Matt Lauer
Matthew Todd Lauer (/laʊər/; born December 30, 1957) is an American former television news personality, best known for his work with NBC News.[1] After serving as a local news personality in New York City on WNBC, his first national exposure was as the news anchor for The Today Show from 1994 to 1997. In 1997, Lauer was moved from the news desk to the host's chair, and served as the co-host of NBC's Today show from 1997 to 2017. He was also a frequent contributor for the evening news magazine Dateline NBC. With NBC, Lauer hosted the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and co-hosted the opening ceremonies of several Olympic Games.
Matt Lauer
December 30, 1957
Former television journalist
1979–2017
Today co-anchor
(1997–2017)
Today news anchor
(1994–1997)
3
Early life[edit]
Lauer was born in New York City, the son of Marilyn Lauer, a boutique owner, and Jay Robert Lauer, a bicycle-company executive.[4]
Lauer's father was of Romanian Jewish ancestry, as seen on the Today Show's Finding Our Roots.[5][6] Lauer said, "My dad was Jewish. My mom is not. So I was not raised anything. I do feel a desire now to find something spiritual. Getting married and wanting to have kids has something to do with that."[7]
Education and early career[edit]
Lauer earned his undergraduate degree from Ohio University at age 39 in 1997; he had studied at the school's Scripps College of Communication, School of Media Arts and Studies.[8] Lauer had previously dropped out of the same institution in the spring of 1979[8] to begin his television career, after he was hired as a producer of the noon newscast for WOWK-TV in Huntington, West Virginia. By 1980, Lauer had become an on-air reporter for the station's 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts.
Lauer then started to move around the East Coast, hosting a number of daily information and talk programs.[9] He was a co-host of PM Magazine in several cities, beginning in Richmond (1980–1981), then Providence (1981–1984),[10] and then New York City (1984–1986). After the New York edition of PM Magazine was canceled by WNYW in 1986, Lauer and co-host Jill Rappaport worked on a new show for the station, Made in New York, which ran for fifteen weeks.[11] This was followed by Lauer gaining his first national television exposure, as he joined Robin Leach in co-hosting ABC's short-lived daytime series Fame, Fortune and Romance, a spin-off of the syndicated Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.[12] Lauer then returned to local television, hosting programs in Philadelphia and Boston for a two-year period between 1987 and 1989, during which time he reported for ESPN and anchored entertainment news segments for HBO.[13]
In September 1989, Lauer returned to New York City, this time to WWOR-TV, where he hosted 9 Broadcast Plaza, a three-hour live interview program.[14][15] Lauer departed that series as it took a turn in booking "tabloid" guests and topics, and for what he relayed as a refusal to live-read ads on the show for Dial-a-Mattress.[16] WWOR-TV replaced Lauer with Richard Bey, and 9 Broadcast Plaza eventually morphed into The Richard Bey Show.
In 1990, Lauer was hired by the Kushner-Locke Company to host a pilot called Day in Court, executive-produced by veteran producer David Sams, who helped to launch The Oprah Winfrey Show into national syndication. The program was retitled Trial Watch when it went to series, and ran on the NBC network for two seasons. NBC hired Robb Weller as host over Lauer when the program was picked up as a daily series. That same year, Lauer filmed a pilot for the World Wrestling Federation's bodybuilding spinoff, the World Bodybuilding Federation for USA Network known as WBF BodyStars, though WWF owner/chairman Vince McMahon later decided to host the program himself.[17] In 1991, Lauer appeared as the co-host (along with Willow Bay) of Etc., Etc., a show on the Travel Channel.
Other work[edit]
Lauer made a guest appearance as himself on a live episode of Will & Grace in early 2006.[66]
In November 2006, Lauer and his daughter, Romy, hosted the Sesame Street direct-to-DVD show Sesame Beginnings: Exploring Together.[67] Lauer hosted The Greatest American on the Discovery Channel, which used internet and telephone voting by viewers to select the winner. Lauer was critical of his own program, since it tended to favor well-known figures over others who had less influence in pop culture.[68]
Lauer served as the 2009 Class Day speaker at Harvard University's undergraduate commencement ceremonies on June 3, 2009.[69]
Lauer has appeared as himself in the 2009 film Land of the Lost, the 2011 film The Beaver and voiced reporter Hark Hanson in the direct–to–DVD animated sequel Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey! Lauer also made appearances in the 2011 films Drew Peterson: Untouchable and Tower Heist; archival footage of Lauer is shown in the 2015 film Straight Outta Compton and the 2017 films Lady Bird and I, Tonya.[70][71] He also appeared as himself in the TV movies Sharknado 2: The Second One and Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No![72]