♦ Yesterday evening the New York Women's Foundation Fall Gala took place at Gotham Hall: Michael Bloomberg and Diana Taylor, Iman, Joel Klein and Nicole Seligman, Robert De Niro and Grace Hightower, Felicia Taylor, Jamie Niven, Herbert Wachtell, and Jonathan Farkas ate, drank, and watched a performance from the American Ballroom Theater Youth Dance Company. [Wireimage, PMc]
In this clip from today's Today show, Kathie Lee Gifford relates a call she got from weather anchor Al Roker on the birthday she shares with her husband Frank. (They were born on the same day 23 years apart!) (That means he was sixty-seven when that whore flight attendant thing happened!) But the point is, according to Kathie Lee, Al delivered his gentle ribbing about her husband's advanced age in a highly authentic sounding Chinese accent. Which Kathie somehow found it appropriate to imitate on national TV because as we know Kathie Lee thinks racism is cute!Oh well, you know what I say, a little harmless racism on the part of old people…what does it mean anyway? That she somehow thinks she is innately superior or that people of other cultures are not human? You guys, it is not like she's exploiting children or illegal immigrants or whatever.
Venture capitalist Fred Wilson turns 47 today, but he beat us to it and already announced the news on his blog. Other people celebrating today: Today's Al Roker is turning 54. Connie Chung is 62. CBS 2 morning anchor Maurice DuBois is 43. Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst is 38. Former presidential candidate (and Texas congressman) Ron Paul is turning 73. And the Tony-winning actress Joan Allen is 52.
(1) The 9th annual Art For Life Benefit took place on Saturday at Russell Simmons' East Hampton house. Despite tickets not selling out as fast as usual, the event played host to Aretha Franklin, Christy Turlington, Lorraine Bracco, Soledad O'Brien, David Paterson, Diddy, Padma Lakshmi, Brett Ratner, LA Reid, the cast of Real Housewives of New York, Al Roker, Kelly Bensimon, Alina Cho, Simon de Pury, and Porschla Coleman—whose break up with Simmons, judging by their behavior, is either incredibly amicable or no longer in effect. [PMc]
The state of American game-show relations achieved a dizzying new high Tuesday night when Ice-T, Joan Rivers and their respective broods faced off in a very special episode of Celebrity Family Feud. It hardly seemed a sure thing at first; we doubted Ice and host Al Roker could outdo their tasteful wife-for-hire exchange at the top of the show, or that Rivers could overcome the tremulous, post-Russell Crowe Fucking SlutGate gunshyness in time to produce for a national audience. But the rapper more than picked up the slack in the very first feud, wringing potty-mouthed ignominy from Roker's loaded solicitation, "Name something that's slippery and hard to hold on to." And while we may never know the true degree of Ice's ensuing, bleeped filth or his earlier, "Watch it, Al" threat to Richard Dawson's debauched spiritual heir, the possibility that we could love again after The Moment of Truth was never clearer or more reassuring. [NBC via RedLasso]
For any of you out there who still don’t “get” Kathy Griffin, we now present you with a single clip that will effectively prompt a lifelong love affair with the red-headed, fast-talking, Scientology-bashing spark plug of an entertainer that she is. On the Today Show this morning, giggly Al Roker had the pleasure of speaking with Kathy about her upcoming hosting job of Bravo’s inaugural A-List Awards and not-so-innocently asked her if there was really anything she wouldn’t do on camera, considering her reputation as a truthiness-telling comedienne who never holds back. What followed was a delicious and epic moment in television history, during which Roker was given a lap dance, off-screen staffers were overheard gasping, and images of a Roker/Matt Lauer/Halle Berry threesome in “the big bed” were thrust into our collective imagination.
The resident weatherman of The Today Show, Roker has been delivering the forecast to NBC viewers since 1996.
Oops. The mics on Al Roker and his trusty 'Today' team failed to cut away during this morning's weather segment! What were formerly fat Al & Co. dishing about when they thought they were off the air? Nastily enough, it involved Ann Curry, a massage, the phrase "oil all over me," and much giggling. Deep apologies to those of you who just ate. Unfortunately for NBC's morning trio, their little off-camera gaffe introduced a segment on Heath Ledger's maybe-masseuse-related death. Isn't that just hilarious?
The fun just never ends on The Today Show, no matter how much you pray to your pathetic "gods." Here, Al Roker makes an inexplicable joke about Tiki Barber padding his crotch and makes Matt kinda uncomfortable. Thankfully, he spares Ann Curry the indignity of having her name mentioned in the same breath as genital sheaths, except he doesn't. Then we have "some serious news to get to."
"That's how she rolls. Just when you least expect it, Mariska throws you a curve. Over the years, I've come to expect nothing less from the hardest working—and needless to say, hottest—perp-buster on TV." That's from the "blog" of T.V. star Mariska Hargitay, which is written solely by people who are not Mariska Hargitay (but who may know her!). "Preorder your 'XO, M' t-shirts!" reads another "blog" post. It turns out that a lot of celebrity blogs aren't blogs at all, but just a collection of markedly amateurish press releases. But! At the other end of the spectrum, some celebrity blogs are deeply personal, like Al Roker's. He recently wrote a moving eulogy of his mom there! Its gravity is only slightly undermined by the cartoon of Al in a prop plane buzzing around the screen. So what else do famous people do with their personal webjournals? Our Intern Mary applied her analytical tools to the most recent posts on 48 of these sites and came up with some findings.
We're still reeling from the first installment of Al Roker's new vlog, in which he careens through the NBC studio, causing mayhem wherever he goes. There he is in the Green Room, showing us the not-so-appetizing buffet! There he is, terrorizing cameramen who don't want to show their faces! There he is, mocking Meredith Viera's boots (apparently she showed "a little something extra for the video blog")! And finally, he ends up backstage, "where they prepare the food," and yells out, "Wake the neighbors! Call the dog! The VLOG!" while swinging a baguette like a bat. The Carpetbagger probably has nothing to worry about.
Here's an example of how an offhand remark can quickly escalate into something awkward—or worse. On this morning's "Today Show," Meredith Vieira and the kids were talking about Tim Hardaway, the former NBA player who isn't super fond of the gays. One thing leads to another, and all of a sudden we're talking about tire marks on Al Roker's butt. Nobody tell the dude from TV on the Radio.
Star Jones swanned her way to the Today show just now; the "fired" View co-host sat with Al Roker and spit out a bunch of saccharine reflections about the dramatics surrounding Tuesday's surprise resignation. No real bitchery, but definitely some Oscar-worthy "sincerity" about her time on the show — post-shitstorm, Jones said she received a heartfelt phone call from co-host Elizabeth Hasselbeck, which was a testament to her little white heart.
Oh, Al Roker will talk to the Kentucky lesbians. But let them mention "fast women," and whoa! whoa! whoa!
• Al Roker continues to amaze the denizens of Philly, revealing that he is, as suspected, a hugger. As is Matt Lauer. Katie Couric? [Insert controversial pause] Sure, guess you could say she's a hugger, too. In fact, the entire staff of the Today show molests one another daily. Except for Ann Curry. No one will touch her. [NBC10]
• So who screamed at Brandon Davis, berating him for revealing Lindsay Lohan's clit length and demanding that he "take a shower"? This girl, that's who. And she's Lindsay's biggest fan, so step the fuck off. [BWE]
• MySpace isn't just for greasy hipsters and perverse predators — it's also for wannabe Playmates. [TMZ]
• Judge a book by its cover. [Book Covers]
• To Do, This Weekend: fuck a sailor, and fuck him good. Then tell everyone you know before realizing what you've done, then go get a STD test. [NY Sun]
• Mike Myers and his hockey stick are thisclose to joining Yonah Schimmel's and ABC No Rio as LES institutions. [Cityrag]
• Seriously, Frank Bruni, could you make us love you any more? Stop it! It's unnatural, this affection! [NYT]
• Meet the Harvard-Yale lovematch from hell. You may feel inferior now, but just wait until they move into their first Park Avenue penthouse and they start throwing crystal vases at one another. [Julia Allison]
• Brad Pitt announces that his baby with Angelina Jolie is "imminent." Really? Did he just figure this out? What tipped him off? Did Zahara tell him? [CNN]
• Former Nanny Fran Drescher tells Howard Stern that she'd love a career in New York politics. Too bad not many people would willingly listen to her while she explained her platform. [Cityrag]
• Times mag on May 7; New Yorker on May 15; the Times today. It's official: the Dog Whisperer is overexposed. [NYT]
• Al Roker goes to Philly and gets a face shot. [Philadelphia Will Do]
• Got a hipster band but no success to speak of? Strong arm your way on the Misshapes playlist with a Joy Division cover. Ian Curtis = cash money. [My Old Kentucky]
• In LA, Madonna kicked off her world tour in fine form: by hanging herself from a giant disco crucifix. Those $400 tickets are going to be worth every penny. [AP]
• Kelly Ripa smells like fish. She won't tell you why, but we've some guesses. Nothing a little Summer's Eve can't fix. [BWE]
• Attention ladies and gays: looking for love? Try riding the subway between 5 and 6 AM, when the male/female ratio is 9:1. [Graphpaper]
OK, the sound quality sucks. And, yeah, it's from yesterday morning. And, granted, it's a "news" segment that little more than a marketing pitch for both a time when you actually watched NBC's scripted shows and a new DVD in which the network presumably has a stake. But, even so, you gotta watch Al Roker singing the Facts of Life theme on the Today show. Watch it once and it's amusing. Then watch it again, playing close attention to the last little bit of the song. You won't be able to look away.
