What To Know
- Jenna Bush Hager joked on Today that her father, former President George W. Bush, has referred to her show as “dumb.”
- The Today hosts came up with ideas for how Bush could appear on Today With Jenna & Friends from home in the future.
- Bush Hager noted that her father has turned down multiple invitations from her to appear on the NBC morning show.
Jenna Bush Hager hilariously called out her father, former President George W. Bush, for how often he tunes in to Today With Jenna & Friends.
During the “PopStart” segment on the Wednesday, November 19, episode of Today, Bush Hager and her colleagues discussed her dad’s recent appearance on Peyton and Eli Manning‘s Manningcast podcast. In particular, the hosts joked about how many times Bush poked fun at the brothers’ frequent appearances in TV commercials.
“How long have you been preparing for this Manningcast appearance?” Eli asked Bush in a clip from the podcast. “About 10 minutes,” he replied, adding, “I’m so pleased to see your faces not on a TV commercial.”
In Today‘s Studio 1A, Carson Daly asked Bush Hager whether her father was aware of the exposure he would receive from the podcast appearance. “I think yes, but he did it from the comfort of his own art studio,” she said. “Because I’ve actually asked him, and maybe I’ll do a public ask, for him to come and be a ‘friend,’ since he is my father. Well, he said he was retired, so I was surprised as anyone to see him on [the podcast].”
Savannah Guthrie gave Bush the benefit of the doubt for appearing on the podcast and not joining his daughter on Today. “He didn’t have to leave the house, and he would have to leave the house for you to come on and be a friend,” she said. Al Roker even went on to suggest, “Why don’t you go to Texas and do the show from there?”
“Do we have that kind of money?” Bush Hager questioned, to which Craig Melvin replied, “I feel like for a former president, we could find it.” Regardless, Bush Hager said she still thinks her dad would turn down the opportunity to cohost the fourth hour of Today with her.
“I’m sure he’ll still say no. He says things like, ‘I don’t watch your dumb show.’ I know!” she quipped. Her comments surprised her cohosts, who burst into laughter. “Oh, my gosh!” Melvin remarked, while Daly added, “That’s why we love him.”
Bush Hager and her twin sister, Barbara Bush, are the only children of George and former first lady Laura Bush. Bush Hager has hosted Jenna & Friends with a variety of celebrity cohosts since Hoda Kotb‘s Today departure in January, but has yet to be joined by either of her parents.
During the show’s October 6 episode, guest host Justin Sylvester recalled a time when Bush Hager almost got her dad to appear on the show via phone.
“One time, you were calling your dad because you wanted him to come on the show. You wanted him to be phoned into the show. And he goes, ‘Let’s get this party started!’” he explained. “And I said, ‘Wait, hold a minute. Hold a minute, George.’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, let’s go! Let’s get this party going!’ And it was the cutest thing. I had never heard your dad ever before.”
At the time, Bush Hager joked that her dad “usually says no” to her requests to be on the show.
Today, Weekdays, 7 a.m./6c, NBC
Today With Jenna & Friends, Weekdays, 10 a.m./9c, NBC