Comedian Heather McMahan had an interesting suggestion for Jenna Bush Hager to find her permanent Today co-host to fill Hoda Kotb‘s spot.
McMahan, who guest hosted Today With Jenna & Friends this week, kicked off Friday’s (Feb. 28) broadcast on a hilarious note by suggesting Bush Hager stage a “fight club” to find her next permanent co-host.
“I’ve genuinely had so much fun,” McMahan said. “I just want to pitch this: So I know you’re looking for a new permanent friend, but once it gets down to the top five, which I hope at some point I’ll be in that ranking, I think we should all have to wrestle in [Rockefeller Plaza.] Not like a fight to the death, a friendly Jenna & Friends fight club.”
The suggestion made Bush Hager and the Today crew laugh. “Who would you throw in the ring with you?” Bush Hager asked.
McMahan was quick to call out her prospective opponents. “I think I could pick up Scarlett Johansson,” she said. “I think I would be stronger than most of the gals or guys in the running.”
She then turned to the camera and added, “So, I’m just throwing that out there, if anyone would like to see it, we can raise money for charity. I will fight everybody for this job.”
Bush Hager appeared open to the suggestion. “We should get the WWE people in, build a ring,” she said. “We’ll be on that.”
There is no indication that Bush Hager has found her permanent guest host just yet. Since Kotb retired in early January, the fourth hour of Today rebranded into Jenna & Friends, where Bush Hager is joined by a rotating panel of guest hosts. Eva Longoria, Keke Palmer, Willie Geist and several others have joined her on the show, but Bush Hager has remained rather tight-lipped about who could be in the running for the permanent position.
One clear front runner was Johansson, who was very transparent about how much she wanted to stay on the show. And Bush Hager appeared more than willing to make it happen.
“Are you kidding me? We started a GoFundMe so you could be here all the time. It’s been a dream,” Bush Hager told Johansson when she co-hosted earlier this year. On another occasion, Bush Hager pleaded for Johansson to stay on the show with her “if we can round up a lot of money.”
Today with Jenna & Friends airs on weekdays at 10/9c on NBC.
