WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 27: Host Willie Geist attends Google & Hollywood Reporter Host an Evening Celebrating The White House Correspondents’ Weekend on April 27, 2012 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Hollywood Reporter)
Photo: Mike Coppola/2012 Getty Images
After putting in three years as the host of the aptly named 5:30 a.m. MSNBC show Way Too Early, Willie Geist is getting a promotion. The New York Times reports that he’ll join the Today show as co-host of the 9 a.m. hour and fill in for Matt Lauer as needed. Geist will still appear on Morning Joe, probably in the first hour, so the affable host has an easy escape route if it turns out that the Ann Curry Curse is real.
