What To Know
- Carson Daly made his debut as Laura Jarrett’s permanent Weekend Today co-anchor on November 7 after several fill-in appearances.
- Daly shared his excitement about the new role and the challenges it brings.
- Daly also broke down how his schedule and preparation have changed since taking on the job.
Carson Daly couldn’t be more excited about adding more to his TV plate.
After a few weeks of filling in as Laura Jarrett‘s Weekend Today coanchor, it was announced earlier this month that Daly would take on the role permanently. He made his official debut as the Saturday edition of Today‘s new anchor on Saturday, November 7.
“I’m in my season of saying ‘yes’ to anything NBC. Whatever they need around here,” Daly, who also hosts NBC’s The Voice, told Jenna Bush Hager on the Thursday, November 12, episode of Today With Jenna & Sheinelle. He joked, “You know, I moved in my dressing room. I have an air mattress. I live here now.”
Bush Hager congratulated her colleague on his new role, stating, “I just have to say how proud I am of you because you’re one of the hardest-working guys ever. So, to take on something new is really cool.”
Becoming a Weekend Today co-anchor was something Daly said he didn’t seek out. “I just told the bosses, I said, ‘Listen, if there’s ever a Saturday where you need a fill-in or a holiday… That first half hour of the show is kind of the hard news part of it. I don’t ever sit in the chair and flex that muscle. That’s something I’d really like to just do if it ever [happens],’” he explained. “Then, there was, like, four [episodes] in a row that came up. I did them, and we all fell in love, and here we are on Saturday mornings now. It’s crazy.”
For Daly, the job was an exciting chance to try something new. “You’re never too old to take on a new task or learn a new challenge. I’m certainly not afraid to work, and it’s an incredible opportunity for me. But it’s not the kind of gig that you can just phone it in. You can’t fake the funk, as they say, when you’re handling the coveted chair of anchoring the Today show, even on the weekends,” he shared. “So, I’ve been studying on Friday nights. I have a lot to learn still, but Laura, my partner, is incredible and we get along great. It’s a great crew. So yeah, my whole Friday nights and Saturdays have completely evolved.”
Daly noted that the importance of hard work has been instilled in him since childhood. “I was just raised with this idea that you’ve got to work and work to provide,” he told Bush Hager. “So, when this opportunity came up, I was like, ‘Listen, just because I’m 53 and have never done something, I’m happy to go back down and have the opportunity to learn how to do something again. And that’s what it is.”
He continued, “It takes time. You’ve got to learn. You’ve got to know this environment. It’s an important job, so you’ve got to know what’s happening in the world. You have to be read in to a lot of news stories. You have to know our foreign correspondents, and now I get to do that on Saturday mornings, and it’s fun.”
Daly wrapped up the conversation by poking fun at his past. “I used to play Britney Spears videos for a living! I’m an MTV VJ! That’s all I really am,” he said, referring to his breakout gig as the host of Total Request Live. “But now, I toss it down to Richard Engel, who might be in Paris covering a riot, and I have to be on top of it. So, it’s really fun.”
Today, Weekdays, 7am/6c, NBC
Weekend Today, Saturdays, 7am/6c, NBC