Kathie Lee Gifford Says Goodbye to ‘Today’

Friday morning, TV personality Kathie Lee Gifford bid farewell to the “Today” show after 11 years.

Joined by her close friend and colleague Hoda Kotb, Kathie Lee shared about how she felt on her farewell episode, saying, “I feel great, I do. The last two weeks, since all of this crazy stuff began, I had no expectations. You want to bear it well. You want to honor the Lord with whatever you say and do, but you also want to have fun and remind people of why this show worked in the beginning. Because we have fun and we have a friendship and it's real.”

“We also have great love and affection and respect for our audience,” Gifford added. “We know you guys are sick of bad news by the time you turn on our show in the morning! We don't want to be more bad news for you.”

Hoda pointed out, “Two shows have worked really well in the history of daytime television: Regis and Kathie Lee, and Kathie Lee and me. So what is the common denominator between those two?!"

Kathie Lee's former co-host Regis Philbin also sent a special video message, saying that the “best part” of his career was working with her. She reacted to the video, saying, “He called me yesterday. We had a lovely talk.”

Other fun moments included a performance of “Kathie Lee's House” by Flo Rida, a spoof on “The Masked Singer” with special guests Dean Cain and Ryan Eggold, and a trivia game hosted by John Cena revealing Kathie Lee and Hoda had poured a whopping 5,300 glasses of wine on the show over the past 11 years.

After watching a touching segment from her son and daughter, Kathie Lee ended the show with a final toast. She said, “I have 30 seconds to say what has taken me a lifetime to say. Jeremiah 29 says, 'I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a future and a hope.' That's not just true for me, you guys, that's true for everybody watching. Trust Him. Let Him love like He wants to love you, like I am loved by all of you. Thank you."

Weeks ago, “Extra” caught up with Kathie Lee, who joked, “If anyone's got a job for me, call me.” Watch!