Hoda Kotb survives Kathie Lee Gifford every day, comes to Decatur Oct. 15 for book signing

Kotb, a "Dateline NBC" correspondent, joined the fourth hour of "The Today Show" at its launch in 2007. In a brilliant casting move, Gifford was added soon after, creating an unpredictably goofy dynamic to the program. The pair are often mocked by E!'s Joel McHale on "The Soup" and NBC's "Saturday Night Live."

"She's a fascinating woman who has no filter," Kotb said in a phone interview last week promoting her appropriately titled autobiography "Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer and Kathie Lee." Kotb will be a the First Baptist Church in Decatur Friday evening for a free book signing and talk.

"She's at a point in her life where she can be sexy and say whatever she wants," Kotb said "It's empowering watching her every day. I'd rather work with someone like that than someone who is selling themselves but not telling you the real story."

Kotb jokes that NBC should have a continuous scrawl underneath the screen saying, "Kathie Lee would like to apologize for what she has said in the past, what she's saying now and what she's going to say in the future."

As a journalist for more than 20 years, Kotb is the straight woman to Gifford's commentary every day. "She'll always be asking me something that makes me feel vulnerable," she said. "I struggle with it. Part of me wants to be serious all the time. Part of me wants to have fun. It's a mixed bag."

A portion of Kotb's book is also focused on Kotb's often out-of-control hair, susceptible to even a whiff of humidity. "Freakish," Kodb admitted.

"I've used every product known to man," she added. "When I was in Uganda, there was only one place to charge the gear. I had six hot rollers. I had to convince the crew to give me 10 minutes to charge them because I needed those hot rollers!"

The book's light tone belies some serious topics, including her bout with breast cancer, which happened the same time her marriage fell apart. That experience taught her that her optimistic nature can backfire at times.

"Optimism, I think, works 90 percent of the time," Kotb said, "but sometimes, you make excuses and refuse to see things really are broken. You have to learn you can't fix everything."

Book signing

Hoda Kotb, ”Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee.” 7:30 p.m. Oct. 15, First Baptist Church, 308 Clairemont Ave., Decatur, (404) 373-1653, free

Here's Hoda dancing:

Here's "The Soup" sampling:

The pair here talk about SNL:

And here's one of the skits in full: