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The Guy Who Posted The Hilarious Today Show ‘What Is The Internet’ Reportedly Fired By NBC

video

by Jon Bershad | 12:41 pm, February 4th, 2011

» 30 comments

If this is true, it’s very sad. Last week, an amazing video from 1994 was posted online showing Katie Couric and Bryant Gumbel sitting on the Today set and trying to wrap their heads around this whole “Internet” thing. The video instantly went viral and was posted on countless websites (including Mediaite). Well, now it would appear that the guy who posted it has been fired by NBC for leaking it.

Not too much is known at this point but, a couple days ago, The Washington Post’s Rob Pegoraro tweeted this message:

Today, TechDirt reported on the situation, saying “the guy doesn’t want to talk about it beyond that, and NBC doesn’t appear too keen on commenting on the whole situation.” I certainly hope that, if this guy really got fired, then this wasn’t the reason.

Sure, the man was probably breaking his employee contract by leaking NBC-owned property (having worked a couple of very low level jobs in television, I know how strict and specific those contracts are and I understand why) but this video deserved to be out there. I don’t want to suddenly start sounding like Julian Assange all of a sudden, but people deserved to see it. Yes, the first reaction upon viewing the video was to laugh at how dumb the hosts sound to our 2011 ears, but most people will recognize, after thinking about it, that this video is one of the best proof of just how far our society has come in recent years. When you watch that video, you can’t help but realize that there are millions and millions of things that we take for granted that used to be absolutely impossible and you can’t help but feel proud for the human race. And, as we all know, that’s not something we get to do that often.

I know this sounds completely pretentious, but it’s true. That video, silly as it may seem, is important.

We have no way of knowing the reasons this guy got fired (or if the story’s actually true), but, if his only infraction was posting this one video, we hope NBC reconsiders.

(h/t Soup)

Check out the video in question below:

Bryant Gumbel, Katie Couric, Rob Pegoraro, The Today Show

tatboy

Don’t F*CK with Katie!!! Don’t make her angry… you would like her when she’s angry.
More Liberty3

LOL….funny.
Harry Flashman

Jeez…in 1994 I had no clue about the internet, and neither did a lot of other people.

Cell phones were still relatively new and not in widespread use (check the movies from that time – cell phones are either missing or are big blocks of plasic).

I laughed when I saw this video, but not because I don’t like Couric or Gumbel. I don’t. But I laughed because this is just a reflection of how most of us were just 16 short years ago. (Yes, you were). It doesn’t make them look bad. It just makes them look like the rest of us at the time.

E-mail? What’s that? I don’t need no stinkin’ e-mail.

This is harmless. I hope they change their minds.
TeaPartyPatriot

The TRUTH-KILLERS at the N(itwit)B(iased-socialist)C(lowns) network simply won’t allows THE TRUTH to get out – EVER !
Quite the Pundint

“You know, medicine is not an exact science, but we are learning all the time. Why, just fifty years ago, they thought a disease like your daughter’s was caused by demonic possession or witchcraft. But nowadays we know that Isabelle is suffering from an imbalance of bodily humors, perhaps caused by a toad or a small dwarf living in her stomach.” –Theodoric of York http://www.hulu.com/watch/3529/saturday-night-live-theodoric-of-york
Moderate

He disrespected NBC. Never make NBC look ignorant.
BatBoy

It figures….this is about the only honest reporting done in the last 15 – 20 years by NBC. Given how they do the rest of the news today…it is just not good to show they were honest at one time in their sad life.
cmdrgmh

TeaPartyPatriot said:
The TRUTH-KILLERS at the N(itwit)B(iased-socialist)C(lowns) network simply won’t allows THE TRUTH to get out – EVER !

The truth about what? What are you talking about, Glenn.
Liberal Tormentor (formerly Seeing 2012 From My Window)

Moderate says:
Never make NBC look ignorant.

No need since they do it themselves on a daily basis.
Liberal Tormentor (formerly Seeing 2012 From My Window)

Great post Harry. It’s seems weird to me that I never even touched the internet until about 10 years ago. Heck, my nephew in the 3rd grade knows more about the computer than I do! I think NBC WAY overracted though, if this is the whole story.
Grammie

Harry Flashman said:
Cell phones were still relatively new and not in widespread use (check the movies from that time – cell phones are either missing or are big blocks of plasic).

.
Back in the 80′s my husband had a car phone.

It was in a case twice the size of a phone book and twice as heavy and cost a fortune.

It was cutting edge then.
The Lantern of Truth

RRKING proclaims . These people with big egos like Katie and Bryant should be ashamed to be Amerikans . We are traditionally a humble folk .
Moderate

In the early 70′s the carphone too up most of the trunk.
Harry Flashman

“Heck, my nephew in the 3rd grade knows more about the computer than I do”

Heh. Yeah. If I need my cell phone programmed a certain way or anything of that nature I hand it to my 13 year old granddaughter, who takes it and in about three seconds fixes whatever it was I screwed up somehow. And then looks at me like I just grew another head.

Amazing. Program the DVD and remote? My 8 year old grandson can handle that.

I’m a chimp (and so are most of you) compared to the kids these days.

The change has been fast. We have devices that were only dreamed of on Star Trek when I was a kid, and getting more and more all the time.

Its magic I tell ya.
The Tea Weasel

TeaPartyPatriot said:
The TRUTH-KILLERS at the N(itwit)B(iased-socialist)C(lowns) network simply won’t allows THE TRUTH to get out – EVER !

If you go to Walgreen’s you can get a three month supply of your meds, so you won’t run out of your MeSoCrazy pills at crucial times….like now. Look into it.
pakattak

Fuck MSNBC, fuck FOX, fuck CNN, fuck the 24 hour sensationalist news cycle.
Gasket

TeaPartyPatriot said:
The TRUTH-KILLERS at the N(itwit)B(iased-socialist)C(lowns) network simply won’t allows THE TRUTH to get out – EVER !

Medication refill….STAT.
http://www.karlspensen.blogspot.com Karl Spensen

TeaPartyPatriot said:
The TRUTH-KILLERS at the N(itwit)B(iased-socialist)C(lowns) network simply won’t allows THE TRUTH to get out – EVER !

TRULY a man after my own HEART!!!!!!!!111 Folks like you and me are the TRUE VOICE of the Movement to Take Back our Once Proud Republic, and people had better start GETTING USED TO IT!!!!!!111
http://gordonbloyershow.com gordonbloyershow

You must NEVER show a liberal looking stupid. If you do you must pretend it never happened or it was taken out of context. Never admit that there aren’t 58 states. Never admit that Obamacare has increased medical costs.
Leftist Asshat

So this thing called the “Internets” got him fired! I don’t know what this thing called “Internets” is, but it sounds like an evil Conservative to me!
Ivan in Phoenix

At least Katie isn’t such a porker these days. But anybody can lose weight. Ugly lasts forever.
LarryB

No
Bothering
Couric!
Color Me Badd

I ran a BBS in 94 called Cyclops.
Snidely

The person who hired Couric for the evening news is the nitwit who should be fired. Her main qualification for TV is the ability to ask a recently widowed/divorced/ bereaved person “:And how did you feel about that?” with a straight face.
Upon Further Review

Bryant Gumbel should be grateful — it’s the most viewers he’s had since 1994.

And Katie probably hates being reminded of the days when she and her network were considered relevant.
Upon Further Review

Grammie said:
.
Back in the 80’s my husband had a car phone.

It was in a case twice the size of a phone book and twice as heavy and cost a fortune.

It was cutting edge then.

For many years, car phones were about as private as CB radios — because they WERE (and are) radios.

All people had to do was buy a scanner with the right frequencies, and they could listen to their heart’s content while unsuspecting callers assumed their conversations were landline-secure.

Congress took swift action by making it illegal to listen to cell phone calls. Boy, I’ll bet that really convinced people to turn off their scanners. It’s not like there was any way of detecting their listening activities from outside their houses anyway.

Typical government “solution.”
Jimmy Joe Johnson

Here’s the company’s official statement: “The individual in question violated the company’s standards of conduct by repeatedly copying and distributing a variety of materials without permission.”

http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20110204/nbc-heres-why-we-fired-the-today-show-youtube-leaker/
Leftist Asshat

Upon Further Review said:
For many years, car phones were about as private as CB radios — because they WERE (and are) radios.

All people had to do was buy a scanner with the right frequencies, and they could listen to their heart’s content while unsuspecting callers assumed their conversations were landline-secure.”

A co-worker bought a handheld scanner going back to the mid 1990s and during our smoke breaks we’d listen in and I swear all the calls were either housewives talking about being sexually unhappy or talking about all the different guys they were screwing behind their husbands back.
BOMBSHELL

The Guy Who Posted The Hilarious Today Show ‘What Is The Internet’ Reportedly Fired By NBC

Now there’s a REAL bombshell.

Answer: Katie, you know, it’s that thing Al Gore invented.
Big Eddie

Bring him back .