Live television is always a gamble. A program can have a room full of professionals who have planned out every single second of a broadcast, and yet there always exists the potential for something to go wrong or… weird. For proof of this, one need only recall an incident that occurred a little over 16 years ago on the Today show that saw famed weather anchor Al Roker’s leg get humped by a fuzzy creature from the Star Wars universe.
This is a big week for Roker, as he is celebrating his 30th year as part of the Today family, and while his tenure on the long-running morning program has featured a number of positive highlights, he highlighted one of his oddest on-screen moments while recently speaking with People. The show in question was on Halloween in 2009, and he and his co-stars all participated in a special Star Wars-themed episode. Roker, who certainly knows how to have fun on camera, was personally dressed up as Han Solo (replete with wig, vest and blaster), and the production got a few bonuses courtesy of the folks at Lucasfilm, including a couple actors dressed up in Ewok costumes. He recalled,
The folks from Lucasfilm provided props and we had an X-wing fighter out on the Plaza. We had R2D2, C-3PO, and Ewoks. And the Ewoks I guess had stopped at the Cantina bar before the show because they were very naughty Ewoks.
Al Roker and co-host Ann Curry were part of a segment highlighting Halloween-themed cocktails, but things went a bit off the rails when the space was invaded by a pair of Ewoks who didn’t seem to have any plan beyond causing chaos. They grabbed drinks off the bar and imitated Michael Jackson’s moonwalk, and one of them even went as far as to start humping Roker’s leg.
In the moment in the taped broadcast, the TV host looks at the camera and smiles while saying, “I feel so dirty” – but over a decade-and-a-half later, he seems to reflect on it with only glee. He added,
Every time I watch it, I just break out, it makes me laugh because, it’s like, ‘Wow, nobody saw that coming. No one had that on their bingo card.’ . . . I know they probably would hate me bringing this up, but to this day it still makes me laugh.
I imagine the “they” in that last sentence refers to the aforementioned “folks from Lucasfilm,” as the company is very protective of the Star Wars brand – which has a mostly clean, family-friendly public perception. That being said, there is no way that we would still be talking about the segment 16-plus years later if that Ewok didn’t hump Al Roker’s leg, and they say that “all press is good press.”
And the Star Wars brand certainly survived it: this bit of TV history was a few years before Disney acquired Lucasfilm and started a new era for the franchise with 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
For those who haven’t done the math, Roker’s beloved run on Today began all the way back in 1996 when he replaced Willard Scott, and he has been a TV staple ever since – and you can always tune in to see him on NBC between 7:00-11:00am.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
