People.com Entertainment TV The 'Today' Show Crew's Greatest Halloween Costumes From the best of the '90s to a royal wedding almost as good as Will and Kate's, look back at the cast's over-the-top outfits By Jocelyn Vena and Kate Hogan Kate Hogan Instagram Twitter Kate Hogan is Director of Digital Specials and Features at PEOPLE. In her 14 years at the brand, she has covered everything from pets and babies to style and Sexiest Man Alive, interviewing celebrities including Céline Dion, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson and Chris Evans. Currently, she oversees the creation of photo galleries that complement breaking news and major PEOPLE moments like The Beautiful Issue and 100 Reasons to Love America. She has offered expert celebrity commentary on Good Morning America and Access Hollywood. Before joining PEOPLE in 2008, Kate was an editorial assistant at Morris Visitor Publications. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a Bachelor's degree in journalism and mass communication and resides outside of Chicago with her husband and three kids. People Editorial Guidelines Updated on October 29, 2021 02:40 PM Share Tweet Pin Email 01 of 18 1997 Dave Allocca/Time Life Pictures/Getty In the early days of Today's Halloween celebrations, the staff's costumes were a bit more 'eh' than 'awesome.' For Halloween 1997, the gang went DIY: Katie Couric got all dolled up as screen legend Mae West, Al Roker and Matt Lauer went as Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble and Ann Curry channeled her inner Cleopatra. The festivities will look slightly different in 2018, as Lauer was fired from Today in December 2017 following sexual misconduct allegations. Megyn Kelly, who had been hosting the third hour of Today, is also on her way out of the network. 02 of 18 2000 NBC But what a difference three years makes! Roker as Diddy and Lauer as Jennifer Lopez in that infamous down-to-there Versace Grammys dress really upped the ante on pop culture costumes to come. 03 of 18 2005 Albert Ferreira/Reuters/Corbis Marilyn Monroe – er, Couric – was safe sandwiched between Batman (Lauer) and Robin (Roker) the year Batman Begins hit theaters. 04 of 18 2006 Sara Jaye Weiss/INF It was girls vs. guys in 2006 as the divas – Cher (Curry), Bette Midler (Meredith Vieira) and Madonna (Natalie Morales) – faced off against Lauer's Captain Jack Sparrow and Roker's Davy Jones of Pirates of the Caribbean. 05 of 18 2007 Jamie McCarthy/WireImage The cast paid homage to TV's most spook-tacular family, The Munsters, in 2007: Lauer and Vieira were Herman and Lily Munster, Roker was Grandpa, Morales was son Eddie and Hoda Kotb was their "normal" niece, Marilyn. Contributor Tiki Barber went wild as the fictional family's pet, Spot. 06 of 18 2008 Charles Eshelman/FilmMagic "Fairytales" was the theme as Vieira, Lauer, Curry and Roker – dressed up in as Pinocchio, Humpty Dumpty, Cinderella and the Gingerbread Man – joined Kathie Lee Gifford, Kotb and Amy Robach as the Big Bad Wolf, Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel. We just hope everyone had a happily ever after! 07 of 18 2009 Janet Mayer/Splash News Online The Force was with the Today show cast and their costume department in 2009 when Lauer dressed as Luke Skywalker, Roker as Han Solo, Vieira as Princess Leia, Curry as Darth Vader, Kotb as Yoda, Gifford as C-3PO and Morales as Queen Padmé Amidala. 08 of 18 2010 Richard Drew/AP Close pals Gifford and Kotb paid homage to TV's original best friends, Lucy and Ethel – and I Love Lucy's memorable grape-stomping scene. 09 of 18 2011 Peter Kramer/NBC; Erik Pendzich / Rex The Today hosts were pretty spot-on when they recreated the royal wedding with Lauer and Curry as Prince William and Princess Kate, Savannah Guthrie as Prince Charles, Roker as Prince Harry, Vieira as Queen Elizabeth and Gifford and Kotb in the roles of Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie (sorry, Camilla!). 10 of 18 2013 Dennis Van Tine/Abaca USA Playing #ThrowbackThursday TV stars paid off for the Today crew when they were visited by CHiPs cop Erik Estrada (imitated by Carson Daly) and Baywatch's Carmen Electra (Lauer dressed like her – again in drag). Rounding out the cast of small-screen favorites: Roker as Mr. T, Gifford and Kotb as Wilma Flintstone and Betty Rubble, Morales and Guthrie and Laverne and Shirley and Willie Geist as Baywatch's Mitch Buchannon (a.k.a. The Hoff). 11 of 18 2014 Erik Pendzich/REX USA The gang didn't have to go far to find their costumes that year – just over to the wardrobe department of Saturday Night Live, where they pulled looks from the show's iconic sketches. Geist and Tamron Hall brought cheer as the Spartan cheerleaders; Morales did saucy schoolgirl Mary Katherine Gallagher (with Peter Alexander as a forlorn priest); Lauer was the androgynous star of "It's Pat!"; Gifford and Kotb were Wayne and Garth (excellent!); Roker and Lester Holt donned Blues Brothers' garb; and Guthrie, Vieira and Jenna Bush Hager recreated the not-so-stylish "Mom Jeans" digital short. 12 of 18 2015 Today Show Good grief! In honor of The Peanuts Movie's impending release, the team dressed up as all the fan favorites, with Lauer as Lucy and Roker as Charlie Brown. Once again, Meredith Vieira made a surprise return (as Pig-Pen!) and the gang did a cute dance to the hummable theme, "Linus & Lucy." 13 of 18 2016 Today Show/Instagram Nostalgia was alive and well for the cast, who dressed as '90s icons including (from left) Demi Moore, Pulp Fiction's Mia Wallace and Vincent Vega, Steve Urkel, Regis and Kathie Lee (with a surprise Regis Philbin appearance!), Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Seinfeld. (A bonus: Charlie the puppy went as a Beanie Baby.) 14 of 18 2017 Country's finest joined the Today cast dressed as, well, country's finest, for a mega-concert on the show's Rockefeller Center stage. Reba McEntire introduced "legend's night," which included Carson Daly as mullet-rocking Billy Ray Cyrus, Kathie Lee Gifford as Miley Cyrus, Al Roker as Willie Nelson, Megyn Kelly as Shania Twain (in a corset!) and Hoda Kotb rocked a better Blake Shelton than Blake Shelton himself, who showed up for a surprise performance. "Every shred of my dignity is gone," quipped Kelly, before being surprised by the real Shania Twain on stage. But perhaps the cream of the crop was Savannah Guthrie as Kenny Rogers and Matt Lauer as Dolly Parton, who performed a duet of "Islands in the Stream." 15 of 18 2018 Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock Today went totally '80s for Halloween 2018, with the entire crew dressing up as movie characters like Doc (Al Roker) and Marty McFly (Dylan Dreyer) from Back to the Future as well as Ferris Bueller (Willie Geist), plus music stars like Cyndi Lauper (Savannah Guthrie) and Madonna (Kathie Lee Gifford). Hilariously, Good Morning America had the same idea, with the staff dressing up as beloved TV characters. 16 of 18 2019 NBC News’ TODAY The anchors pulled out all the stops to celebrate the spooky holiday with their dance-themed epic costumes. Al Roker and Craig Melvin went as The Fresh Prince of Bel Air's Carlton and Will, respectively, Hoda Kotb as Tony from Saturday Night Fever, Dylan Dreyer as Seinfeld's Elaine, Savannah Guthrie as Sandy and Carson Daly as Danny from Grease, Sheinelle Jones as Janet Jackson, and Peter Alexander as Kevin Bacon's character in Footloose. Jenna Bush Hager, who was on maternity leave, even stopped by, dressed as Baby from beloved romantic comedy Dirty Dancing — with help from Willie Geist as Johnny. 17 of 18 2020 Tyler Essary/NBC via Getty With the COVID-19 pandemic keeping theaters closed, the Today cast brought Broadway to viewers with their epic stage costumes. Dylan Dreyer and Sheinelle Jones dressed as Chicago's Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart; Craig Melvin and Al Roker were Hamilton's Alexander Hamilton and King George; Jenna Bush Hager portrayed Grizabella from Cats; and Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie united as beloved characters Glinda and Elphaba from Wicked. 18 of 18 2021 John Lamparski/Getty Images Ahead of Halloween on Sunday, the NBC morning news show hosts embraced the holiday spirit with a group costume inspired by the Super Bowl of the NFL. Hoda Kotb stepped out first as Carrie Underwood, lip-syncing the lyrics to NBC's Sunday Night Football theme song. Willie Geist and Carson Daly were next as Tampa Bay Buccaneers duo Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, both wearing a handful of real Super Bowl rings. Craig Melvin came out as Patrick Mahomes, prefaced with a video of a young Mahomes fan cheering on the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback. The NFL theme continued with Al Roker as The Weeknd. The weatherman mimicked the singer's epic Halftime Show performance from Super Bowl LV. Sheinelle Jones went a similar route with her Bruno Mars costume as she emulated his Super Bowl XLVIII production. Savannah Guthrie and Jenna Bush Hager wrapped up the segment as Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders and performed a brief routine alongside members of the famed dance crew.