‘Something extra came out.’ And it is too late for Al Roker.
Listening to Al Roker’s anecdote about his White House mishap from some 10 years ago, all I could think was “Why Al Roker? Why?”
In what falls squarely under the definition of too much information, the “Today” show’s jovial weatherman shared with “Dateline NBC” – and the American public – that he once soiled his pants during a visit to the White House.
The personal and embarrassing admission came during an interview with NBC correspondent Nancy Snyderman about Roker’s gastric bypass surgery more than a decade ago.
“When you have a bypass and your bowels been reconstructed, you think you’re pretty safe,” Roker confided. “And I probably went off and ate something I wasn’t supposed to.… As I’m walking to the press room, I go, I have to pass a little gas here.”
As I heard this I thought, “No. Please stop, Al Roker.”
This is where a CliffsNotes-version would have been helpful. But alas, Roker continued, stream-of-consciousness and all.
“So I’m walking by myself, who’s going to know? Only a little something extra came out.”
Keeping a face of journalistic gravity, Snyderman responded, “You pooped in your pants.”
“I pooped in my pants,” Roker confirmed.
Snyderman pointed out such incidents are a common side effect of surgery. Though the side effect may be a relevant detail to the challenges of gastric bypass surgery, that did not require me knowing just exactly what happened to our beloved weatherman at the White House.
And yet, the tale went on.
“I was panicking,” Roker said. “So I got to the restroom of the press room, threw out the underwear and you know, went commando.”
Make that two things I wish I hadn’t heard in a 90-second span. Kudos to the interviewer, I suppose, for getting such a candid story out of her subject. Though honestly, I wish she would have let Roker off the hook when he said something “extra” came out and just left it at that. That’s all we needed.
There’s this saying, “I want the news, not the weather.”
In this case, it’s definitely the other way around.
ALSO:
Chuck Hagel’s Israel litmus test
Goldberg: A petty decision by Obama
The biggest entertainment stories
Get our big stories about Hollywood, film, television, music, arts, culture and more right in your inbox as soon as they publish.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
