Gotcha! Today show cohosts Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie played an early April Fools’ Day prank on unsuspecting visitors to the Shop at NBC Studios in New York City on Thursday, March 30.
Fans thought that they were just taking a photo in front of a replica Today show set, complete with the anchors’ desk and coffee mugs. But when they sat down at the desk and posed for the pic, the real anchors quietly jumped into the background for a photobomb.
Some people seemed not to notice immediately, while others squealed in disbelief. After the photobomb, Lauer, 59, who looked sharp in a suit, and Guthrie, 45, who was clad in a black top and floral skirt, hugged and greeted the starstruck fans.
“Wait a minute, that’s my chair,” Lauer quipped to one young girl and her family, who held a sign saying that it was their first time in the Big Apple.
At the end of the prank, the TV personalities stood behind the desk while a whole crowd of people gathered around them. “April Fools’,” they all said in unison.
The Today crew has had some hilarious April Fools’ pranks through the years. In 2015, they gave terrible ambush makeovers and surprised family members when they revealed the funny results. They used prosthetics to make one man look much older and turned one woman into a werewolf.