William Hall "Billy" Bush (born October 13 1971) was the chief host/announcer of the syndicated NBC Universal TV show Access Hollywood and now co-hosts NBC's The Today Show. He is a first cousin of George W. Bush.

Biography

Personal life

Bush is the son of Josephine (née Bradley) and Jonathan Bush. Bush attended St. George's School in Rhode Island and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies and Government at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. He was captain of the college's men's lacrosse team.

He now resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Sydney Davis, whom he married in April 1998, and their four children; Josephine, Mary, Lillie, and son Bradley.

Professional personality

Prior to his leading role on Access Hollywood, Bush was one of the show's East Coast correspondents, based in New York City from early 2002 until mid-2004. When NBC did not renew Pat O'Brien's contract, he left the show to host the new television program, The Insider, and Bush stepped in as O'Brien's replacement. He has since served as host, announcer, and an uncredited executive producer of Access Hollywood.

In January 2003, Billy hosted an NBC prime-time show of Let's Make A Deal where only three of the five shows taped made it to air.

His carefree or careless attitude has sometimes backfired. For example, he was criticized for beginning a live interview with Naomi Watts at the Academy Awards with "Watts up?" The host, Billy Crystal, called him "the most annoying man in show business."^[1].

Bush is also known for his corny sense of humor and on-air hijinks with celebrity interviewees. For example, Bush brought pizza backstage to the models (including Heidi Klum) at a Victoria's Secret fashion show; he presented Colin Farrell with a post-menopausal stripper for his birthday at the premiere of Phone Booth; he asked Penélope Cruz if she was able to spell her boyfriend Matthew McConaughey's last name (she could not); he asked Jennifer Lopez how she really feels about her buttocks; he asked Britney Spears whether Madonna or Colin Farrell was a better kisser; and he disguised himself as "Richard Broom" and faced Donald Trump at an audition for The Apprentice.

Bush hosted the reality competition Grease: You're the One that I Want! on NBC in 2007, which was used to select cast members for director and choreographer Kathleen Marshall's Broadway revival of Grease.

He was recently a contestant in the show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, but he flunked, missing a question on the real first name of Civil War General Stonewall Jackson (Thomas). Bush incorrectly answered "Andrew" thinking the former president and the Civil War general were the same person. He left the show with $25,000 won for the Lollipop Foundation.

Billy also replaced Meredith Vieira for a week of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire shows on April 21-25, 2008.

Career highlights

Bush hosted the radio morning show, Billy Bush and the Bush League Morning Show, on WWZZ-FM (Z104) in Washington, DC until 2001, when he was fired for poor ratings and inappropriate comments he made while on the air. As part of his Access Hollywood work, Bush was sent to the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece to do entertainment features. More recently, Bush concluded his third appearance as co-host of the Miss Universe 2005 pageant in Bangkok, Thailand. He previously co-hosted the pageant in 2003 and 2004 alongside Daisy Fuentes and fellow Access Hollywood co-anchor Nancy O'Dell, respectively. He also hosted the Miss USA pageant in 2003, 2004, and 2005. After the 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards of 2008 were canceled as a result of the 2007?08 Writers Guild of America strike, Bush co-hosted "The 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards Announcement" press conference with Access Hollywood co-anchor Nancy O'Dell on January 13, 2008.

Bush currently hosts The Billy Bush Show, a nightly talk radio and entertainment interview show. It airs out of KBIG-FM in Los Angeles and is syndicated by Westwood One.

References

External links

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