It's starting to sound like President Obama will be speaking to a different kind of audience at this month's State of the Union, and there will be less of a pep rally atmosphere.

Two prominent senators from different parties -- Democrat Charles Schumer of New York and Republican Tom Coburn of Oklahoma -- said today that they will sit together during Obama's annual address, and hope that congressional colleagues will follow suit.

"We hope that many others will follow us," Schumer said today on NBC's Meet The Press. "Now that's symbolic, but maybe it just sets a tone and everything gets a little bit more civil."

Obama's nationally televised address will be the night of Jan. 25.

Other lawmakers have also expressed interest in mixing party members during the speech in a show of national unity in the wake of the Arizona shooting. The idea was proposed by Sen. Mark Udall, D-Col0.

Coburn, who appeared with Schumer on Meet The Press, said, "Chuck and I have been able to work on multiple bills, because we sit down, one on one, and work things out. And what we need to do is have more of that, not less of it."

Traditionally, Republicans sit on one side of the chamber and Democrats on the other during the annual address. In recent years, that arrangement has produced alternate standing ovations from each side of the chamber, depending on the nature of the proposals being made and the party of the president making them.

"It's like a see-saw," said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, who described the idea as an interesting one.

In a letter colleagues, Udall said having party members sit together would send a good message in light of the shooting that killed six people and wounded a member of Congress, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. The shooting prompted intense discussion about aggressive political rhetoric.

"Beyond custom, there is no rule or reason on this night we should emphasize divided government, separated by party, instead of being seen united as a country," Udall wrote, adding: "The choreographed standing and clapping of one side of the room -- while the other side sits -- is unbecoming of a serious institution."