Hoda and Kathie Lee are on to you, Chelsea Handler.
One would think that the Chelsea Lately host would be eager to hang with Kotb and Gifford, who host TODAY's fun, often-booze-fueled fourth hour. Prior to her Monday, Nov. 12 appearance on the show, however, Handler — via her team, of course — called in sick.
Just a few hours later, though, the comedienne seemed to be feeling well enough to stop by Late Night with Jimmy Fallon — where she revealed that she hadn't been sick at all.
"I wasn't drunk or anything . . . I literally walked into a shower door this morning. I hit my eye and so everything's puffy," Handler, 37, explained. "I couldn't go with Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kota-ba, or whatever her name is."
Jimmy Fallon was quick to correct Handler's mispronunciation. "Kot-bee," he told her.
"That's good to know. I never thought about it. I just thought, why are there two vowels like that so closely together?" Handler replied.
Needless to say, Gifford, 59, and Kotb, 48, were not pleased.
"She had been sick all night, we were told," Gifford explained on the show Tuesday. "But we had a feeling something was up."
After Handler's careless treatment of her last name, Kotb was even less forgiving.
"Consonants! Two consonants!" she exclaimed. "Wait — just so we're clear — she wasn't sick and her eye didn't look puffy."
Added Gifford, "I think she's got some explaining to do."
