There was a segment that is exclusive to the MSNBC newscast, a segment aired before the entertainment news summary at the end of the program, featuring excerpts from the monologue of the previous night/weeknight's episode of either The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon or Late Night with Seth Meyers, followed by the guest list of the upcoming episode.

MSNBC placed the program on a short-term hiatus to test a 5 a.m. replay of both Countdown with Keith Olbermann and The Rachel Maddow Show at various times from February to April 2009;[1] First Look was restored onto the schedule after that.

During the 2016 Summer Olympics on August 15, 2016, the program returned with the new title Morning Joe First Look with the latter show's logo blended into a new logo for First Look, but it retained the same format, while some Way Too Early early features were blended into what is now the second half-hour of First Look; the latter program was discontinued.

Louis Burgdorf began to serve as a co-anchor with the Morning Joe brand extension, and does most of his duties from the NBC News control room.

NBC meteorologist Bill Karins provides the national and regional weather forecast segments.