James Lipton Critiques ‘Today’ Anchors Acting in ‘Sharknado 3’
In celebration of the premiere of Sharknado 3, on Thursday The Today Show anchors aired their scene in the television movie.
The clip features, among other Today personalities, Hamptonite Matt Lauer—who also appeared in Sharknado 2: The Second One—and Hamptons visitor Hoda Kotb.
Eager to see if they successfully made the transition from anchors to actors, they invited writer, composer, actor and Bridgehampton resident James Lipton into the studio to give them a few tips. Lipton, who was just nominated for his 18th Emmy award, met with Kathy Lee Gifford and Lauer in the Today studio to reveal his opinion.
The Inside the Actors Studio host quickly formulated some questions for the anchors, “It’s not easy for an actor to dig that deep,” Lipton said in reference to Lauer. “Tell us how you did it.”
“To be honest, it came from a place I had never mined before,” Lauer responded.
Jokingly, Lipton commented, “The film is enigmatically subtitled, Oh Hell No … “Can you give us a hint as to what that meant?”
“I think it’s the opposite of Oh Hell Yes,” quipped Savannah Guthrie.
The Today anchors account for just a few of the celebrity cameos featured in the star-packed Sharknado 3, which was released on Wednesday, July 22, on SyFy.