Carson Daly had no idea what was coming when Jenna Bush Hager decided to prank him on the May 1 episode of TODAY with the “I’m so hungry I could eat” trend.
The TODAY co-host thought he was simply part of a conversation explaining the trend that has people randomly bringing up someone from another person’s past.
Jenna had already been pranked by her assistant, who brought up the name of her high school prom date. Craig Melvin also did a double take when he was pranked by a mention of one of his old friends.
“Whoever does the prank, they do some research beforehand,” Craig explained while on TODAY May 1.
“Sort of like, ‘I’m so hungry I could eat a Jennifer Love Hewitt,'” Jenna said as she turned to Carson, referencing one of his old girlfriends.
“Right,” Carson said. “Wait, what?!”
Savannah Guthrie promptly cracked up and high-fived Jenna after she brought up Hewitt, the “9-1-1” star Carson dated back in his “Total Request Live” days on MTV in the ’90s.
“Thank you for doing what I was about to do,” Savannah told Jenna.
“That’s just ridiculous,” Carson said in response.
“That took a lot of research,” he joked.
Savannah and Jenna weren’t done mining Carson’s dating past. Next up was his former fiancée, another actor.
“Or what’s that other one?” Savannah said.
“Tara Reid!” Jenna exclaimed. Reid and Carson were engaged before breaking it off in 2001.
“Oh my gosh,” Carson said. “You didn’t.”
“We did,” Savannah said.
“Can I go?” he said. “Can I leave now?”
Carson then pushed his chair away from the desk.
Savannah and Jenna later recounted how the moment happened in a clip shared on TODAY’s Instagram.
“Amazing moment for us, and for the show,” Savannah said.
“I’d like to give some credit to Savannah,” Jenna said. “I said it, but our eyes locked and she said, ‘I would do something right now if I could,’ and she egged me on with her eyes. They twinkled.”
“You picked up what I threw down,” Savannah said. “She gets it across the finish line. Bringing up Carson’s famous old girlfriends, and in some cases, fiancée. He was engaged to one of them, and people have forgot.”
Mission accomplished.
“Just bring it right here, queen” Savannah said to Jenna as they high-fived.
