While playing a game of "Never Have I Ever" on Friday, the hosts of NBC's Today made a series of embarrassing confessions – everything from admitting to having "sexy dreams" about each other, to being drunk on air, to seeing each other naked.
Co-host Matt Lauer began the bizarre segment: "Everybody knows this game called "Never Have I Ever," right?...Let's try our own version....Here we go. Never have I ever had a sexy dream about one of my co-anchors." Equipped with signs reading "I Have" or "I Have Never," Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, and Al Roker all held up "I Have" signs.
Guthrie actually admonished fellow co-hosts Willie Geist and Carson Daly for holding up "I Have Never" signs: "I'm actually offended at this on behalf of every woman on this cast. Really? Never?" Daly joked: "Not yet. I mean, maybe tonight." Geist added: "You're like a sister to me."
Moments later, Lauer declared: "Never have I ever been drunk on the air." Lauer himself, as well as Geist and Daly, held up "I Have" signs. Turning to Lauer, Geist asked: "Recently? 2015?" Lauer replied: "Within the last 15 years....It was a long night."
For the final question of the game, Lauer stated: "Never have I ever seen someone on this panel naked." Only Lauer and Roker held up "I Have" signs. Daly observed: "It's each other." Lauer revealed: "I've seen Al – several times." Roker joked: "We weren't at work."
One of those times may have been when Lauer and Roker visited a Russian bathhouse together during the 2014 Sochi Olympics for a segment on the morning show.
Here are excerpts of the odd January 23 exchange:
8:16 AM ET
MATT LAUER: Everybody knows this game called "Never Have I Ever," right?...Ellen played with the stars of the new movie Mortdecai, Johnny Depp and Gwyneth Paltrow and Paul Bettany. She got some surprising answers. Then we'll play....Alright. Let's try our own version....Here we go. Never have I ever had a sexy dream about one of my co-anchors.
WILLIE GEIST: What?
[Savannah Guthrie, Matt Lauer, and Al Roker all hold up "I Have" signs]
LAUER: Okay, somebody's being honest.
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE [To Carson Daly and Willie Geist for holding up "I Have Never" signs]: I'm actually offended at this on behalf of every woman on this cast. Really? Never?
CARSON DALY: Not yet. I mean, maybe tonight.
GEIST: You're like a sister to me.
GUTHRIE [To Roker]: What about you, what do you say?
[Roker holds up "I Have" sign again]
GUTHRIE: Okay, thanks, Al.
(...)
LAUER: Never have I ever been drunk on the air.
GEIST: Drunk on the air?
[Lauer, Geist, and Daly hold up "I Have" signs]
DALY [To Lauer]: I love it. I love the honesty!
GUTHRIE: The Today show.
GEIST: Recently? 2015?
LAUER: Within the last 15 years.
ROKER: How about the last 15 minutes?
LAUER: No, no.
GUTHRIE: Say more about that.
LAUER: Never – no. It was a long night. Never have I ever seen someone on this panel naked.
[Lauer and Roker hold up "I Have" signs]
GUTHRIE [To Lauer and Roker]: Who? Oh, you two.
DALY: It's each other.
GUTHRIE: Oh.
LAUER: I've seen Al – several times.
ROKER: We weren't at work.
— Kyle Drennen is Senior News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Kyle Drennen on Twitter. [1]