Savannah Guthrie debuts her ‘new voice’ and reveals return to ‘Today’

WASHINGTON — Savannah Guthrie surprised her “Today” show colleagues and viewers on Tuesday by revealing her “new voice” and sharing when she’d be back in-studio.  

The longtime morning show co-anchor has been away for a few weeks while recovering from vocal cord surgery. 

During Tuesday’s appearance, Guthrie first pranked her co-workers by starting to use a white board to communicate…before briefly breaking her vocal rest and surprising them all.  

“I’m still on vocal rest, but I’m allowed to talk about 5 to 10 minutes every hour. This is my new voice, or my old voice, but my new voice,” Guthrie explained. 

Her co-hosts, including Al Roker, Carson Daily, Craig Melvin, Jenna Bush Hager and Sheinelle Jones all expressed how good and strong Guthrie’s voice sounded Tuesday amid her recovery from surgery. 

“The good news is that, you know, it worked,” Guthrie said, while stressing that it’s a “slow recovery” process.  

“If you talk too much, which is a real risk for me, you start to feel it. So you really have to take it easy,” Guthrie stated. 

During the Dec. 19, 2025, edition of “Today,” Guthrie revealed she would be undergoing vocal cord surgery.  At the time, she explained that some viewers may have noticed her voice has been very scratchy and started to crack a little bit like Peter Brady, who was going through a change.” 

Guthrie said she found out she had vocal nodules and a polyp. 

Guthrie’s “Today” colleague, Sheinelle Jones, also underwent the procedure in 2020 and made a full recovery. 

During Tuesday’s appearance, Guthrie confirmed she’ll be back on “Today” full-time starting Monday, Jan. 26. She’ll also be in the building on Friday as they do a story about the surgery and her recovery.