NBC “Today” co-anchor Matt Lauer poked some fun at the recent headlines at a UJA Federation of New York event Tuesday night. The event was honoring Bloomberg Media CEO Andrew Lack, who was previously the president of NBC News.

Page Six has some of the juicy quotes:

These days, I only get asked to host dinners if polio is busy. Yup, I have a lower Q rating than polio right now…”  Lauer introduced presenter Katie Couric with this zinger: “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.”

Gabe Sherman examines the evolution of the Bloomberg media empire in the latest issue of New York magazine. Tucked into the piece are a few  interesting details about the television operation:

Under CEO for multimedia Andrew Lack, Bloomberg Television has failed to eat into CNBC’s audience. Last year, talks to partner Bloomberg TV with ABC News broke down. Bloomberg has tried to attract stars, including offering CNBC’s David Faber a mid-six-figure deal. Bloomberg also went after the Times’ Andrew Ross Sorkin. Neither could be swayed. Part of the problem is that [Bloomberg News editor in chief Matthew] Winkler remains resistant to adopting some of the entertainment values that could attract an audience.

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