Katie Couric Televises Her Colonoscopy on TODAY in 2000 In Historic First

As TODAY marks its 75th anniversary, the TODAY Archive is revisiting legendary interviews, stories that moved us and other iconic moments from our 75 years on the air. These are the segments that shaped TODAY and created a lasting legacy. Today, we look back at when Katie Couric got a colonoscopy that aired on the show on March 7, 2000.In what may be one of the most visually striking moments ever on TODAY, Katie Couric underwent a colonoscopy in a segment that viewers watched when it aired on March 7, 2000 — a first for morning television.In the days before something could go viral, the procedure proved to be a water cooler moment, but also had a much deeper impact.“The number of colonoscopies performed ... after Ms. Couric’s campaign increased significantly. After adjusting for temporal trends, a significantly higher postcampaign colonoscopy rate was sustained for 9 months. Analysis also demonstrated a trend toward an increase in the percentage of colonoscopies performed on women” the National Institutes of Health said in 2003.“Katie Couric’s televised colon cancer awareness campaign was temporally associated with an increase in colonoscopy use in 2 different data sets,” the agency added. The TODAY co-anchor wanted to raise awareness about colon cancer following the death of her husband, Jay Monahan, from the disease in 1998. How Did Katie Couric Prep for Her Colonoscopy?The segment, which Couric celebrated on TODAY in 2025, began with her drinking multiple glasses of NuLytely, a solution used to clean the colon before a colonoscopy. She sucked on some limes to help make it more palatable. “I’m not sure I’d order it at a restaurant,” she said.What Happened During the Colonoscopy?The clip then moved on to the next day, when Couric went to a hospital and met with her doctor, Dr. Ford, and his team, which prepped her for the procedure. The doctors and nurses enjoyed a few laughs with Couric, who joked about not being held accountable for her behavior while being sedated.He gave her some Demerol, which he promised would make her groggy.“It’s a nice, relaxing feeling,” he said while he also assuaged her concerns when she said she’s feeling nervous.Couric said she was starting to feel tired, while Dr. Ford expressed his confidence the medicine is working because she was having trouble talking.“I have a pretty little colon,” she said later while viewers saw a monitor of what was presumably that body part while they performed the exam, much to her surprise.“Yeah, we’re doing it,” Dr. Ford said. “We’re almost done.”He said her blood vessels were healthy and normal. Couric, placed on her side while the doctor stood behind her, then asked what was at the bottom of the screen.“It’s just like when you’re driving through a tunnel and your headlights haven’t reached the spot, it looks dark, but once your headlights get up to it, you realize that it’s clear,” he said.A nurse then moved Couric onto her back before Ford showed her where her small intestine was.“In other words, we’re six feet up,” he said.“That’s reassuring, Dr. Ford. Thank you for sharing that point with me,” she said, while getting him to confirm that colons are generally six feet long, no matter how tall the person is.“We’ve reached the end of the colon,” she said.Dr. Ford then got another “definitive” look at the colon.The Examination Came to a Successful End“It’s as clean as a whistle. This is a perfectly normal examination, up to this point,” the doctor said shortly before they wrapped up.Ford also said he kept her sedated enough so she wasn’t “terrified,” adding, “But you didn’t need any more, so you could interact.”As for how Couric was feeling post-examination, she said, “The only discomfort was really, sort of, when you blew air in me, I guess ... But, other than that, I didn’t feel a thing.”The segment ended with Couric showing a colonoscope, the tool which Ford used on her to perform the procedure. She showed how it moved up and down, side to side, and how it was equipped with a brush to take out a polyp and get cells from the colon for pathology to determine if the polyp is cancerous or not. She concluded by reminding viewers of the importance of early detection.