Yahoo Lifestyle Craig Melvin Jokes He'll Only Retire From 'Today' When They 'Wheel Me Out of This Place' (Exclusive)
Craig Melvin isn't going anywhere.
The longtime news anchor—who has been serving as co-anchor on Today's 3rd Hour since 2018 and recently took over the show's first two hours after longtime co-host Hoda Kotb's exit earlier this month—exclusively tells Parade that he'll only leave the show if they force him out of the studio.
"I'm going to go out the [Al] Roker way. They'll have to wheel me out of this place," Melvin, 45, jokes while chatting with Parade for the Friday, Jan. 17, digital cover story. "They will have to come in with boxes and security and say, 'You're done. You're fired.' That's me."
Melvin also praised Kotb, 60, for her bravery to leave the Today show while at the top of her career—and on her own accord.
"It takes a certain kind of courage to leave anything when you're at the height of your game," Melvin says. "And for her to basically step away and say, 'You know what? I'm good. I've done this. Now I want to go conquer something new.' It won't be me."
Kotb announced her exit from Today in September last year after working as an anchor on NBC for more than two decades. She first joined the network in 1998 as a correspondent on Dateline and all NBC news platforms, and served as the first host of Today's fourth hour in 2007 before Kathie Lee Gifford joined her the following year. Jenna Bush Hager succeeded Gifford after her exit in 2019. Kotb also co-anchored Today with Savannah Guthrie beginning in 2018.
Despite Kotb's exit from the news program, she won't be leaving the NBC family completely, the Emmy-winning broadcast journalist exclusively told Parade earlier this month.
Noting that she'll have a role similar to Snoop Dogg and his 2024 Paris Olympics coverage for NBC, Kotb said she'll be working with the network to help cover the 2026 Milan Olympics and 2028 Los Angeles Olympics when the time comes.
"It is such a part of me, and I'll be coming back to the Today show, maybe once a month in the springtime to talk about stuff and maybe do a story here and there, that kind of thing," Kotb told Parade. "And I'm excited about that, too, because I've never been there in that capacity. So I think that would be fun, too. So I get to just play with my friends again."
Related: 'Today' Cast Can’t Keep It Together as They Toast to Craig Melvin's New Role
