I don't watch the Today Show because I find it interminably stupid, so I can't sit here and tell you I find this dramatically different from the Matt Lauer I watch on TV. Because I don't watch him. From what little I have seen of him, he seems like a fairly straightforward type of personality. Then again, Mark Halperin comes off as dry as toast, so who knows anything about anyone?
But one of the reasons NBC went ahead and fired Lauer late last night is that they knew Variety was getting ready to publish this story. They did a few hours ago, and man oh man: