Al Roker: How He Became the Most Trusted Face in Morning TV

In this episode, legendary broadcaster Al Roker shares his story from growing up in Queens to becoming one of America’s most beloved television personalities. He opens up about his early passion for weather, decades in broadcasting, health challenges, family life, and what keeps him curious and grateful after more than 40 years in media. A heartfelt conversation about resilience, joy, and purpose.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey guys, it's your friend Kate Max and welcome back
to Post Run High. You know those mornings where you
wake up and the weather is just not it, It's cloudy,
you're tired, you don't feel like moving, but you do anyway,
and somehow.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Your whole day shifts.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Well, that's kind of how Today's guest lives his life.
Al Roker has been showing up for America's mornings for
over forty five years. He's the man behind the forecast,
the laughter, and the energy that's kicked off our days
on the Today Show for so many years.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
I literally grew up watching him before school.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
My mom always had the Today Show on, So getting
the chance to sit down with him really felt like
a full circle moment and a dream come true for me.
Al is not just a TV icon, He's someone who's
redefined consistency, positivity and showing up through every season. It
was such an honor to talk to him about health, longevity,
and what keeps him moving rain or shine. So this

(00:59):
is Al Roker on Post Run High.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Al Roker, Welcome to Post Run High.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
Well, nice to see you, Kate.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
It is so nice to see you.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
I mean, this is like meeting an icon that I
grew up watching every single morning.

Speaker 3 (01:21):
Well, of course I'm an icon because I went to
college the same college your mom was.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yes, you did, Karen Mackie. That's it's as suni Oswego
Oswego legends. And it was funny.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
I was watching an interview you did a few years
ago wearing this Oswego T shirt and I was like,
I know that exact T shirt because my mom is
always repping her gear.

Speaker 3 (01:37):
You know, it's funny because the running gag with my
kids is because I mean, I've probably got fifty variations
of the Swego T shirt and I'll wear and my
middle girl Leela will go, hey, dad, where'd you go
to school? Well it's not clear.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
You know what?

Speaker 1 (01:54):
Though, after seeing you, it was funny because I was
the interview that I watched was from maybe like four
years ago, and you were wearing the T shirt, and
I said to myself, I was like, I should wear
more Foredom gear because it's cool to be proud of
the school that you came from. And you know, colleges
shape us in such a big way. So I loved
I loved seeing.

Speaker 3 (02:13):
That's my identity. I'm on a Squego State grad.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yeah, let's go all right, Well we're going to get
to your time weego, But first I want to start
out by saying, we just went for a little walk
through Brooklyn.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
Al was getting cheered on by all the guys outside.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
It was really refreshing to see you have been so
open for so many years about different like health things
that you've gone through. I know you've recently had prostate cancer,
You've gone through surgeries that you very publicly have talked about.
So what does fitness now look like in your life?

Speaker 3 (02:41):
I think fitness it's morphed and part of it's due
to my wife, Deborah Roberts, who's a co host of
twenty twenty and does all stuff ABC News, is really fit.
I mean, she's in great shape. And I was one
of those people who believe that if you didn't get

(03:03):
an hour in, why bother? You know, And her mantra is, well,
something's better than nothing, And so I've I've kind of
adopted that. So now I try working that in so
instead of you know, you're in a sense like in
the morning, they'll send a car for us because they

(03:23):
want to make sure we get there afterwards, you're on
your own. But like I find, I end up I
either take the subway or the bus because I've got
to walk to both. I've got to walk, you know,
Like you're in the subway, you got to walk to
your end of the train, then get out and you
walk again. So I try to fit in more things

(03:44):
where I'm trying to get a little, a little snack
sizes of exercise. I will, you know, try to get
up in the morning and go for two or three miles.
But I do find that even those days I don't
because I've tried to work that in that you know,
I look at my watch at the end of the day, Oh,
I got more than ten thousand steps. Not that again.

(04:07):
You know, we somehow we got ten thousand steps. Somebody
I don't know who did that. I don't know who
came up with that. And now we find out, Yeah,
maybe it's not ten, maybe it's eight, maybe it's whatever
you are, but it's still more than zero.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yep, it's true. I mean, the thing is we said
it on the walk.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
But truly, living in New York City, you naturally are
just getting your steps in because you have to walk
to do anything. You have to walk to take your
trash out down the hall at your apartment building. You know,
there's like so many times that you're getting your steps in.
It's like a mental shift. I used to be the
same way. I'm like, if I can't get a six
mile in mile run in, I'm not even gonna go
for a run today. And now I'm like, if I
can work out for ten minutes fifteen minutes when I

(04:43):
have a busy schedule, like that feels great to me.

Speaker 3 (04:46):
And I feel that we tend not to give ourselves
yeah credit, you know, I think our default a lot,
not everybody, but a lot is to kind of brush
it off. Oh no, no, you know I remember the
one and only time I ran, well ran the marathon.
Uh it was. It took me more in six hours,

(05:07):
but I did it. I didn't break any land speed records.
In fact, Leila, my, my, she's the one that comes
up with all the jokes. She said, Hey, daddy, what
did the snail say on top of the turtle? I
don't know, sweetye what wee? You know, so it wasn't
the fastest.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
Wait, oh, what year did you run the marathon?

Speaker 3 (05:26):
Twenty Tenkay? Twenty ten?

Speaker 2 (05:29):
You know, impressive.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
I've done a few half marathons, but you know, again,
I fast walk them. I'm not running. I don't. It's
like no, it's it's let's not go nuts.

Speaker 1 (05:40):
Well, just to do the New York City Marathon is iconic.
When you were running it, did you have so many
people cheering for you, being like, oh my gosh, that's.

Speaker 3 (05:45):
All I did. But what was fascinating? You know that
you think you're doing fairly well, and then I'll never
get This guy runs by me juggling. I thought, oh,
come on, stop, but I do I you know, I was.
And this is the thing I love about walking is
that you see your environment in a completely different way

(06:09):
than if you were riding. You get to it, I think,
appreciate it more. And so that's one of the things
I love about walking is that you are more connected
with the things around you, the environment around you, than
if you're passively riding.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
Yeah, it's true, it's true. It's so funny.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
Like I grew up well, I've been in New York
now for a little over ten years, and I went
to college on the Upper West Side at Fordham Lincoln Center,
and I would run every single day in Central Park
and it wasn't until my parents moved to the city
and I would go for walks with my mom in
Central Park that I was like, Wow, you know, walking
and really slowing down the pace makes you experience Central

(06:49):
Park so much more. It's like, I spend so much
time speeding through it, and of course it's beautiful and
I love running there, but to really slow it down
and go for a walk is very special.

Speaker 3 (06:57):
I mean, when you think about it, you guys runners, yeah,
are missing so much, you know, because your goal is
to get through this as fast as possible. My goal
is to get through it not so fast, but still
to get through it. And you do see you get
to see changes in the environment around you and the

(07:19):
people who are walking, I mean part of that. I
mean I love just watching people walking slash running. You know,
there's their serious kind of the others everything. One person
who seems like they're just struggling to get one foot
in front of the other, and it's like, you go, God, bless,
that's fantasm. I really do love love the walk.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
Okay, well, let's talk about your morning routine.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
Because what I am so impressed by with morning show
anchors Weatherman, what you guys, do is I read something
that said that your typical routine is well and I
guess now it's changed post COVID, but it was for
so many years getting up at three forty five four
in the morning, right, So, like, what did those typical
mornings look like for you when you were waking up
so early?

Speaker 3 (08:04):
Well, yeah, the funny thing is about what we you know, Look,
a lot of bad things happened obviously during COVID, but
there were some good things that we we we found
and one of those was the workflow I used to
have to get into NBC News, you know, a thirty
rocket about you know, five five thirty. Now, because of

(08:24):
remote access to my weather graphics computer my meteorologists, I
get up again around three forty five, four o'clock, take
care of my toilette, and then make my calls and
we do all that, and so I'm done about four
forty five, and that gives me time to do whatever
I'd like to do, which sometimes I can be working

(08:47):
on a book. I try, you know, working out, whether
that's going out to the park and walking or you know,
working out downstairs in the basement. But I find that
I'm most productive in those pre dawn hours. And I
tell people, I said, you know, if you if you

(09:09):
feel like there's not enough time in the day, just
get up a little earlier in the day. You'd be surprised.
There are no emails to answer, the kids aren't up yet,
you don't have to walk the dog yet. Get take
care of you with that extra time, and then go
about your day.

Speaker 1 (09:27):
Yeah, I mean, I think it's really important. It's amazing
how much you can get through before nine am and
am hits.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
All right, Well, let's talk about this.

Speaker 1 (09:34):
So you grew up in Queen's and a little bit
in Brooklyn. We learned on the we learned on our walk.
What was your childhood like growing up in Queens and
a little bit of Brooklyn growing up in New York
Like paint the picture of young.

Speaker 2 (09:44):
Al for it.

Speaker 3 (09:45):
I think people have a misconception about growing up in
New York City because I think they think of New
York City as Manhattan, and it's really made up of
five burrows, and each of those burroughs were originally the
our own little towns uh within that borough. Brooklyn was
the fourth largest city in America. At one point, it

(10:07):
was its own city, and they eventually were annexed by
New York City. So I grew up in a town
called Saint Albans, queens And it had its business district,
it had its barber shops, and it's a lot. We
had a public library. In fact, a good friend of
mine who I went to school with, now runs the

(10:28):
Queensboro Public Library system where we used to go, I
mean the very school library. We used to stop and
do our homework and he's running now. But my my,
it was a very typical small town existence in a
sense in that you know, went to school. I took
the school bus. Difference was my school bus was a

(10:49):
New York City bus. We had bus passes. You got
on the bus. Uh. I went to school, would come home.
Sometimes we'd walk home if we if it was a
nice day about it was about a mile home, did
my homework, walked our dog happy while mom's making dinner.
You know, it was. It was a pretty normal childhood.

(11:10):
You know, grew up watching here in New York City.
We were fortunate in that we had six TV stations,
commercial TV stations, so you had the three network stations
and then you had three independents, so you got to
watch a lot of cartoons, and so I was, Yeah,
I was always a chunky kid. I was more sedentary

(11:31):
I was. I loved television. I loved animation. I mean,
television was perfect because you got to watch TV and
you got to watch cartoons on TV. So I guess
in a sense, I was sort of destined to do this.
But the difference was I didn't want to be on TV.
I wanted to work in television. I wanted to be
a writer or a producer something like that. I wanted

(11:54):
to be an animator. So it was just by a
happenstance at Sunniasugo that the party chairman put me up
for a TV weather job on weekends back in nineteen
seventy four. And I got the job and took a
couple of classes in meteorology just for a science requirement,
and here we are.

Speaker 1 (12:13):
Here, we are here, we are you know, I mean
it's so impressive. And just backing up a little bit,
you were one of six kids. You were the oldest
of six, So what's it like being in a family
where you're the oldest of six kids, Like, did you
feel like you had a little bit of pressure to
kind of set, you know, show your siblings like the
right path.

Speaker 3 (12:32):
To be on or I never felt any pressure. I mean,
I think being the oldest didn't put any pressure on me.
I mean I kind of enjoyed it. I like bossing my.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
Siblings because I'm the youngest of three. My mom's the
oldest of five also seen last week. But so I'm
always curious about what it's like being the oldest of
so many kids.

Speaker 3 (12:53):
I know, you know, I really did enjoy it so
much so that my baby brother actually went to us.
We go twice. My mom wasn't feeling well at one point.
He was about two and a half years old, maybe
almost three, and I took him up to school with
me for a month, and he went to class with
me and did the whole nine yards. He was a

(13:16):
chick magnet. It was great, you know, young women, so
oh baby, he's so cute. And then we fast forward,
you know, another fourteen fifteen years and he's taking a
class in public speaking and this teacher said, he calls
me to tell me he said. The teacher called him
up to the front of the class and said, ladies

(13:38):
and gentlemen, this is a first for me. I have
a student who's diaper. I helped change, you know, and
so she remembered him like fifteen years earlier.

Speaker 1 (13:48):
Wait, so you drove your younger brother from Queen.

Speaker 3 (13:51):
Too, so she has to go and then kept him
for a month.

Speaker 2 (13:54):
That is wild. And how old was he? He was literally
a baby and.

Speaker 3 (13:58):
Half years old in back b My mother says, I
don't remember this, but my mother says, I potty trained
him so because I forgot his potty chair. Yeah, and
so you know, putting them on a big boy.

Speaker 1 (14:08):
Toilet, whueet all that is wild. And your teachers were like,
it's okay, that's us in class.

Speaker 3 (14:14):
Yeah, they were. It was really terrific. I mean, you know,
like I had a graphic arts class. Uh, your mom
probably remembers uh poucher hall and and taking him to class,
the teacher giving him crayons and you know, cray paws
and all that. So, no, it was it was really terrific.
Everybody was really understanding. And interestingly enough, there were a
fair there were a decent number, not a lot, but

(14:36):
there were a number of single moms who had uh
you know, young kids with them. So it just was
people weren't used to seeing a guy with a.

Speaker 2 (14:44):
Baby, right.

Speaker 1 (14:45):
I feel like things were just different back then. The
fact that you could do that, Like I don't know
Fordham University, if I brought my two out, they might
be like, yeah, probably.

Speaker 3 (14:53):
But nobody nobody knew, So who knew? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (14:56):
You know, all more respect to those teachers, because that's
a that's a pretty cool experience for you and your
brother to have had growing up in your household. I know,
I liked knowing that your dad was a New York
City bus driver. I mean the bus drivers and subway drivers.

(15:19):
We have so much respect for them because they are
the heartbeat of the city, right, I mean, everybody takes
them every single day. So I would say, like, how
was success defined in your household for you and your siblings?

Speaker 3 (15:30):
You know, we were of the generation that every generation
hopefully was going to do better. And I was the
first one in my family to go to college and
that was just kind of expected. And I always remember that,
and I think this was in a sense my parents

(15:51):
in a nutshell. I remember I was in a high
school sophomore year and I was goofing off and and
I remember the report card coming and my mother said,
your father is going to hit the roof. But and
she left the report card out at the table and

(16:12):
he came home and he looked at it, and he
looked at me and he said, if you tell me
that this is the best you can do, then I
guess that's that. But if it's not, I'm really disappointed
in you. And left. And it was like, wow, and

(16:35):
that was the last bad report card I got, you know,
it was it was like, do your best, Do your best.

Speaker 1 (16:43):
And when al first walked into our studio, the first
thing that you called out was this cartoon artist poster
framed that we have Alice, the first person that has
ever like called out that poster. Yes, and you know,
you know the artist, you know the history of the artist.

Speaker 3 (16:58):
From Mad Magazine, Don Mark. Mad Magazine was my generations
and maybe a couple of generations after, but it was
it was this kind of subversive humor magazine. It was
kind of like it was the gateway magazine to National Lampoon,
you know, in that there were comic strips and stuff

(17:19):
like that, but it was all kind of sophomoric humor
spoofs of popular TV shows and movies and music. But
Don Martin was one of the great comic artists of
all time.

Speaker 1 (17:31):
I feel very impressed by myself that that's the poster
that I picked out because I just thought it was
really cool. It's so basically, for everybody listening, there's a
poster sitting right behind al and it's a three part
kind of comic series of this boy flying through the
New York City subway. And at the bottom of it
it says, after all that you've been through, you deserve
your own channel.

Speaker 2 (17:52):
And I think it's like an MTV comic, right yep.

Speaker 1 (17:55):
It has a little MTV logo at the bottom, but
just so funny that you recognize that, and for you know,
a little bit of fun facts about you too is
growing up you loved comics.

Speaker 3 (18:05):
I love love comics. I wanted to be a cartoonist.
One of my all time favorite interviews was getting to
interview Charles Schultz twice, once for the fiftieth anniversary of Peanuts,
which we just celebrated the seventy fifth anniversary of Peanuts.
But and then six months after we did that interview, unfortunately,

(18:26):
we found out he had colon cancer, stage four colon cancer,
and he asked me to come out to interview him
one more time, and it was it was bittersweet, but
it was one of my most favorite interviews I've ever
done to get to. They always say, never interview your
idols because you're going to be disappointed. Charles Schultz never disappointed.

Speaker 1 (18:45):
I sometimes don't love that quote, never interview your idols,
because everybody that I've interviewed that I've always idolized, I
feel like I must know how to pick.

Speaker 2 (18:52):
Them because I'm always like just so impressed. Yeah, did
you Growing up?

Speaker 1 (18:57):
So, I have a cousin that's a cartoon artist, and
actually we have a little bit of common in the
sense that when I was in high school, I was
also somebody that was very interested in art. And when
I was applying to schools, I wanted to go to
like Parsons Prize SBA, and you know, I got into
all the art schools, and I remember my parents saying
to me, You're not going to art school, believe it
or not.

Speaker 3 (19:16):
You and I had very much the same experience. I
wanted to go to New York City High School of
Art and Graphic Art and Design. I wanted to and
my parents, especially my father, said, no, you are not
going to high school to draw cartoons. That's not that's
not a thing, and I'm thinking, yeah, it is. But

(19:38):
it's so it's very funny because if you had done
what you wanted to do, if I had done what
I we probably would not be sitting here talking to now, right.

Speaker 1 (19:46):
It's wild to think about the different paths that you
can go down in life and.

Speaker 3 (19:50):
How as a runner you should appreciate that.

Speaker 1 (19:52):
I mean absolutely, And I've just through some as somebody
that's like seen so many different chapters. There's just so
many different lanes that you can take, and it's cool
how one decision can lead you in a totally totally
different direction. But growing up as somebody that loved cartoons,
did you have like a little guy.

Speaker 2 (20:06):
Or like a little character that you always drew?

Speaker 3 (20:08):
Uh? I've got a uh uh, it's funny. You've got
a little whiteboard here with a little son. I have
a son that I draw. I have a son and
a cloud.

Speaker 1 (20:17):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (20:18):
Those are pretty much been with me since when I
was in Syracuse. I actually did cartooning on on on
the newscast. I would use a cartoon, draw a cartoon
on the weather map. So I always had this son
and this cloud. The cloud was kind of this angry
and the son was going to like, hey, you.

Speaker 1 (20:37):
Know, yeah, wait, that's so funny that that uh, that
was kind of like a premonition for what you were
going to go on to then do exactly. Is it
true that your grandma saw early on something in you
that kind of made you a good fit for TV?

Speaker 3 (20:50):
Yeah, My my mother's mother, Grandma Smith, would say, uh
to my mother, oh that her nickname for me was
Alley Buttons. Is that Ali Buttons? He's at Chatterbox. He's
at Chatterbox that one he's going to be on the
television And everybody went eye, Grandma's in the cooking sherry again.

(21:12):
But yeah, and she didn't live to see it. I
was in college when she passed. But yeah, it was
it was some sort of a premonition.

Speaker 1 (21:21):
And then when you were in high school, what caused
the shift from wanting to pursue comics to them being like, Okay,
I might actually go to Suniaspigo and go into their
communications department, because that's like an active decision, right to
apply to one of those schools.

Speaker 3 (21:35):
You know. It was kind of a running on parallel
tracks in a sense. While I really loved comic art
and animation, I also loved TV, and I loved radio
and so, but I couldn't afford to go to Syracuse
University with a dad who was a bus driver, a
mom who was a nursing assistant, and so I started

(21:56):
looking at Sunni schools and Sunias we Go had a
radio and TV department. Great, I'll go there and literally
went sight unseen. I mean, you know, it's funny my
kids with each one of them. I think we did
like the old college tour thing, like ten twelve schools.
I applied to three schools, didn't go to them to visit,

(22:21):
just applied, and soon he met my stringent requirements, they
accepted me. And that's where I ended up.

Speaker 1 (22:29):
Right, and you immediately started out in the communications department in.

Speaker 3 (22:34):
Fact, and I went to the radio station that first
day during a freshman orientation, and it was my first
introduction to the magic of radio in a sense, and
that you hear somebody's voice and you create a mental

(22:58):
image of them. It's not white like podcasting and that
a lot of times there's video with podcasts or pictures.
With radio, it was rare that you saw the voice
that you heard coming out of the speaker. And so
I heard this guy Lee Chase was on the radio
in my college radio station, and I said, oh, I

(23:20):
think he's the program director. I'm gonna run down there.
And he had this deep voice. I'm picturing this blonde,
six foot three guy, you know, chisel Chin, And I
wait till the light goes off and I walk into
the studio and there's this smallish guy with a bad
mullet and actn and just in a concave chest. And

(23:43):
I said, excuse me, could you tell me where Lee
Chase is? I'm Lee Chase. How is that possible? How
could that deep voice come out of that scorwny little body.
I did not say that to him, but yeah, it
was like my introduction to the magic of radio and
voice and creating imagery with your voice.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
So at what point did you realize, Wow, I'm actually
also good on camera.

Speaker 3 (24:12):
I didn't. In fact, my department chairman, Lou O'Donnell told
me after my first television performance class that I had
the perfect face for radio. But he's but he's the
one who put me up for the job a year later.
But you know, again, growing up back in the day,
and for those who have seen what was the movie Anchorman,

(24:33):
you know that was a thing. I mean, I was
working in the seventies and the anchor people were all
good looking and had the deep voices, and sports guys
were a little goofyer, and the weather people were just
completely gonzo. And so that was my entry. I think
that's the only way back in the seventies I could
have gotten a job on TV or in TV news

(24:54):
was because I was a weather person.

Speaker 1 (24:55):
So when you became a weather person, and there's a
lot you have to learn, right, it's because it's not
just reading off of a teleprompter or you can tell
me if it is. But when you want to become
a weather person, are there there's other classes you have
to take outside of communications, right, Like that's a little science.

Speaker 3 (25:11):
Oh not a little it is. It is science.

Speaker 2 (25:13):
It's science.

Speaker 3 (25:14):
And I do not call myself a meteorologist, do not
have a meteorology degree. I call myself a weather person,
weather presenter, whatever you want, but it is it is science.
And so but over the years, you know, I've kind
of done my own learning, my own research. I have
an American Meteorological Society Seal of approval. You know, I've

(25:37):
I've I've done the work. But again we've got on camera.
We've got off camera meteorologists, real meteorologists who have the science,
who are scientists who helped me with all everything I do.

Speaker 1 (25:52):
Right, And so your college campus station was WTOP TV.

Speaker 2 (25:56):
Right, Well, here's the Okay, we.

Speaker 3 (26:00):
When I was at Sunniesquego, it wasn't even called communications.
It was called radio and TV because that's all there was.
And we didn't even have a TV station. There was
We had WOCR radio, which was an AM station, and
there was WRVO, which was the PBS station or the

(26:23):
NPR station, I should say. And so WTP really didn't
get started till about I think fifteen years ago. And
it's a real facility. I mean, it's a thing. I
mean I've been there. I've taught some classes there, and
they've got a great state of the arts studio. They're

(26:43):
able to go live from all over campus. It's I
wish it had been around when I was it because
they've got a sports department, they've got a meteorology department,
they've got the news department. They they do real television.
It's impressive.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
Okay, So when you were at Oswego, what did the
weather channel look like then? For you? Guys like, where
were students on campus tuning into it?

Speaker 3 (27:06):
There was there was, there was nothing.

Speaker 2 (27:09):
Yeah, so once you got on camera, what were you doing?

Speaker 3 (27:12):
Well, I didn't. We literally had a class on television
performance and that was it. We didn't do anything.

Speaker 2 (27:20):
So you didn't get the real experience till you graduated.

Speaker 3 (27:23):
No. Well, I got my job, my really, which was
so crazy that I got this job at the end
of my sophomore year to be on TV in Syracuse
on a real TV station. I mean it was and
I was making We had four shows on the weekend,
the six and eleven o'clock on Saturday and Sunday, and
I made fifteen dollars a newscast. I was making sixty

(27:44):
bucks a weekend after taxes, I think it was about
forty five bucks. But you know, but I was on TV.
I didn't realize how fortunate I was.

Speaker 1 (27:52):
And how quickly do you feel like you started to
get in the groove of things on camera? Like how
quickly did you kind of become Because you're no for
being very charismatic on camera, right, You've been coined with
like making weather fun and relatable and telling stories through
So when did that kind of all come to be.

Speaker 3 (28:10):
Here's the deal. And I'm not being This isn't false modesty,
but I do believe that you're I'm still learning. I
think if you watched me from five years ago, i'm
different than than I am now. I think if you
really love what you do, you're evolving. I didn't get

(28:30):
halfway decent until I got to Cleveland, Ohio. I worked
first in Syracuse on weekends and Monday through Friday while
I was a senior in college. Then I got a
job in Washington, DC, and then it was Cleveland and
Cleveland we were doing. I was doing three shows a day,
five days a week at the five o'clock, the six o'clock,

(28:51):
and the eleven o'clock. And that's when I credit Cleveland
for when I kind of became sort of the alt
roker you knew. But I was also very fortunate. In Washington,
d C. I met the guy that changed my life,
probably personally and professionally. That was Willard Scott. Willard was
the weatherman at WRC in Washington, and I met him

(29:13):
there when I worked in Washington, UH and he's the
one that gave me my best advice, two bits of advice,
and they both are personal and professional. But from a
professional standpoint, always be yourself because that's all you've got.
You know, everybody else is taken. You know when they say, oh,

(29:34):
he's going to be the next she's going to be
the next Oprah, or he's going to be the next
Bob Costas, or he's going to be the next Brian
Gumbel or the next Greak. No, we already have one
of those.

Speaker 2 (29:43):
You got to be you, and authenticity does show.

Speaker 1 (29:46):
It's like, I think, the most beautiful thing about even
what I've seen all of the Today Show anchors over
the years have done, is like, you guys have to
show up every single day for you know, national news.
You know, people tune in to like clockwork right, they
have it on plane in their house. They want to
see you guys. You have to show up as yourself.
And that's the beauty of live television is you can't

(30:09):
really put too much of an act on when you're
doing it every single day every morning.

Speaker 3 (30:13):
You try not to writ But and the other thing
was never give up your day job, you know, because listen,
I do like to think I've got this sparkling personality
and people want to read or consume anything I do,
But part of it is because I'm on the Today Show.
So you know, I've been able to write books, I've
been able to travel, I've been able to speak. But

(30:35):
at the end of the day, it's probably because people
know me from the Today Show. And so that's been
a real blessing and I don't I don't take that
for granted. And so from that it allows me to
do all these different things. But it's great to have
a base, you know, to be able to know that

(30:56):
this is what I do and this is what I'm
known for.

Speaker 1 (31:00):
Yeah, and it's very cool that through the Today Show,
using that as your anchor, you've been able to explore
all these different types of ventures, right like, you've written
a cookbook, you have your new animation show on PBS Kids,
a PBS.

Speaker 2 (31:11):
Teen, PBS Kids, PBS Kids, You've.

Speaker 1 (31:14):
Just Yeah, you've got a lot going on, and it's
it's fun to have creative outlets outside of your pay
job that align with what you do. When I think
about Syracuse and I think about up State New York,
I think about the snowstorms.

Speaker 2 (31:34):
And actually when I went.

Speaker 1 (31:35):
To visit Syracuse because I was visiting for their art,
their art program. I went, and I was the only
person on the college campus tour because it was blizzarding.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
During that tour.

Speaker 1 (31:45):
So I can't even imagine what it was like being
the weather man in that area, right, because you've you
get hit with all sorts of blizzards and you know,
rain storms everything.

Speaker 3 (31:57):
Yeah, you know, being a a TV weather forecaster along
the Great Lakes is humbling because weather can literally turn
on a dime. I mean, it can't in a lot
of places. But as your mom would tell you who
went to Sunniasquego, there's this thing, little thing called lake

(32:17):
effect snow and depending on how the wind changes coming
across the lake, you could be standing in Oswego and
there'll be just light flurries, but to the east of
Osquego you could have two feet of snow. And so
it was very difficult to do the correct to make

(32:38):
the correct forecast. Now, what's been different about it is
over the last ten to fifteen years, the number of
blizzards and lake effect snowstorms have kind of decreased because
of climate change, you know, so it's been it's been
less of an issue, you know these I mean I

(32:58):
remember literally you would have school would be canceled. And
the benchmark forgetting for school being canceled at Sunni Asquigo
was if the snow plow drivers couldn't get to the plows,
there was no school. And that happened three or four
times when I was there, but it rarely happens.

Speaker 2 (33:20):
Though.

Speaker 1 (33:20):
When you finally got to New York for WNBC, what
was it like finally being back in New York City
after the years that you spent on the road.

Speaker 3 (33:30):
It was great. It's great. It has been great being
in New York City because it was very difficult. Yeah,
my parents was, oh, my son's on TV, well where
in Syracuse? Well, but then I got I came home
to New York City and my mom and dad could
turn on Channel four and there I was. And so,

(33:52):
and once I got that job, I thought, I'm done.
This is great if I can just hold onto this.
So the idea of being on the Today Show was
just mind boggling. And so when they first asked me
to fill in for Willard, it was kind of like, yikes,
I don't know, okay, and you know, we did it
and it worked out, but it wasn't My goal wasn't

(34:16):
to be on the Today Show. My goal was to
get a job in New York City so my parents
could watch, because at the end of the day, I
always do things to impress our parents.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
Yeah, it's true.

Speaker 1 (34:25):
And you know, there's if you grew up in New York,
there's nothing like working in this city. Right, It's like
kind of the place that you want to come back to.
But you know, getting these jobs with NBC, at these
networks here, it's very competitive and you have to put
your time in right on the road in places like
Syracuse and Cleveland, Like how important were those years in

(34:46):
Washington kind of getting those those reps in.

Speaker 3 (34:49):
I think people are ill served by being overnight successes
because you learn so much between point A and point
B or c d e. If you jump from A
to P, let's say everything you've missed everything that comes,

(35:09):
including failure, you know, including not being successful, including struggling.
Those are all the things that build you, you know.
I feel badly in a sense because a lot the
young people today, you know, they're influencers, you know or whatever,
their influencers there on TikTok, this that, and and they

(35:32):
amass these huge followings. But when that, if and when
that goes away, what are you left with?

Speaker 1 (35:40):
I mean, that's where you come back to the advice
of don't quit your day job.

Speaker 3 (35:43):
Right exactly. And so I don't know. I feel in
a way, I feel badly for a lot of young
people coming up in communications because it's just a different world.
Uh you know, who watches you? What Rman's success? What's
the metric today for success? I don't know.

Speaker 1 (36:05):
I mean, the way media is changing is it's fascinating
and what they're they what we call new media, right
like with things like this podcasts, and it is very interesting.
But I think at the end of the day, it's
like what you guys have always done is told stories.
And whether it's new media and a new form like
our running interview show, at the end of the day,
we're trying to just tell stories.

Speaker 2 (36:25):
So it's kind of like if you stick true to.

Speaker 1 (36:27):
That and have a mission with what you're doing, maybe
you will find success with it, but also maybe not.

Speaker 2 (36:31):
Yeah, I mean and.

Speaker 3 (36:34):
Always yeah, listen, I always it's a plan B is
not a bad thing, you know, And there's no no
shame in.

Speaker 1 (36:40):
That game, no, I mean, it's it's the truth. And
even when you think about overnight success like when you
first got to New York, it took like what thirteen
years before you got the official spot on the Today Show?

Speaker 3 (36:51):
Yeah, yeah, just about and and and look it was again.
I was very fortunate in that I was able to
dip my toe in filling in for Willard and build that.
As opposed to just getting thrown into the deep end.
I don't know that I would have been successful. I
was able to learn from somebody who was just very

(37:14):
giving and very terrific and do it at my own pace,
which is a lot of people don't realize how important
that is.

Speaker 1 (37:23):
What did those thirteen years look like for you? Because
I was doing some research and I mentioned this before
we sat down and started filming, But Al was on
an episode of Seinfeldt, which I later found out that
Jerry went to sud Yest we Go for what like
a year, So that makes sense.

Speaker 2 (37:38):
We had a little bit of a connection there.

Speaker 1 (37:40):
But what were you thinking when you got asked to
be on Seinfeldt And how soon into that thirteen year
stint of you being in New York working here did
that happen?

Speaker 3 (37:48):
I think it well, sein I think it was like
the mid nineties, okay, and it's very bizarre you're asking
about this timeline. I don't remember. It's all kind of
like compressed into it.

Speaker 2 (38:07):
Because you very quickly became like a local celebrity. Right.
People loved your charisma, they loved waking up to you.

Speaker 3 (38:13):
I guess you know, it's weird to say, yes, people love.

Speaker 1 (38:16):
Me because I watched the Guys. I watched al On
Conan O'Brien. I think it was from a nineteen like
ninety four episode or something that you did with him,
and I was like, you were so funny. You took
a T shirt, you were throwing it into the crowd.

Speaker 3 (38:31):
Here's the deal with Conan. I have the distinction of
being the one being on the show more than any
other guest. And why proximity. Our studios were literally right
across the hall from each other. We're in Studio six
B using the Studio six A, and sometimes guests would cancel,

(38:54):
whether it was because of weather or whatever, they couldn't
get in, and so they can you come over and
do something? And so you know, it actually started with
David Letterman, who was in that studio beforehand. And and
it's like real estate, location, location, location. I was in
the right place at the right time.

Speaker 1 (39:14):
And would you say, like being on those types of shows,
did that build your persona even more?

Speaker 2 (39:21):
Like? Was that beneficial?

Speaker 3 (39:22):
I think I think it complemented it. I think it
it allowed me. It gave me a little more of
a canvas to do what I would do either on
News for New York here in New York City or
the Today Show, because you know, there are small chunks,
whereas this is a longer, longer format kind of interview.
So it just gave people more of a chance to

(39:48):
see me for better or for worse.

Speaker 2 (39:50):
Yeah, and you were so funny.

Speaker 1 (39:51):
I mean I when I was watching some of the reruns,
I was like, I mean, Al could double as a comedian, Like,
that's how funny you were.

Speaker 3 (39:57):
Well, see it's people have said that, and I preciate that.
But comedy is hard work. To be funny for thirty
minutes forty minutes an hour, whether you're a Dave Chappelle,
a Chris Rock, Kevin Hart, a Jim Gaffigan, a Nate Bargazzi,

(40:19):
that's work. I did a bit once where Jim Gaffigan
we switched places, and so I had to do a
stand up set. I only did ten minutes. That's the
hardest I've ever worked. I mean, I've always respected stand
up comics. I've always thought, you know, they're just brilliant.

(40:41):
But to make that happen for more than three minutes
is alchemy.

Speaker 1 (40:51):
When you finally did become the guy on the Today
Show in nineteen ninety six, I love timestamping things.

Speaker 2 (40:57):
I'm like good with numbers in that way, good with dates.

Speaker 1 (41:00):
But when you finally did become the guy in nineteen
eighty six, do you remember getting that call that it
was going to be you and you had the opportunity
to be officially on the Today Show.

Speaker 3 (41:07):
Yeah. My agent came to the office. He called me
and he says, I need to come see you. I said, okay,
all right, And my office was also the Weather Center,
so there was camera mikes. He goes, oh, we can't
where's the men's room. Okay, men's room. Go in the
men's room. He looks under the stalls and thinking we're

(41:29):
in a spy movie. What's going on here? He says, listen,
I just got a call. Willard has decided to some
I retire and they want you to be the Monday
through Friday Today's Show weather guy. Wow, And I almost said,
you're blanking me. But and if I had, it would
have been the right place. But that was it. I

(41:51):
still remember to this day, you know, the uh, you know,
getting that message from my agent in the men's room
on the sixth floor, seventh floor at WNBC.

Speaker 1 (42:01):
Did you ever imagine that you would still be there
nearly three decades later?

Speaker 3 (42:07):
It is mind boggling to me that all this time later,
I'm still here. My dad worked for the Transit Authority
in New York City Transit Authority for twenty five years.
It boggles my mind that I've worked for NBC longer
than my dad worked for the transit.

Speaker 2 (42:25):
Were your parents so proud of you?

Speaker 3 (42:28):
The great thing about my parents was that they were
equally as proud of all six of their kids of
whatever they did. And it's you know, you think, how
do they do that? And then you become a parent
and you realize you think love is a finite quantity,

(42:51):
and then you have your kids and you realize it's not.
It just expands.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
I get that.

Speaker 1 (42:55):
It's yeah, you're equally as proud of all of your
kids for their accomplishments.

Speaker 2 (42:58):
It's so true.

Speaker 1 (43:00):
Ricked alongside some incredible people like I mean the hosts,
the anchors, the people that you've been able to work alongside.
It's just been amazing. What would you say you have
found makes a great anchor and TV personality?

Speaker 3 (43:15):
I think I think the talent that I've seen that
that that's a common thread amongst really good uh television hosts, interviewers,
or you'd like to call it. They're good listeners. You know,

(43:37):
you can have us and you should always be prepared
and have a set of questions. Uh. But I find
a lot of times the next question comes from that
what that person said. I I when I was younger
and just getting started. Gosh it, you have to have
those questions. Well, no, you do, because you're you're You've
got to be prepared, you really do. But I think

(44:01):
as you become more comfortable within yourself, you'll find that
they become less of a need. Again, you've got to
cover the basics. But as you get into it, I
think you'll hear people and especially if they become relaxed
with you, they start to let their guard down, they

(44:22):
start to talk a little bit more, they start to
reveal more of themselves, and that next question presents itself
I'm very loath to give advice. I don't like to
give advice because it's like, well aren't you mister Socrates?
You know now, I you know, I prefer to let

(44:43):
people come away with what they will. But just one
of the things that I just remember learning from my dad,
just by watching him, and my mom too. So I
think that's you know, there's that old saying, you know,
actions speak louder than words. Let people watch what you

(45:03):
do and they'll figure it out.

Speaker 2 (45:06):
Thanksgiving Day Parade. We talked a little bit about this.

Speaker 1 (45:09):
You became a staple of the Thanksgiving Day parade, You've
done it for so many years.

Speaker 2 (45:13):
How did the Thanksgiving Day Parade come to be?

Speaker 3 (45:16):
Well, you know, I kind of it kind of came
with the job, you know, as when Willard stepped back,
they asked me to start doing it. And so the
routine is I start up on the upper West side
where it launches, and we get all the balloons up
and going, and then I jump in a car and

(45:38):
head down to Harold Square and join now Savannah and Joda,
and you know, it's three hours of America. Really, I
think it's the it's the three hours where I think
in a sense we probably are, truly the United States

(46:01):
of America. Doesn't matter who you are, where you live,
what your background is, what your religion is, what your
color is. You're watching the parade and you're doing it
at the same time as millions of other fellow Americans.
And that's it, and that's what I love about it.

(46:23):
There's no agenda. There's just there are great balloons. Of course,
there are the clowns, but and Broadway shows and great performances,
and then we go and eat turkey.

Speaker 2 (46:38):
When you think about the Thanksgiving Day Parade and you
think about the floats and the balloons and the performances,
is there one performance that stands out to you as
like this is peak Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the magic,
You know.

Speaker 3 (46:52):
I don't know that there's any one. I think it's
just it's it's a feeling. The thing the Macy Thanksgiving
Day Parade is a feeling. It's an emotion, it's tradition.
We all remember what we were doing as kids watching

(47:13):
that parade. The smells of your house and your your
mom and or dead or grandma making dinner, getting things together.
I mean, I don't think there's I don't think there's
any other holiday where we all stop collectively and spend

(47:35):
time together.

Speaker 2 (47:37):
Right.

Speaker 1 (47:37):
And when you think of that experience and you think
of all the people in their homes with it, whether
it's on in the background of whatever they're doing, whatever
meal they're preparing, or you know, I distinctly have memories
of sitting on my living room couch with my grandparents
watching it. To think that you are narrating that experience
for millions of people, what is that like?

Speaker 3 (47:57):
Yeah, don't I don't really think about it as much
as yeah, I appreciate it. You know, when people come
up and they say, you know, you're you're part of
my Thanksgiving, that's you know, I get to do that.
I get to do the lighting of the Rockefellers down
a Christmas tree and the Rose Parade, three of the
best holidays there are, so uh, it's it really is

(48:22):
an honor to be literally in people's homes during these
these really three special times, you know, Christmas, New Year's.

Speaker 1 (48:35):
Thanksgiving, Right, And you know what, when I think about
Christmas Years and Thanksgiving and I think about some of
the times that you guys have done the parade and
you know, done the lighting of the Christmas tree and
and just all of those events that happened like clockwork
every year. Some years that's snowing, some years it's very
it's freezing cold, some years it's windy. So like, is

(48:55):
there any do you have a memory of any like
chaos that has ensued behind the scenes that maybe we
we don't see, but is going on in the background.

Speaker 3 (49:03):
We've we've endured, as you've mentioned, we've endured not I
wouldn't say out and now it's snowstorm, but you know, snow. Uh,
it's been the most miserable weather is when it's raining
and like just barely above freezing. I think it was
two years ago, maybe three years ago, it was just
a torrential downpour and it was miserable. But then it

(49:28):
starts and you're just like, yeah, we're having a great time,
and then it ends and then you realize you're miserable again.
You're cold, and you're wet, and it's a mess. But
you know, I mean, and there have been a couple
of years where it's been kind of windy and they've
had to bring the balloons way down. But in my
I think twenty seven years doing it. Other than during

(49:48):
the pandemic. They've never not done it.

Speaker 1 (50:00):
What does the al Roker Thanksgiving look like? After the parade?

Speaker 3 (50:03):
Like?

Speaker 2 (50:03):
What are you doing after the parade? Like clockwork? Every yere.

Speaker 3 (50:06):
Up until about ten years ago, I had been I
would prep as much as I could beforehand, and my
wife Deborah would put stuff in on a schedule, and
then I'd get home, we'd finish. And about ten years ago,
a dear friend, Danielle Blude as so many fantastic restaurants.
We were in his restaurant a few weeks before Thanksgiving
and he said, what are you doing for Thanksgiving? I said, oh,

(50:28):
he says, come to the restaurant. Now, I've never gone
to a restaurant for Thanksgiving. It's like, oh, I gotta
have stuffing. I gotta and okay, we'll go. I was like,
where has this been all my life? It's the best,
It's the greatest. I haven't cooked Thanksgiving dinner in ten
twelve years.

Speaker 2 (50:46):
I respect that.

Speaker 3 (50:47):
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 1 (50:48):
Yeah, I mean especially after you were up early working
all morning. I mean, obviously it's so fun, but it
does take a lot of energy out of you.

Speaker 3 (50:54):
To that and then so so that's what I have
most to be thanks for Danielle Ballut inviting us to dinner.

Speaker 1 (51:02):
Well, outside of the Thanksgiving Day pride and the Christmas
tree lighting, you have been there documenting so many iconic
world events. So what would you say is one that
really sticks out to you as like a monumental memory
for you?

Speaker 3 (51:15):
You know, from a weather standpoint, I think Superstorm Sandy
was kind of a turning point where people thought, Yeah,
before that, I think it was Katrina, which I didn't
cover because I was I was having back surgery when
that happened. But I think Superstorm Sandy was really kind

(51:39):
of the canary in the coal mine when it comes
to climate and people going what the heck? So that
was one of the most impactful moments for me.

Speaker 1 (51:52):
What about Hurricane Wilma. There was a pretty crazy video
of you being held down by a cameraman. Can you
paint the picture of what was going on during that?

Speaker 3 (51:59):
We were out We're in Naples, Florida. We're outside on
this balcony and it was really I mean one hundred
plus mile per hour winds and I was trying to
finish my live shot and one of the camera guys
extra camera guys, was holding onto my legs and it
was only a couple of weeks after Katrina and one

(52:20):
gust hit and I went down on top of it
like a ton of bricks. And I know my wife
was watching, and I'm thinking she is going to kill
me because I just had back surgery. I was okay,
I was fine, it was all good. Uh. But yeah,
that was that was pretty pretty impactful. And then from
a just a moment, you know, I just just being

(52:49):
out with people at the on our Today Show plaza,
you know, where you know, everybody talks about interactive TV
and all that, and what I find fascinating is that
it's something as simple as waving to the folks back home.
It's still a thing people still as much as you
can face time with people now. The idea that you

(53:10):
could wave and look, that goes back to the Today
Show in nineteen fifty two with Dave Garroway. You know,
we had a window on the world, and so you know,
we're not so different than we were seventy years ago,
seventy plus years ago.

Speaker 2 (53:28):
Yeah, isn't that interesting to think about it.

Speaker 1 (53:29):
It's like, even though we talked about like how much
the media is changing, at the same time, it's really
not that different. It's all about connecting with people and
telling stories and then really connecting to the viewers at home.

Speaker 3 (53:40):
Yeah. That and I think that's the difference. Everybody's got
an app. They can check the weather, they can check
the news, they can do this, they can do that.
But at the end of the day, I think they
do want to connect with people. I think that's why
people love coming onto your podcast because they get a
chance to connect.

Speaker 1 (53:58):
Well, especially and I think with a podcast and what's
really interesting and even when with you, you know, on
the Today Show, You've gotten to interview so many incredible people.
We mentioned it before, but you interviewed the cartoonists for Peanuts.
You know, like that's one, just one example of many.

Speaker 3 (54:11):
Okay, And that reminds me, you know, if something went
out of my head and you were asking about experiences,
I'll never forget. It was President Barack Obama's first inaugural
inaugural parade and we were, you know, on our sidelines
there on Pennsylvania Avenue and mister President, mister president, and
you're hoping they never and and uh and he waved,

(54:34):
and I said, how are you feeling today? And he
said great, great, how's the weather great? Okay? And he
keeps one. Then Joe Biden, Vice President Biden is walking,
is mister Vice President, Miss VI, and he comes over
and shakes my hand, and it just so happened that
it was also Martin Luther King Junior's birthday. And I

(54:55):
said on this on the air, I said, here, I
am the first black president of the United States. Acknowledged me.
The vice President of the United States came and shook
my hand, and it all happened on Martin Martin Luther
King Junior's birthday. I know my parents are up there
looking down and they go, that's our boy. I still

(55:18):
get goosebumps.

Speaker 1 (55:18):
When you're doing what you're doing, you're kind of like
a mirror for the public right where that interaction obviously
happened to you, but it also happened to the millions
of Americans that were watching. And to see that sort
of positive interaction with a president and a vice president
is really really special.

Speaker 3 (55:34):
And by the way, full circle, they were walking at
the time, they weren't riding, they were walking, and then
they finished up. They had a post.

Speaker 2 (55:46):
Run high the postwok guy come on. Okay.

Speaker 1 (55:50):
So outside of that interaction at the inaugural parade. Is
there an interaction that you have had with a celebrity
or a guest that you've had on the show that
always make you smile?

Speaker 3 (56:01):
You know, I I've been. It's weird. I have in
some ways, unfortunately career amnesia, Like unfortunately we had recently
Quincy Jones had passed away and one of my co hosts,
Craig Melvin, said, did you ever interview I said, I
never got interview. I met him, but I never interviewed.

(56:23):
And there in the obituary, I'm sitting in his house
interviewing him, and he goes, how did you forget that?
I said, I don't know, you know, And so, uh,
it's been. It's been a really terrific career. And it's
not that I don't appreciate interviewing Quincy Jones and any
any number of people, but you know, each one is

(56:46):
really special in their own right, you know, whether getting
to talk to Dick van Dijk or James Earl Jones
or Jane Goodall. Uh, you know, you go down the
list and it's and each one. What was special about
each one is that especially our our older celebrities or newsmakers.

(57:07):
They always come to play, you know, they come it's
this is what why they're here. And and what I
find interesting is there's a new crop of younger folks,
performers especially, come and do our city concert series and
they have that kind of old school ethos of that

(57:30):
they're here because people want to see them, and they're
here to be part of something. And so I think
that's there was a period of time where that was
a little more difficult. You know, people had this kind
of a lot of people were coming on the show
that had this kind of well, I'm so don't you
know who I am? You know, And I think the

(57:53):
younger generation is hearkening back to that older generation. That's
it's my job is what I'm here to do.

Speaker 2 (57:59):
Who are some of the artists that you've really seen
that in recent.

Speaker 3 (58:03):
Most recently I saw it with the Role Model. Uh
saw it with Carol g Uh, I mean plays bad Bunny,
you know. I mean these are all, you know, entertainers
who could probably phone it in, but uh they are

(58:25):
Olivia Dean, Olivia Dean, I can't just I am so
in love with Olivia Dean.

Speaker 2 (58:31):
I am too.

Speaker 1 (58:31):
And her album is literally it's on repeat like clockwork
for me, and she's.

Speaker 3 (58:35):
Very old school. It's this throwback almost she's this this
old soul in this this younger body.

Speaker 1 (58:42):
She's the best example for me so far. I mean,
I completely agree.

Speaker 3 (58:45):
Yeah, so you know Megan, Megan Trainer, Megan Trainor comes
to play each and every time j Lo, whenever she performs.
You know, it's we've been very fortunate and that we've
had really, really good people on our show.

Speaker 1 (59:01):
I'm dying to do a workout with j Lo for
the running portion of this video and then sit down
with her for post run high. I think it'd be
iconic because I bet she would kick my butt in
a workout, oh.

Speaker 3 (59:10):
My gosh, and do it with rhythm.

Speaker 1 (59:14):
I wanted to shout out come some of your recent projects.
Let's talk a little bit about Weather Hunters and what
you guys are up to.

Speaker 3 (59:20):
Yeah, we came up with the idea to give you
an idea how long this show has been in development.
I based it on my kids, and the baby boy
is five, the middle girl, Lily, who's kind of the
stem girl, is eight, and the older sister, Corky is eleven.
My kids were those ages when I first started developing this,

(59:44):
and Nick is now twenty three and Leela is going
to be twenty eight, so twenty seven, so you know,
it's been a long time in coming. But I love weather.
Even when I did local news, I would go in
to speak at schools and every teacher would say, kids
love weather, And it amazed me that there was no
kids show about weather. And so I've always thought I

(01:00:05):
wanted to do that. And I was able to combine
my love of animation, my love of my family, and
my love of weather and put it all together. And
and PBS Kids was the perfect partner because they are
so they are so focused on a the science, but

(01:00:26):
b making kids feel safe and to and and and
not to talk down to them, but to talk with them.
And so the shows and and it's it's quite, you know,
being somewhat humble. I think it's a beautiful show. It
looks beautiful. I get to voice Al Hunter, the weather guy. Uh.
And what I love about it is Al Hunter will

(01:00:47):
forever be forty years old this show. Holly Robinson Pete's
plays my wife. We've got three great kids playing my children.
It's it is literally a dream come true.

Speaker 2 (01:01:01):
Did you have a lot of say in what the
design looked like to you in the Actually, I worked
very hard.

Speaker 3 (01:01:06):
There was a company called Island of Misfits that did
the animation, and we worked very hard at coming up
with the right characters. And even the girls have their
natural hair. Their hair is almost a character unto itself,
and each kid is this personality. But I think what
I'm most pleased with is that it's this perfect blend

(01:01:30):
of science and love. It's a family that loves each
other that happens to love science, and so we teach
kids and I think the folks who watch with them
the awe and the wonder of the world around them.

Speaker 1 (01:01:47):
I mean, there's nothing like a good animation as somebody
that grew up loving every Pixar movie and every Disney
animation that came out. Truly, it's for all ages, yes,
and everybody, as you said, can learn something from it. Okay, Well,
outside of Weather Hunters, is there anything else that you
have coming up that you're excited about that we should
be on the lookout for.

Speaker 3 (01:02:03):
Gosh, I can't think of anything. I mean, my oldest daughter, Courtney,
and I have a cookbook that's out. Al Roker's recipes
to live by, and she did all the work. In fact,
she was pregnant with my granddaughter while she was working
on the book. She did all the work. So she
birthed a baby and a.

Speaker 2 (01:02:23):
Cookbook, which Guy's Cookbooks.

Speaker 1 (01:02:25):
One of the first celebrities I had on the show
was Bobby Flay and he was working on his cookbook
at the time, or one of his many cookbooks. And
the work that goes into a cookbook, come on, the
struggle is real.

Speaker 3 (01:02:36):
But the greatest gift I've gotten is from my daughter Courtney,
which is my granddaughter's scot And that's and just the
idea of taking her for walks now because she's mobile
is just And again the little two year old legs
only moved, but so fast except for when they want to.
Then when she moves, it's like I have to go

(01:02:57):
out on a full run to catch her. But it's
it's the best. To be able to see what she's
seeing through her eyes gives me that much more appreciation.

Speaker 1 (01:03:07):
Well, let's end with one final piece of advice. If
you could tell your twenty year old self twenty two
year old self one piece of advice.

Speaker 2 (01:03:14):
What would it be?

Speaker 3 (01:03:15):
Walk more? Yeah, because you'll be in better shape, you'll
appreciate the world better, you'll think better, you'll feel better.

Speaker 2 (01:03:25):
Thank you so much, Al, This was awesome.

Speaker 3 (01:03:27):
Thank you Kate here.

Speaker 1 (01:03:29):
Thank you guys so much for listening to today's episode
with Al Roker. This was seriously a dream come true
sit down interview for me and walk and talk for
me because of course we started out on the move
before sitting down for this chat. And if you guys
are loving Post Run High, it would mean the world
to me if you rated and reviewed this episode and

(01:03:50):
shared it with a friend. Your support helps us continue
bringing you inspiring conversations. I'll see you guys next week.
This is Post Run High.