Matt Lauer Has Harsh Words For Matt Lauer, Compares Himself To Polio

Matt Lauer roasted Matt Lauer last night, jumping on the bandwagon of people who really just cannot stand Matt Lauer right now.

The much-maligned Today show host was at the UJA Federation of New York’s Broadcast Cable & Film Division event Tuesday night to honor Bloomberg Media Group CEO Andrew Lack, and Lauer took some time out to joke about his recently poor reputation among viewers and former fans and in the media.

Lauer and Lack are buddies, so it makes sense Matt would rag on his own self as part of the fun. He opened quipping about his shock at getting an invite, saying he was “a bit surprised to be asked to host this dinner.”

Lauer continues:

“If you’ve been following the papers lately, you know it’s been a bit rough for me.”

He adds:

“These days, I only get asked to host dinners if polio is busy. Yup, I have a lower Q rating than polio right now.”

Uh. Okay. Matt Lauer didn’t just rag on himself though, he brought in former Today show star Katie Couric and joked:

“Katie has a way of making headlines. Who can forget when she was co-host of the Today show? She got a colonoscopy on TV. Not to be outdone, two weeks ago, I got one in The New York Times.”

Okay, funnier. Lauer was referring to an article in the NYC paper that speculated he’d fallen way behind his standard for likeability in recent years and that the departure of Ann Curry in tears had irreparably damaged his public perception.

The more Matt Lauer talks about how unliked he is the more unlikeable he becomes.

— Brian Bolter (@brianbolter) April 11, 2013

Do you think Matt Lauer can win American viewers back?