The TODAY show family is together again at last!
After months of being physically separated as many of them worked from home due to the coronavirus pandemic, TODAY anchors Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, Al Roker, Craig Melvin and Carson Daly were finally able to reunite thanks to an outdoor, socially-distanced gathering held in upstate New York earlier this month.
The NBC morning show's cameras captured the emotional get-together, and as shown in the below clip, Savannah was the first to admit how much she missed her co-hosts.
"People ask us, is it hard to get up in the morning and that early? I always say no," she told the group. "And the reason it's not hard is because we're all there together, and I think that's been the hardest part—that we really love meeting up in the morning and spending our whole morning together."
Carson echoed Savannah's sentiments, admitting, "I don't even really like being on TV that much, I just want to be hanging out with you and the show and the environment and the crew."
Unlike Savannah, Al, Craig and Carson—who had all been filming TODAY from home until recently—Hoda has remained at the show's famed Studio 1A in New York City's Rockefeller Center.
"I have to tell you one of the weirdest things in the world is sitting in our seats, turning around and seeing nobody," Hoda explained. "And occasionally a nurse would walk by with a sign, or occasionally there'd be somebody out back, but that makes the show. Because you feel that energy, the juice we're missing."
As the lone anchor in the studio, Hoda has become overwhelmed with emotion a number of times in recent months. However, as Savannah noted, she's not the only one.
"I think we've all had a breakdown here or there; sometimes on camera, sometimes not," the 48-year-old mom of two said. "But I think we all know we're the lucky ones, but there's so much grief on so many levels. It's so heavy and we do want to be together. It's hard to carry that alone. I feel like our kids need us right now. I do think they sense something whether they know what it is or not."
The two went on to discuss spending time with their children, and the bright side of quarantine being that they get to experience moments they might normally miss.
"I feel like my life's been on pause and I'm, like, seeing things more clearly," Hoda revealed. "I think."
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the TODAY show anchors, like the rest of the country, have witnessed the eruption of protests against racial injustice following the death of George Floyd.
Al recalled the weight of the movement hitting him when he saw the windows at Rockefeller Center all boarded up, and Savannah praised Craig—who's been reporting on protests in-person from different cities—for "covering the story of our lifetime, which is the reckoning this country has gone through."
"And the way he has done it with such empathy and humanity and professionalism and integrity, he makes it look easy," she noted. "Aren't you just so proud?"
Craig expressed his gratitude for his co-hosts, adding, "But that's one thing I will say about our little show, as we call it. I've always liked our show."
He continued "I have fallen in love with our show over the last few months. Because it's the only place—literally the only place on television—where you can get, you know, the latest on the pandemic, the latest on this reckoning that we find ourselves in right now, but then a story of inspiration."
The clip of the reunion closes out with a sweet message from Savannah.
"I guess to me this whole time period is really a testament to bonds that are greater than physical closeness. They're real closeness, emotional closeness, and our friendships have carried that and then kind of lifted us up," she told her TODAY co-hosts. "And I feel that. I mean, we're far away [but] I feel as close to you as ever if not more. And especially because these are trying times and when you feel scared and sad and discouraged, you lean on each other and I feel that way about you all."
Watch the full reunion at Today.com/AllDay—the site for a brand new streaming channel from NBC News, which brings you the best news, information and inspiration from the TODAY show all day long—or on Peacock TV, the new free streaming service from NBCUniversal.
(E!, Peacock and Today are all part of the NBCUniversal family.)