Al Roker Will Make Triumphant Return To Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade In 2023 After Nearly Dying Last Year

Al Roker is gearing up to make his grand return to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade after last year’s health scare forced him to skip the event for the first time in 27 years.

On this morning’s episode of The Today Show, Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb reflected on hosting the 2022 parade without Roker, who, at the time, had just been hospitalized with life-threatening blood clots.

“By the way, the parade was not the same without Al. We said it’s not the same without you,” Kotb told her co-host, who joked that it was “much better” without him, per People. Ignoring his self-deprecating comment, Guthrie said, “No, you are the parade.”

Roker was noticeably absent from Today throughout much of November 2022. Just a few days before the annual parade, he revealed on Instagram that he was admitted to the hospital for a blood clot in his leg that subsequently “sent some clots” to his lungs.

“For the past 27 parades, we would turn to Al Roker, who is our Today Show colleague, and our best pal,” Kotb said at the start of last year’s parade. “But, as a lot of you have heard, Al is recovering — and he’s recovering very well — from a recent medical issue. We just want to say we love you, Al. Wonder if you’re watching? But, we wish you a full recovery.”

Guthrie then added, “We love you, Al. We’ll see you next year,” before cutting to Dylan Dreyer, an NBC News meteorologist who was filling in for the beloved weatherman.

Roker was, in fact, watching his colleagues from the comfort of his home last year. After getting released from the hospital just in time for Thanksgiving, he tagged Guthrie and Kotb in an Instagram post and said he missed being with them at the annual event.

However, his health struggles weren’t over yet. One day after missing his first Thanksgiving parade in nearly three decades, Roker was rushed back to the hospital in an ambulance.

“It’s no secret that I had a severe medical issue, and to be completely honest, I almost died. I didn’t know it at the time,” he said during an episode of the Your Mama’s Kitchen podcast earlier this month. “But I missed Thanksgiving, and almost missed Christmas. And I forgot how important those touchstone moments are.”

We’re looking forward to watching Roker back in action at this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which airs at 8:30 a.m. ET on NBC and Peacock on Thursday, Nov. 23.