Willie Geist has completed over 530 interviews throughout his nine-year run on Sunday Today, but there’s still one name he’s hoping to check off his dream list of interviewees.
“Taylor Swift‘s always on the list,” Geist, 49, exclusively told Us Weekly while chatting about his upcoming Sunday Sitdown Live interview with guest Ina Garten. “[She] doesn’t do a lot of interviews. She has great people around her who are very nice and very polite when they decline, and I appreciate that. But I’ll keep asking.”
Swift, 35, has appeared on Today a handful of times over the years, from performing on the show’s plaza at 30 Rockefeller Center in 2010 to chatting with Hoda Kotb and the cast of Cats about the movie musical in 2019. However, she has never joined Geist on Sunday Today, which he has hosted since 2016.
Another notable musician who has yet to appear on the weekend series is Jay-Z. “I would love to sit down with Jay-Z and just talk about his career, but also just the music [and] the culture as it was starting to leak out of New York City into the suburbs and how hip-hop culture became mainstream culture,” Geist told Us. “I would love to sit down and have a conversation with him.”
Willie Geist and Ina Garten on Their Bond Ahead of ‘Sunday Sitdown Live’
Nearly 10 years into the show, Geist said it would be safe to assume he’s talked to almost every major celeb there is, but that’s not the case.
“There are always more people, no matter how long you’ve done it. And then, of course, the culture makes new people,” he explained. “Timothée Chalamet was not a person anyone knew when we started nine years ago. And now, I would love to interview Timothée Chalamet. So, there’s still a long list of people, for sure.”
Still, Geist feels lucky to keep checking names off his wishlist, and one of those A-Listers was Will Ferrell earlier this year. “He was made for our show. I love him,” the TV personality quipped. “He’s got the same great energy. He’s funny. Everybody loves him, and we finally got him on the show this year.”
While Geist has soaked up lots of pop culture information through his job over the years, he’s always learning new things thanks to his 17-year-old daughter, Lucie. (Geist shares Lucie and his son, George, 15, with his wife, Christina.)
“There are teen shows where it would sound inappropriate if, in a vacuum, I told you I watched them, like Outer Banks,” he joked. “But I’m watching it because my daughter watched it. I’m like, ‘What are we doing here?’ And then she fills me in, and she goes, ‘He’s the handsome guy. He is dating Kelsea Ballerini,’ and we’re off to the races.”
Enjoying shows with his daughter is something Geist considers to be a bonding experience. “She’s amused by my ineptitude with that kind of thing,” he shared.
Fans can soon see Geist in person as he chats with Garten, 77, at the taping of his second-ever Sunday Sitdown Live at City Winery at Pier 57 in New York City on Monday, May 19. “She’s just such a warm, personable and unassuming person,” he gushed about his guest. “And I’ve interviewed her many times and spent time with her privately.”
Noting that he “fully understand[s] how people feel about her,” Geist argued that Garten’s fanbase could rival Swifties after seeing the fervor at an event with Garten for her 2024 memoir, Be Ready When the Luck Happens, in Hartford, Connecticut.
Willie Geist Says His Wife Was Unbothered by Heather McMahan’s Crush on Him
“We walked out on the stage together … and this theater of, I think it was like 5,000 people, erupted in a way that I would expect when Taylor Swift comes out on stage to start a show,” he recalled. “It wasn’t polite applause. It was jump to your feet, long standing ovation, but sort of shouting and cheering. [I] could feel it in my chest. And I was like, ‘Wow, I knew people loved you, but to see up close this, it’s really extraordinary.’
Head to Today‘s website for ticket details ahead of Sunday Sitdown Live with Willie Geist and Ina Garten. Those who can’t attend the May 19 event will be able to see the interview broadcast on Sunday Today. Sunday Sitdown Live will also run as a full-length podcast, and on Today Digital, Social and Today All Day.
