affair of my life,” Kotb continued. “But only because you’ve been beside me on this twenty-six-year adventure. Looking back, the math is nuts. 26 years at NBC News — Ten years at ‘Dateline,’ seven on the seven o’clock hour, sixteen on the ten o’clock hour.
“I’m picturing your faces and your families and all the ways you’ve lifted me up and inspired me. That’s my heart singing. So many of my professional relationships have become some of my most cherished friendships.
“Savannah: my rock. Jenna: my ride-or-die. Al: my longest friend at 30 Rock. Craig, Carson, Sheinelle and Dylan: my family. Libby, Mazz and Talia: my fearless leaders. I will miss each and every one of you at TODAY desperately.”
Kotb joined the show in 2008. She will report for her on-camera duties until January 2025 and continue working within the network after.
