Trevor Noah is sharing his advice for Hoda Kotb as she prepares to leave the Today show after 17 years.
On the Oct. 7 episode of the NBC news program, Noah, 40, was asked about his own departure from The Daily Show in Dec. 2022.
“Are you asking me this because you’re leaving now?” he quipped to Kotb.
“I’m here to excavate…” she teased and her co-host Savannah Guthrie interjected, “Is this an interview or a therapy session?”
Noah noted that change often comes with “a moment of soul searching” before reflecting on his own exit for the hit Comedy Central series.
“I miss many moments at The Daily Show. I miss the people and I miss the idea,” he shared. “I miss the routine but it’s that old adage. You have to let go of something old to hold on to something new.”
“There are new parts of yourself that you discover,” he continued. “There are parts of yourself that wish you could have held onto but you don’t. It just becomes like a gradual change.”
The comedian then shared his “one piece of advice” for Kotb, 60, following her announcement that she plans to leave the Today show early next year.
“Don’t jump into everything else on the other side,” he advised. “I made that mistake initially and now I found a nice cadence and different rhythm, where I don’t have the same push anymore but it’s nice. It’s a different type of feeling.”
Kotb shared her plans to depart Today last month, writing in a letter to NBC staffers: “I know I’m making the right decision, but it’s a painful one. And you all are the reason why. They say two things can be right at the same time, and I’m feeling that so deeply right now. I love you and it’s time for me to leave the show.”
She then shared the decision on-air, as she sat on a couch surrounded by her colleagues Al Roker, Craig Melvin, Jenna Bush Hager, Sheinelle Jones and Guthrie for the emotional announcement.
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In this week’s PEOPLE cover story, Kotb — who is mom to daughters Haley, 7, and Hope, 5 — reflects on the decision to leave the show.
“I’ve kind of been contemplating, wondering, thinking about what I wanted this next chunk of my life to look like as I turned 60,” she shares. “And I like adventure, I like new beginnings. I’m a sunrise person and not a sunset person, and I was wondering, what does it look like for me?”
“I’ve had yearnings, and you know when something’s pulling you? It’s like you either go toward it or you shove it down and say, ‘Nope, this is the way. I’m going to stay here because it’s safe,’” she later adds. “It does make more sense to stay at NBC. I’m financially secure and I would have job security. I mean, why would you ever not do that? But I’ve been watching my kids and I was thinking to myself, I wonder what I’m missing?”
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