Who dat joined Hoda and Jenna in New Orleans for live tapings of the TODAY show? (2024)

It’s not as if “Today” show co-hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager ever really need a good reason to bring their fourth hour of the long-running NBC morning show to New Orleans.

They proved that with a “just because” trip to town last year. And the year before that. And the two years before that.

That said, when they signed on for their nationally televised broadcast Thursday morning from the lawn at the Old U.S. Mint on the edge of the French Quarter, they did, in fact, have a pretty darn good reason anyway: each other.

The dynamic duo’s fifth annual New Orleans visit, timed to coincide with the first day of the 2024 French Quarter Festival, also marked the five-year anniversary both of Hager and Kotb’s on-air partnership and of their off-air friendship.

As they describe it, it’s a relationship well worth celebrating. They also agreed New Orleans was the perfect place to do it.

“The funny thing is, New Orleans has become such a part of the show,” Kotb said between segments. “We’re based in New York, but we can’t help it. This is the kind of place you have to keep coming back to. It’s a place where we celebrate. When we have a big moment, this is where we want to be.”

For Kotb, the former local broadcaster and unflagging New Orleans booster, this week’s visit – which started with their arrival in town Tuesday – was a homecoming of sorts.

For Hager, it was the latest chapter in her continuing New Orleans education courtesy of Kotb.

Either way, it was another occasion to celebrate some well-loved local traditions and people.

'New Orleans again?'

“When I talked to my daughter Mila yesterday, she was like, ‘Are you in New Orleans again? It seems like you go every other week.’ And we really do!” Hager said. “Hoda’s right: It calls us. When we need a place to celebrate, we come here. When Jazz Fest calls, we come. When Mardi Gras is happening, we come. There are so many reasons to come to New Orleans.”

That, and the city’s “do whatcha wanna” ethos, was put on full display during Thursday morning’s show, which boasted a purple, green and gold spirit from start to finish.

Broadcasting from in front of the French Quarter Fest’s Louisiana Fish Fry stage – which was skinned in a “Hoda & Jena 5th Anniversary” overlay for the occasion – Kotb and Bush spent the hour getting funked up with Kermit Ruffins at his Mother-In-Law Lounge and stripping down for burlesque lessons with local performer Trixie Minx.

They breakfasted with Compère Lapin’s Chef Nina Compton, and they washed it down with music from their in-town house band, the Original Pinettes Brass Band.

All along, fans of the show provided an adoring backdrop, waving homemade signs and roaring on command, the early hour notwithstanding.

Who dat? Drew dat!

They needed no prompting, however, to launch into a lusty “Who Dat” chant during a segment featuring the day’s biggest guest: Saints legend Drew Brees.

In addition to participating in a New Orleans trivia contest with a pair of audience members, the Super Bowl XLIV MVP also surprised Saints superfan Kathy Young with a ticket package to a home game next season.

(Summing up the feelings of many in the Who Dat Nation, an overwhelmed Young – fittingly bedecked in a No. 9 jersey – squeezed Brees tight and told him, “We miss you so much.”)

As it turns out, they were just getting warmed up. After Thursday morning’s show, Kotb, Hager and their “Today” team taped a second show, to air Friday at 9 a.m. on WDSU-Ch. 6.

That episode will be highlighted by a fusion food tour, as well as visits by former WWL-TV anchor and Kotb bestie Karen Swensen with the St. Mary’s Academy Marching Band; Queen of Sparkles’ Jamie Glas Odom; and local co*cktail virtuoso Chris Hannah of Jewel of the South.

Like the first episode, the second is being underwritten by New Orleans and Co., the city’s tourism arm. Also like the first, it will shine a national spotlight on the French Quarter Fest, that more laid-back cousin of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival – and which, for Kotb’s money, is a pitch-perfect spiritual match for the loosey-goosey vibe of her and Hager’s show.

“We’re already playing music. We’re in the Quarter; people are out on their balconies dancing with us. At 7 a.m., there was someone holding a cup of coffee up there doing this dance,” Kotb said, nodding toward a building across the street. “It reminded me of French Quarter Fest. That is what it is. It’s laid back. It’s easy.”

Mike Scott can be contacted at moviegoermike@gmail.com.