LaToya Cantrell is New Orleans’ mayor. Drew Brees is our patron Saint. But if you want to know the queen of the Crescent City, just ask Jenna Bush Hager.
After what she witnessed the past weekend, she knows exactly who Her Highness is – and she doesn’t have to look far.
It’s Hoda Kotb, the former local TV personality and unflagging civic booster who serves as Hager’s co-host for the fourth hour of NBC’s “Today” show.
Today show co-host Hoda Kotb takes selfies with the crowds of fans gathered around her and co-host Jenna Bush, not pictured, in Jackson Square in New Orleans on Monday, May 1, 2023. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
“Coming to New Orleans with Hoda – you wouldn’t even believe it,” Hager said Monday morning on the makeshift set in Jackson Square from which she, Kotb and their “Today” crew kicked off two days of shows. “Everybody knows her. It’s so much fun.”
Ostensibly, Hager, Kotb and crew were in town to celebrate the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, but Monday’s show – sponsored by New Orleans & Company, the city’s tourism bureau – quickly turned into a celebration of all things New Orleans.
Call it Hoda Fest.
“Our show is New Orleans,” Kotb said. “It’s a feeling. It’s like a freedom. I feel like our show has the vibe of this city, because this city – which is beloved by the both of us – it just has that laid-back (feel): Let it be, listen, feel it. That’s what it feels like.”
Picturesque and musical
The 173-year-old Lower Pontalba building served as a particularly picturesque backdrop as she spoke.
Trombone Shorty, center, and his band play on the Today show co-hosted by Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush in Jackson Square in New Orleans on Monday, May 1, 2023. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
To her right, Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews and the horn-tastic Orleans Avenue served as a de facto house band, with a legion of full-throated, sign-waving fans – “New Orleans has a heartbeat for Hoda” – backing them up.
“It’s been the most spectacular weekend in the most spectacular city,” Kotb said.
The spectacle started Friday for Kotb and Hager, who attended the opening day of Jazz Fest 2023 with cameras in tow.
There, they sampled all the sights, sounds and flavors Jazz Fest has to offer. Clips of their Fairgrounds adventures were sprinkled throughout Monday’s show.
“Quint (Davis) let us get on the stage and kind of welcome everybody to Jazz Fest,” Kotb said.
“Which we couldn’t believe,” Hager added.
Kotb: “He was like, ’Go out now!’ We were like, ‘Really?’”
Hager: “Neither one of us are usually nervous, but we were in front of that whole crowd!”
Backup singing, backstage visits
Later, they sang along with Irma. They grooved to Lizzo. They visited backstage with Big Freedia.
And they ate and ate and ate everything they could get their hands on.
Everything.
“We ate some guy’s crawfish enchilada!” Kotb said, laughing. “We were chowing down; he was like, ‘That’s mine!’”
Chef Justin Devillier waits on the side to deliver some dishes of food to Today show co-hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush during a live broadcast in Jackson Square in New Orleans on Monday, May 1, 2023. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
“He was standing right there!” Hager added. “We didn’t know!”
They’re such big fans of Vaucresson’s Sausage that they invited owner Vance Vaucresson – a third-generation sausage maker and original Jazz Fest vendor – to do a live cooking demonstration on Monday’s show with wife Julie.
It being Monday, and the Vaucressons being such devoted New Orleanians, the menu was a wholly appropriate one: red beans and rice with a side of Vaucresson sausage.
More celebrities
Actor John Goodman blows a kiss to the crowd gathered around the set of the Today show during a live broadcast with co-hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush in Jackson Square in New Orleans on Monday, May 1, 2023. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
Actor John Goodman swung by to profess his love for the city. Also there: New Orleans Saints owner Gayle Benson, whose pet project – the restoration of St. Louis Cathedral – was the subject of a promotional spot taped by Kotb shortly before Monday’s show began.
Amid it all, Kotb and Hager seized every opportunity to acknowledge and visit with their fans.
The fun continues Tuesday, with another New Orleans show – taped right after Monday’s live show – set to air at 10 a.m. CT on WDSU-Ch. 6. Among the guests on tap: Irma Thomas and Wanda Rouzan, who will perform, and Commander’s Palace Executive Chef Meg Bickford.
Hager and Kotb also teased a special surprise, “an incredible moment that y’all are going to love,” in Hager’s words.
Those who missed this week’s shows need not worry. Kotb and Hager, who previously shot shows in town in 2018 and 2022, promised to return. And next time, they said, Hoda Fest will last more than just two shows.
Today show co-host Hoda Kotb takes selfies with the crowds of fans gathered around her and co-host Jenna Bush, not pictured, in Jackson Square in New Orleans on Monday, May 1, 2023. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
“We’re already planning our next one and our next one,” Kotb said. “We’re definitely going to be at Jazz Fest again next year for sure – and longer than a day. Why can’t we do a week? Why can’t we have a solid week here? Because it fits. If something fits, you’ve got to go with it.”
Mike Scott can be reached at moviegoermike@gmail.com.
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