Jenna Bush Hager exposes dad George W. Bush in hilarious Today Show birthday tribute

Former U.S. President George W. Bush is officially 77 years old today, July 6, and his daughter Jenna Bush Hager made sure he got a shoutout on Today Show’s 4th Hour with Hoda and Jenna.

However, while the former First Daughter and her Today co-star Hoda Kotb celebrated the 43rd President’s birthday with a dedicated segment to him, it’s probably cheekier than he anticipated.

At the top of Thursday’s show, the two co-hosts took on a hilarious quiz, where they guessed whether random objects and institutions, such as velcro, McDonalds, and even Spam, were created before or after Bush’s birth year, 1946.

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Kicking off their game of “Older or Younger,” Hoda first sarcastically quipped: “I’m sure your dad is gonna love this,” before Jenna confessed: “I’m not sure if he watches our show that much.”

First up was Velcro, which Jenna believed to be older than her dad, and was subsequently proven wrong as it was invented in 1954.

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Next up was fast food mega-chain McDonalds, which was founded in 1955. “So for your dad’s first ten years, he never had a Big Mac,” Hoda noted, before Jenna added: “I doubt they got down to Midlands, Texas in the first ten years, I bet he didn’t have it until his tweens!”

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They followed McDonald’s up with yet more processed food, this time Spam. Both Jenna and Hoda guessed correctly that Bush is younger than Spam, which was created in 1937 and gained popularity around the world during World War II.

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The fourth item was Mr. Potato, and as if making jokes out of her dad’s age wasn’t enough, Jenna then added: “By the way, do they kind of look alike?” before noting: “Not in a mean way, my dad is very cute, but there’s something there.”

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The final two objects were a Slinky (Bush is younger) and Rudolf the Red-Nose Reindeer (older), and Jenna capped off the segment with a laugh, and: “Well, happy birthday dad, that was a tribute to you.”

Jenna’s dad has made previous appearances on the Today Show, both in person and through stories told by his daughter.

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During the November 15, 2022 episode of Hoda & Jenna, the latter opened up about what her parents were really like when she was growing up. The two hosts were discussing being a “cool mom” and relationships with their children, which prompted Hoda to ask what the former First Lady Laura Bush was like as a mom.

Despite the pressure and scrutiny a First Lady often faces, Jenna revealed: “She was the most calm, we couldn’t even understand it, we could not rattle her.” She explained that she was both Jenna and her twin sister Barbara Bush’s “steady rock,” though she admitted her mom would definitely have instances of trying to be too cool.

Jenna recalled: “There were times when she would try to be kind of cool, she’s going to disagree, but there were times we would go to Florida for the Rangers – the baseball spring training – and we’d be like walking around with her, and she’d be like ‘Girls, look, there’s some cute boys. Look, Barbara and Jenna, they’re cute!’ Like we were supposed to go up and be like, ‘Hi! Wanna hang?'”

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Jenna was eight-years-old when her grandfather, the late George H.W. Bush became President in 1989; he left the White House in 1993.

Though her teenage years were spent living in Texas, her family returned once more to Washington when she was 20 years old, with her father maintaining the role of President from 2001 to 2009.