Jenna Bush Hager continues to hunt for a new co-anchor on Today With Jenna & Friends after her best friend and colleague Hoda Kotb departed the show in January to spend more time with her young daughters.
The pair have remained as close as ever in the months since, yet Jenna opened up about finding new and unexpected friendship with one Today guest in particular: Tiffany Haddish.
A budding friendship
The comedian joined the mother of three on the Jenna & Friends segment from April 23 to April 25, and the pair's chemistry was evident from their first on-screen moment together.
Following their on-air shenanigans, Jenna took to Instagram to share how a real friendship had bloomed between them. "Sometimes you meet friends at unexpected times! Love you @tiffanyhaddish," she wrote alongside a photo of the two at the Today desk.
"No one makes me laugh like @tiffanyhaddish," she added, before calling her "wildly talented".
© GC ImagesThe Girl's Trip star couldn't have been happier that she had gained a new friend, writing in the comment section of a Today Instagram post about their special connection.
"I will say this and I don't say things like this often but hands down. I would work with Jenna doing ANYTHING seriously!" she exclaimed.
"I feel like we should have been childhood friends but God has a plan and I am obedient. We are friends now and that is all that matters to me."
© Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty IHer new pal replied to the sweet message, writing: "@tiffanyhaddish love you so much!!! Thanks for making us all laugh!"
The 45-year-old made her feelings known on the show in April, sharing that she "had so much fun" and loved "being here with [Jenna]."
"We're friends, as far as I'm concerned," she told the author. "You're my bestie. See, and that's why we should work together all the time, network executives."
An unbreakable bond
© Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty IThis comes just months after Hoda stepped down from her Today role after 17 years on the show. Jenna joined the team in 2009 and the pair became fast friends when they began to host the fourth hour together.
"We started off as colleagues/friends. We didn't really know each other. Over the five years, there's such a deep understanding of the other's soul and purpose," Hoda said on the show in 2024.
"We have traveled down these roads together," she continued. "A lot of times friendships don't grow, you talk about the old days. Not ours. Like every day [there's] something different, something new, something we're learning."
© NBCShe added that the Jenna was "my closest friend in adulthood that I didn't know that I needed," while her co-anchor shared that they "love each other."
The mother of two is just as excited as the rest of the world for news of her replacement. "I'm dying to find out who it's going to be," Hoda told People. "I've been talking with Jenna about it. I keep saying, 'Who's going to be our friend forever?'"
Jenna has welcomed a slew of stars since Hoda's exit, including Scarlett Johansson, Keke Palmer, Andy Cohen, Brooke Shields, Eva Longoria, her sister Barbara Bush, and her husband, Henry Hager.
For more of Hoda and Jenna's sweet friendship, see below...
