Today Show co-hosts Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira are both celebrating birthday’s on Wednesday, December 30. It was business as usual for Lauer, 52, who was at the helm on the NBC morning show. Vieira, who turned 56, phoned in her birthday greetings and had a little surprise in store of Matt.
She prefaced her surprise by reminding Lauer that President John Kennedy had “Happy Birthday” sung to him by none other than Marilyn Monroe. She challenged him to guess who she had arranged to be on hand for Lauer’s special day. He immediately guessed that veteran actor Abe Vigoda was the surprise guest. On cue, Abe wheeled in a birthday cake and joined Matt on the guest couch.
During an October segment that showed how former president’s had aged while in office, Meredith gave Lauer a glimpse at what he might look like as an aging president – flashing a photo of Abe Vigoda alongside one of Lauer. See photo below.
Vieira has been known to put her foot squarely in her mouth when trying to one-up Matt. When he was separated from his wife and it looked like a Matt Lauer divorce was in the works, she asked him how old he was when he got married – see video here.
Vigoda, 88, is famous for his portrayal of Detective Phil Fish on the popular television sitcom “Barney Miller” and his movie role as Sal Tessio in “The Godfather”.
Other famous folks celebrating a birthday today include LeBron James, Laila Ali, Sandy Koufax, Bo Diddley, Sean Hannity, Tracey Ullman and Tiger Woods.
Check out the “Today Show” birthday video below.
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