During his appearance on “The Tonight Show” last week, NBC “Today” anchor Matt Lauer told Jay Leno:

“I made a vow years ago, Bryant Gumbel told me, ‘Don’t sing and don’t dance on the show.’”

Friday, he broke that vow.

Lauer, along with “Meet the Press” moderator David Gregory in Washington and Al Roker in Kentucky, got down to Psy’s YouTube hit “Gangnam Style.” Things will never be the same.

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This afternoon thousands of dapper people will file into Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. They will sip mint juleps, wear funny hats and make “trifecta” wagers after pretending to read the book on handicapping.

Yes, the Kentucky Derby is here, and NBC, which paid good money for the TV rights, is planning wide-ranging coverage, including contributions from NBC News and The Weather Channel.

Al Roker was at Churchill Friday for a “Today” segment, as well as “Wake Up with Al” on Weather Channel. His colleague Stephanie Abrams will continue coverage on Weather Saturday morning. “Today” correspondent Dylan Dreyer will report from the hallowed grounds on Saturday and Sunday, previewing and recapping the event, respectively. Brian Schachtman, CNBC’s sports business reporter, filed reports from Churchill Friday, and will continue all day today.

E! news is also planning coverage. The fancy hats may cover people’s heads, but they won;t cover themselves, you know.

Bob Costas will lead the coverage, along with:
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The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has announced the nominees for the 40th annual Daytime Emmy Awards, and TV news shows and personalities are well-represented. The awards will air on HLN June 16.

In the “Outstanding Morning Program” category, NBC’s “Today,” ABC’s “Good Morning America” and “CBS Sunday Morning” are the nominees. We hear that CBS did not submit “CBS This Morning” for consideration this time around. “GMA” and “CBS Sunday” also received nominations in “Outstanding Promotional Announcement” and “Outstanding Achievement in Multiple Camera Editing” respectively.

Other nominees included Dr. Sanjay Gupta for CNN’s “Sanjay Gupta, MD,” Anderson Cooper for “Anderson Live” and Katie Couric‘s talk show “Katie,” which was nominated for “Outstanding Talk Show/Informative.” “The View” also received an “Outstanding Talk Show” nod, while the “Today” team of Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie and Al Roker were nominated for their work at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The full list of nominees can be viewed here.

Media bias and the press were the subject of two big segments on cable news last night. On FNC’s “The O’Reilly Factor,” Bill O’Reilly sent producer Jesse Watters went to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where he asked attendees whether there was bias in the media. Al Roker, Les Moonves, Bob Schieffer, Chris Matthews and Piers Morgan were all among his “victims.”

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On MSNBC ‘s “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell,” the MSNBC host made the White House press corps the subject of his ire. In a lengthy, 16-minute (!) segment, O’Donnell argued that for the American reporters, the conferences “are more about the press than the President.”

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The cable news networks were a prime target for both President Obama and Conan O’Brien at Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, held at the Washington D.C. Hilton.

Obama kicked off his remarks by acknowledging Fox News senior White House correspondent Ed Henry, the White House Correspondents’ Association president. “Ed, you’re doing an outstanding job,” Obama said. “We are grateful for the great work you’ve done.”

In his remarks, Obama poked fun at CNN, MSNBC and Fox News. “I know CNN has taken some knocks lately, but I admire their commitment to cover all sides of the story, just in case one of them happens to be accurate,” he said. “David Axelrod now works for MSNBC, which is a nice change of pace considering MSNBC used to work for David Axelrod.” Obama joked that Fox News said it was “an insult to Satan” when an actor in the History Channel’s series “The Bible” was noticed for his resemblance to the President.

O’Brien also took aim at CNN and Fox News in his speech. “Speaking of dinner, tonight’s entrees were halibut and filet mignon. Or as John King reported it, lasagna and cous-cous,” he said. “If the President laughs, everyone laughs. And if the Fox News table laughs, a little girl just fell off her bike.”

O’Brien also made fun of NBC, saying the network has had a “rough go of it” of late. “The ‘Today’ show let go of Ann Curry. After being told, Ann Curry said, ‘let me get this straight: Al Roker tells the world that he crapped his pants at the White House, and I’m getting fired?’” O’Brien said.

Earlier in the day, Tammy Haddad hosted the 20th Annual Correspondents Garden Brunch. FishbowlDC has the details of the event, which was attended by Greta Van Susteren, Savannah Guthrie, Norah O’Donnell and Chris Matthews, among many others.

After the jump, watch the “House of Cards” spoof that opened the dinner, featuring Henry, Charlie Rose and Major Garrett. Read more

As we predicted, A.J. Clemente — the local Bismarck anchor fired for saying “fucking shit” on the air during his debut newscast on NBC affiliate KFYR — has caught the interest of the morning shows. Clemente tweeted this afternoon that a “Today” show appearance is in the works:

MT Off to my home state, #NYC. Meeting up family and friends from #DE.Next time you see me, it will be on @todayshow. Thank God for each day

— A.J. Clemente (@ClementeAJ) April 23, 2013

As TVSpy notes, Clemente, who will be on during “Today’s” 7:30 half hour Wednesday morning, was fodder for all three of the network morning shows today. Al Roker weighed in saying, “I don’t think he should have been fired.” Watch:

The birth of the first grandchild of former Pres. George W. Bush and Laura Bush was news on the morning shows today, but perhaps more so on NBC’s “Today.” Jenna Bush Hager, who has been a special correspondent with the show since 2009, gave birth to daughter Margaret Laura “Mila” Hager in New York City Saturday night. Bush Hager and her husband Henry Hager named their daughter after their mothers.

Bush Hager was on “Today” just last Thursday with a story on baby gender superstitions, and trying to determine if her baby would be a boy or a girl. A psychic, a “crystal healer” and a clairvoyant and Natalie Morales all thought she would be having a boy. Al Roker predicted girl. And that’s what’s happening in your neck of the woods.

Willie Geist was not in his usual perch on NBC’s “Today” or MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Friday –  he was in Los Angeles for a taping of “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” Kim Kardashian, who is expecting a baby with Kanye West, was also a guest on Thurday’s show, and Geist threw a few parenting tips her way.

“Kanye’s gonna have to decide early on whether or not he’s a baby bjorn guy,” Geist advised. “Because the minute you put on that baby bjorn, there’s no turning back. It’s like buying a minivan — you lose a little piece of yourself.” Watch:

Geist also talked about his infamous on-air kiss with Al Roker:
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It was a good day and a bad day to be in the crowd outside of NBC’s “Today” studio this morning.

The good news: “Today” “superfan” Linny Boyette returned to the program after a long absence. Boyette had a health scare, and was welcomed back by Matt Lauer, Al Roker and Savannah Guthrie.

The bad news: right after Linny’s sppearance, someone else in the “Today” crowd had their own health problem, and the result was an ambulance parked right behind Lauer and Guthrie:

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Another bit from the New York cover story on how NBC intends to bring “Today” back to its former morning glory. Joe Hagan writes:

Last fall, Today producers used a research firm called Sterling to help analyze how viewers felt about the show. The producers flew to Florida to hang out in viewers’ living rooms, identifying themselves as researchers. A woman named Adrianna, for instance, thought the interviews went on too long, but she liked the weatherman. “People told us, ‘I love that Al Roker,’” says ["Today" executive Alex] Wallace. “So they’re getting more Al Roker. It’s not an anti-Matt thing at all.”

Roker is already a fixture on the first three hours, he does another morning show, “Wake up with Al,” on Weather Channel and he has his own production company that churns out shows for multiple networks. Still, you should expect to see more Al Roker.

Shameless plug time: Did you hear about how Al Roker broke in to the TV business? It involves the dreaded “C” word. See it after the jump…

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