Nathan Lane showed off his naughty sense of humor during a recent visit on Today With Hoda & Jenna, where he repeatedly left co-hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager shocked.
Lane was visiting Today with his Spellbound castmate Titus Burgess to promote their new Netflix musical. But their interview took a turn when Kotb questioned Lane about recent “headlines” that stated he was retiring from performing in musicals.
“Headlines? Headlines?!” he reacted. “The death of democracy maybe, but not headlines about me not doing musicals anymore.”
As the Today hosts laughed, Lane began explaining to Kotb, “Well, you know, just as you’re moving on…”
“Why did we have to bring that up?” Bush Hager quipped with playful disappointment.
“I know, it’s like Martin and Lewis breaking up,” Lane replied. “I’m very sad about that. But Kamala [Harris] is available.”
Kotb and Bush Hager laughed in shock at his response. Even Burgess appeared pleasantly surprised as he attempted to cover his smile.
But Lane continued explaining his decision to leave musical theater, calling it “a young man’s game.”
“Doing a musical eight times a week is like being a quarterback of, well I was gonna say the Jets but let’s pick a winning team,” he joked. “It’s like that, it’s an athletic event. It’s very taxing, to say the least.”
Vice President Harris is just the latest public figure to have her name thrown into the ring to fill in for Kotb when she retires in 2025, whether in jest or not. It seems like Kotb’s job on The Today Show and Today With Hoda & Jenna is the role everyone’s gunning for.
Bush Hager has not been shy when it comes to sharing how disappointed she is that Kotb will be leaving the show. She recently lamented the fact that fans kept congratulating Kotb on her decision to retire, making her feel like “the girl that just got dumped.”
“People are like, ‘You made the best choice, Hoda,’ and I’m like, did she? Did she make the best choice?” she said during a recent broadcast of Today.
Today with Hoda & Jenna airs on weekdays at 10/9c on NBC.