-It's so great to see you. -Great to see you.
-And yesterday, it was your birthday.
Happy birthday. -Thank you very much.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
-I watch you -- I want to say, I've watched you all day today.
I watched you -- -Well --
-Right?
-So, the deal is, I started at 6:00 a.m.
on "Morning Joe," went till 10:00 a.m.
Then I went across the street,
co-hosted with Hoda for hour five.
And now, I'm here tonight shutting it down.
-Exactly. All day long. [ Cheers and applause ]
This guy -- He's a workhorse. Come on. NBC!
-So, basically, the deal is -- and you may not know this --
there's a key under the mat, right on 50th Street.
I open up in the morning.
-And you're going to lock up tonight.
-And then, tonight, I'll sweep up,
put the stools back on the bar,
and when you're done, we'll all go home.
-I've always wanted to do that, but you actually just did it.
I mean, I watch you on "Morning Joe" every morning.
You're fantastic.
The whole crew over there is great.
But then, "Today" show -- You know, "Today" show
has been on -- I keep seeing this --
70-year anniversary.
70 years.
-70 years. 70 years. -That's amazing.
-I know. Isn't that crazy? Yeah.
-A great team over there, as well.
-I've been there 10 years.
10 years, which is an amazing thing.
You probably have this a little bit, too,
where you grew up watching "SNL" or Johnny Carson,
and you can't believe you're sitting in this seat.
And I had a little of that in the "Today" show.
It's like you're a kid, and then,
at some point in your life, you stepped through
the television, and you're the one on the other side
that's hosting the "Today" show.
It's a wild thing. -Yeah. You do a great job.
-Thanks, man.
-I want to ask you about something,
because I saw you do recently -- You ran the marathon.
-Yes. -This was a major deal.
Dude, you were great. I go -- Are you a runner?
-I'm not a runner at all.
Matter of fact, I was, like --
The turkey trot at Thanksgiving was as far as I would go,
like that 5K or the 1-mile, even.
But during COVID, needed a little purpose, right?
You wanted to do something.
And I decided to run for the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
-Ah, that's my guy. -Yep.
-Do you have any --
-My dad has had Parkinson's disease
for about 30 years, unfortunately.
So, I'm on the board of the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
I said, "Let's go raise some money and see what we can do."
And I set out and I trained for months and months and months.
And I ran it under four hours
and raised about half-a-million bucks for research.
-$500,000. Good for you. -Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
-You know what I loved about this is that
I saw a story on you running this,
and I can't even imagine running three blocks.
But I know that you wrote "dad" on your arm for anytime
that you're like, "I gotta quit.
This is crazy."
-Yeah, I mean, 26 miles,
especially if you're not a runner, is no joke.
And there are points --
They tell you about the walls you're going to hit,
and those are very real.
So, you hit like 16 miles in the Bronx.
You say, "I can't do 10 more miles or 20 miles.
I can't do 4 more miles." -Can't do it.
-So you look down and you remember why you're doing it.
And if it's not going to save your dad,
it might save the next generation
and find a cure and give money to research.
So that was pure motivation was my dad swept me across
the finish line, without question.
-Yeah, that was great, bud. [ Cheers and applause ]
That was pretty cool. I liked that you had that.
You said the toughest -- One of the toughest parts is going --
Is it Fifth Avenue?
-Fifth Avenue, yep. -Because, that's --
-People don't realize -- When you're in a taxi,
Fifth Avenue feels real flat.
-Yeah. -It's not.
-It's not flat. -It's uphill. It is uphill.
And I was running uphill.
I guess that's Mile 24, something like that.
-Whew!
-And you're really, like, you've hit the wall totally.
Like, "I don't think I can even get into the park."
And I had this amazing moment where I looked up,
and Michael J. Fox was standing outside
his apartment building on Fifth Avenue.
He came out. He had his cane. He was in his leather jacket.
And I needed it and I broke into a sprint
and went over and gave him a big, sweaty hug.
And, truly, that made the -- That took me home.
It took me home. -Yeah.
We have a video of Michael J. Fox
giving you a hug mid-race.
Take a look at this right here.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-That's it, Willie!
-That was a tear, by the way. That was a tear.
I was wiping away a tear.
-That wasn't sweat, no. -No, that was a tear.
And he just means so much to so many people, to our family.
He's been an inspiration to a million people
in this country who have Parkinson's disease.
He's the guy.
He's the reason you keep going because he's kept going,
and so that was a huge moment.
-He's a legend, yeah. We love Michael J. Fox.
Here's you crossing the finish line.
And I go, "Man, you look great."
And you -- I mean, seriously, I mean, you look fantastic.
And you told me -- You go, "Yeah, thank you."
Because I showed you the photo.
I go, "We're going to talk about this."
And you go, "Yeah, it actually isn't me
crossing the finish line."
And I go, "Well, that's interesting, because it is."
-But if you look closely, so, the clock says 4:10.
My time was 3:58. I want that on the record.
That should not be the photograph of record.
-You were -- So you broke -- You were under four hours.
-I was under four. So, here's what happened.
I finished under four.
I couldn't believe -- Like, four was a lofty goal,
and I did it.
I'm sitting back in the tent after the race,
and this guy comes up, and he says, "Mr. Geist --"
I mean, I'm crapped up. I can't do anything.
-Yeah.
-"Do you mind coming back out to the finish line?"
And I said, "I do, actually. I can't move."
And he said, "We need you to re-enact the finish."
And I said, "Why?"
He said, "Well, I'm going to be real honest with you.
Chelsea Clinton was crossing right about when you were.
Former president Clinton,
former secretary of state Clinton
were waiting at the finish line.
All of our cameras were on that, and no one took your picture."
[ Sad tuba plays ]
Yeah. No one took a picture.
So, I limp back out, like a salmon going upstream,
while everyone's finishing.
-This is -- Whoever ran two marathons at once?
Willie Geist, the first man ever to run two marathons in one day.
-And they're like, "Keep going back farther."
And the announcer is like,
"Ladies and gentlemen, look who's back. Willie --"
I'm like, "Oh, no! No!"
-You're like, "Oh, my gosh. This is a disaster."
-So, I crossed it again, and that's the photo I have,
framed with the wrong time.
But shout-out to Chelsea Clinton.
She did great. -Yeah. I love that you did it.
Hey, you know, I love you on "Sunday Today," as well,
because I get to see more Willie Geist.
And you do some good long-form interviews on there.
-Yeah, it's fun.
You've been on the show for one of your many
number-1 best-selling children's books.
-I want to come back.
I want to come back for anything, bud.
-A couple weeks ago, we had Sienna Miller on, who we love.
Sienna Miller is great.
-She's just an unbelievable actor.
-And so cool and smart and funny.
And she was -- We were doing it in the restaurant of a hotel,
the interview.
It was just the two of us.
All these cameras and the lights like this.
And there was a convention at the hotel.
So groups were coming down with their lanyards on,
and they would walk into this interview
and they go, "Excuse us.
Is this the breakfast?"
And we're like, "No, there are seven cameras
and studio lighting and Sienna Miller."
They'd be like, "We're sorry."
And then like two minutes later, "Hi, is this the breakfast?"
It would be like if someone walked in here
and was like, "Is this the Rainbow Room?"
And you'd be like, "No, this is 'The Tonight Show.'"
-Yeah. You're always the best. -Great to see you, brother.
-Willie Geist. -Thank you.
Willie Geist.
"Sunday Today with Willie Geist"
airs every Sunday at 8:00 a.m. on NBC.