Bryant Gumbel, Jane Pauley return to ‘Today’

Many of the “Today� show’s core anchors were off for the holidays Monday, so NBC called in two veterans to join Matt Lauer on his birthday. Former “Today� anchors Bryant Gumbel and Jane Pauley returned for a one-day-only tour of duty in an effort to help viewers recall the days when “Today� was the top-rated morning show.

Pauley left the show in 1989; Gumbel departed in 1997. As weatherman Al Roker, by remote in California, joked, “I understand Gene Shalit’s standing by to review ‘Back to the Future.’�

Lauer turned 56 on Monday and Gumbel, who currently hosts “Real Sports� on HBO, led the birthday boy through a series of well-wishes from Roker, the vacationing Savannah Guthrie, former co-anchor Meredith Viera and even cake from Pauley’s 30-year-old twins, who have never been seen on “Today� before now.

BEST TV OF 2013 Lloyd | McNamara

Notably missing from the well-wishers was Ann Curry, whose teary departure from the show last year was the start of a rough patch for “Today,� which has been surpassed in the ratings by ABC’s “Good Morning America.�

Co-host Carson Daly was also on hand to deliver a box of Just for Men from Roker for Lauer to apply to his salt-and-pepper beard.

“Just put it on a small patch of your body to test it,� Roker cautioned.

“Al, you don’t have to worry. I only have hair on a small patch of my body,� Lauer responded.

The last time Gumbel appeared on “Today� was in January 2012 for the show’s 60th anniversary, while Pauley appears monthly with her “Life Reimagined� segments, focusing on older American beginning new careers.

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