Special to the Director's Cut BlogBy Olivia Barker, USA Today
NEW YORK - Amid the whir of hair dryers huddle a half-dozen women chatting about Lindsay Lohan and Jersey Shore. Cases of makeup litter a counter, behind which sits Kathie Lee Gifford, wearing a Flashdance-friendly gray tunic and a crown of rollers, and Hoda Kotb, clad in black and fuchsia workout gear and expertly applied mascara.
No matter that it's 8:35 a.m. on a Wednesday. "It's Winesday," Gifford reminds the ladies. One, a Today show producer, produces a tiny foam flip-flop that hugs the foot of a wine glass and lets an imbiber know whose stem is theirs amid a glut of goblets. Gifford studies the spongy pink-and-purple Chardonnay cozy, considering whether she and Kotb should discuss it during their on-air chat. "How truly elegant," she deadpans. "I never put mine down - that's the thing." Kotb's assessment is slightly more generous: "Oh, that is cute."
Yes, the Gifford-and-Kotb pajama party starts well before 10 a.m., when their goofy, cultishly popular corner of Today commences one floor down from here in 10 Rockefeller Plaza. Gifford, 56, the Carnival Cruise pitchwoman turned Regis Philbin sidekick, and Kotb, 45, the Emmy-nominated Dateline correspondent, are the odd couple of talk TV - though more Laverne and Shirley than Felix and Oscar, Gifford says. (Naturally, she's brassy Laverne; Kotb is square Shirley.)
"We enjoy each other - so far," Gifford says. "I mean, today could be the end of it."
Indeed, it's against a lot of odds that this odd couple is celebrating their 600th episode today. The matchup was a risk, concedes Today executive producer Jim Bell. "But there's no question that that show and their relationship has tapped into something" - and not just a wine cask. (The full wine glass is one of their stock desk props).
This season, the Gifford- and Kotb-hosted fourth hour is averaging 2 million daily viewers, up 4 percent over last season. Among grown-up pajama partiers - women ages 25 to 54 - the audience has grown 13 percent.
"I thought that I would last a year," Gifford says. "Now that we've made something out of this, I feel a responsibility to the viewers who look forward to a cup of coffee with us - or glass of wine. We don't judge."
There are the spoofs shot across the plaza on Saturday Night Live. There are the 3.5 million monthly average video streams on KLGandHoda.com. There are the dynamic daytime duo's 141,000-plus Facebook fans and more than 39,000 combined Twitter followers.
And there's the fact that if Gifford has long been well-known by her first two names (and monogram), Kotb is catching up to the first-name-only celebrity clique - even though it's often "Hoda-woman!" Gifford's nickname for her, that truck drivers holler. Or "Hilda!"
"That's OK," Kotb says. "As long as it's close." (Not as appreciated: "You - with Kathie Lee! You!") Her leap from sober newswoman to Bad Romance-bopping Hoda-woman has been "a game-changer," she says. "Who would have thought?" Out this October is a memoir: Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer and - she lowers her voice to a conspiratorial whisper - Kathie Lee.
"Part of the culture"
Media experts aren't surprised that Bell's "interesting experiment," as he calls it, has worked. "They have certainly made the show distinctive, and, ultimately, that's where success comes from: When something stands out and becomes more than just a show, it becomes part of the culture," says analyst Bill Carroll of ad buyer Katz Television Group.
The pair's complementary chemistry is key. Kotb is "a much calmer influence, and I think that balances the show," Carroll says. "It allows Kathie Lee to be, some might say, outrageous, and Hoda can be sort of the leveling (presence)." Others, like the 512 members of the "I Hate Kathy (sic) Lee Gifford" Facebook group, might describe her behavior as annoying.
Nowhere is the she said-she said, give-and-take "ping-pong thing," as Gifford puts it, more evident than in their repartee. Gifford is "funny and goes outside the box when she says things. She kind of pushes the envelope," says Teresa Lobosco, 43, of Las Vegas, one of dozens participating in today's round of the show's "Who Knew?" quiz segment. "She picks a little too much on Hoda, but it's all in jest."
Like the Valentine's Day during which Gifford mentioned to her co-host, "Hey, this is the day you met your husband and got divorced." Or how Gifford wanted to name her goldendoodle Hoda.
Kotb: "I took umbrage."
Gifford: "But (the puppy) has glorious long legs and feet!" - like Kotb. Gifford nonetheless finally settled for Lola.
"I'm lucky I'm confident enough not to get a complex" about the jousting, Kotb says.
"We have a great affection and respect for each other," Gifford insists. "Otherwise, the teasing comes off as mean-spirited. We really love each other as friends."
"It's true," chimes in Kotb, who, every Wednesday, lunches with Gifford and catches a Broadway matinee with her. She also has been a guest at Gifford's Nantucket house.
Still, "the alcohol helps," Kotb says. (Incidentally, the midmorning booze-fest began when Chelsea Handler showed up to promote her 2008 book Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea, and "being good hostesses, we had some cocktails for her," Gifford says. The good hostess shtick continues today, as the pair continually offer a visitor a comfy chair and, once, a glass of, yep, wine.)
Gifford officially joined Today on April 7, 2008. Bell courted her after she appeared as a guest the previous November, "plugging something," he says. "I just remember thinking: 'Wow, it's sort of like seeing an athlete and, wait a minute, why isn't she still playing?' "
Back then, the fourth hour, which launched in September 2007 with Kotb, Ann Curry and Natalie Morales, "had no personality," Gifford says. She remembers watching a segment about which white shirt would hold up best in the wash. "I didn't make it to the fifth shirt."
Nowadays, forget something as mundane as a shirt. They've gone bra- - and makeup- - free. They've digitally added 100 pounds to their bodies. They've suited up as sumo wrestlers. "What is more humiliating?" asks Kotb, her face twisting in fright. "That was the bottom" - literally. Earlier this month, she bowed out of a booger-flavored ice-cream tasting. Gifford, however, was reluctantly game before declaring brightly, "I like the booger." ("You have to be willing to be a fool," Gifford explains.)
Things have gotten looser
Things have changed since Gifford bid adieu to daytime TV a decade ago, after 15 years as Philbin's protegee in playful patter. "Nothing's off-limits now," she says.
Back in the day, when Philbin and Gifford had on a guest connected to The Vagina Monologues, "Regis could not say the word" - the V-word.
Now, "it's really hard to rein in (the bawdy banter) because it's everywhere else," Kotb says.
Does Bell ever cringe while watching? "Frequently," he says. "You never know what you're going to get, but that is part of the deal. And you just have to hold on."
This morning the topics zip from cavity searches (Lohan's) to Brazilian bikini waxes to bikini trimmers. Regarding the last subject, "it's definitely a hairy situation," says guest beauty expert Rebekah George.
Gifford and Kotb - and the entire crew - groan loudly.
"Four-bladed (razor)?" Gifford says while Kotb doubles over in grimacing laughter. "What have you got going on down there? How about a lawn mower?!"
"Moving along," George says, ushering the hosts toward a group of bronzers.
"You don't want (the chatter) to be vulgar and disgusting," Gifford says later.
"That," ribs Kotb, referring to the razor riposte, "was vulgar."
After the segment - and the hour - is up, Gifford and Kotb get girlie over the products, picking up bottles and testing out potions.
No matter that they're wearing sleeveless sheaths and stilettos: The pajama party continues.
As "Who Knew?" contestant Courtney Gilpin, 44, of Boston says, explaining his relative lack of interest in the fourth hour, "We're guys." He gestures to his son Nick, 11. "It's more of a ladies' show."
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Editor's Note: The 4th hour of today airs locally on WKYC from 11 am until Noon.
