Is there anything Brian Williams can't do?
The NBC Nightly News anchor (sort of) performed The Sugarhill Gang's 1979 classic "Rapper's Delight" on Wednesday's The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Dozens of old news clips were pieced together to make it appear that Williams was actually rapping. Weekend anchor Lester Holt was prominently featured in the music video, and Today's fourth hour co-host Kathie Lee Gifford also made a cameo.
No word yet what Williams, 54, thinks of Jimmy Fallon's LOL-worthy video, but it's likely he got a kick out of it. After all, the journalist once hosted Saturday Night Live and has parodied himself on 30 Rock—and he's a fan of Kendrick Lamar!
Before the "Rapper's Delight" clip aired, Williams issued an on-air apology to Arsenio Hall for not including him in a Brady Bunch-inspired montage of late-night stars to promote Fallon on Late Night.
"Arsenio is a late-night veteran and he took us to task on his show. He even urged audience members to call our newsroom," Williams said on NBC Nightly News. He later vowed, "It won't happen again."
Hours earlier, Hall took the show to task, saying, "If you're doing a story about late-night, all I ask is that you mention me. You don't even have to use a photo. I know how journalism is these days—use Samuel Jackson—it doesn't even have to be my photo. Use Laurence Fishburne. Just mention me."
Hall added that he's the only remaining person "who competed and survived against Johnny Carson."
After urging his viewers to call NBC Nightly News, Hall said, "I hate to be the angry black man, so I have an angry black man who's going to stand in for me." He then introduced Suge Knight, founder and CEO of Black Kapital Records. "You are West Coast. We are going to give them so many days, so many hours [to respond]," the hip-hop mogul told the late-night TV star. Hall then smiled and turned to the camera. "We might just be kidding, Brian," he said. "You know, sometimes I take the joke too far."
(E!, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and NBC Nightly News are all part of the NBCUniversal family.)