Andy Cohen couldn't help himself.
Today's Savannah Guthrie and Matt Lauer appeared on Bravo's Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen Thursday, where the host brought up an infamous TV interview from 2005—you know, the one in which Tom Cruise called the veteran journalist "glib" in a heated debate over antidepressants and psychiatry. Given that 12 years have passed, Cohen wanted to recreate the infamous conversation for "Clubhouse Playhouse," with Lauer starring as Cruise.
"I've been looking forward to this all week," Cohen admitted.
Before they got set up in front of a green screen, Lauer wanted to make one thing crystal clear: "I like Tom Cruise? We have a good relationship. We have a good friendship. It was just one little moment, OK?" Cohen said he understood and joked, "I would like to relive that moment!"
Wearing a wig, Lauer assumed the role of Cruise, while Cohen played the Today anchor. They took turns reading lines, with Lauer shouting, "You don't know the history of psychiatry! I do!"
After the scene ended, Lauer came to Cruise's defense again. "We are friends. I think he got such a bum rap for that, and to be honest, he was a real mensch after that. He came and he apologized. We had a great time," the broadcaster said. "We had a great time. We really did."
It wasn't the first time Lauer stood up for the Mummy actor.
During a radio interview with Howard Stern in 2013, Lauer shed some insight into what really happened. "There are times where, when you least expect it, you get someone who sits on this couch, and all of a sudden you say something and you can see in the person's' eyes a physical change," he said. "That was one of those times. I knew I was going to go in a certain area, and you watch the change, and then it's your job almost to get the hell out of the way. It touched a nerve—no question. That was a very big nerve in his life and in his belief system [Scientology]."
Lauer added that Cruise later apologized for being "arrogant" in the interview. "I want to put it in perspective...because although there was maybe a Cold War period after that interview of about a year, he since has come forward and said that was a strange time in his life and he regrets the way it came across. He has gone out of his way to be awfully nice to me since then."
In a 2014 Facebook Q&A for Today, Lauer singled out the "awkward" Cruise interview as his biggest regret. "It was one of those unforgettable moments that became a part of pop culture."
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