Matt Lauer hit by funny bombs at Friars Club roast

Matt Lauer knew he'd be skewered at his Friars Club roast Friday at the Hilton - but when Tom Cruise showed up, he was toast.

The two famously argued over psychiatry and anti-depressants when Lauer interviewed the "War of the Worlds" star on the "Today" show in 2005.

So when Cruise bounded out of the audience, Lauer nearly fell off the dais.

"People know Matt and I had 'that little thing' a few years ago," the actor told the crowd, which included Brian Williams, Katie Couric, Donald Trump, Tiki Barber, Martha Stewart and Aretha Franklin, who sang the national anthem.

"You know, I was just taking his advice. He told me, 'Nobody wants to hear about your dopey movie. Go crazy. People will love you for it.'

"Matt's great at giving advice. When Katie asked him if she should leave the 'Today' show for CBS, he said, 'Absolutely, you should definitely do that. People will love you for it.'

"Jay Leno was No. 1, but Matt told [NBC exec] Jeff Zucker to cut his contract. 'You'll be ahead of the curve before his ratings go down and you'll look like a genius. People will love you for it.' Leno's ratings never went down.

"A few months ago, he was talking to O.J. Simpson and he said, 'Juice, those guys in Vegas have all your stuff. Don't be a p---y, just go there and take it. Trust me, Juice. People will love you for it.'"

As the audience crunched with laughter, Cruise presented a slideshow of Photoshopped pictures of the frenemies jetskiing, frolicking and cooking.

"Matt and I are so close now, that if we can't be together, we talk on the phone three, four times a day. I'll call him up and ask, 'Are you watching this?' And he'll just say 'yeah,' and we'll watch the whole show together on the phone.

"I have to hand it to you, my friend," Cruise went on. "I go from international movie set to movie set, from one amazing party to another, yet you have found happiness doing the same thing every single day. Sitting on a couch, interviewing Charles from 'Knight Rider,' making five-minute radish puffs with Rachael Ray.

"Yes, we all wake up to you every morning - because that was the last channel we had on the night before."

Cruise wasn't the only one who fried the popular NBC host: fellow "Today" staffers Al Roker and Meredith Vieira, anchors Williams and Couric, and professional hit men Richard Belzer and Jeffrey Ross all took their turns at the grill.

Like Joan of Arc, Lauer willingly put himself to the flames for the benefit of the Friars Club foundation, which benefits arts education, and a new journalism scholarship in memory of Tim Russert.

Lauer managed to get in the last jab.

As Cruise tried to cut out early, the 6-foot Lauer called out to the much-shorter Cruise, "Can't you stay, man? We can get you a booster seat."

Jennifer Hudson's mother and brother found dead

The mother and brother of Oscar-winning actress and singer Jennifer Hudson were gunned down in a home on the South Side of Chicago on Friday. Police confirm that they are investigating the deaths of Darnell Donerson, Hudson's 57-year-old mother, and Jason Hudson, her 29-year-old brother. Authorities are also searching for a 7-year-old boy, believed to be Hudson's nephew, who is missing from the scene.

Police told CNN that the bodies were discovered at about 3 p.m. Friday, when a relative found Donerson (pictured, with Hudson at the 2007 Academy Awards) shot to death on the living room floor of her home. When police arrived at the scene, they discovered the brother's dead body in a bedroom. Authorities have issued an Amber Alert for the missing boy, Julian King. The Chicago Tribune reports that a suspect was taken into custody Friday night, but the boy was not with him.

Hudson, a former American Idol contestant, is said to be on her way to Chicago; her representative has yet to make a statement.

Underwood sees new wax figure of herself in NY

Country music star Carrie Underwood now has a double.

Underwood visited Madame Tussauds in New York on Thursday to help unveil a wax figure of herself. The 25-year-old Checotah, Okla., native posed for pictures beside the likeness, which will be added to the museum's "VIP Room."

The wax figure depicts Underwood standing with her hands on her hips and wearing a short, sparkly pink dress, which she wore to the 2006 Country Music Association Awards show. Underwood received her first CMA female vocalist of the year award that year, and picked it up again in 2007.

Underwood donated a replica of the dress to Madame Tussauds. A team of wax artists worked on the Underwood likeness earlier this year after she modeled for it.

"It was mainly just a couple of people met us out on the road and like did a lot of measurements, a lot of picture taking," she told The Oklahoman. "I had to stand still for a long time while they did their thing."

Angelina Jolie vs. Jennifer Aniston at high drama

Before you get too concerned about Us Weekly's cover line, Angelina hasn't LITERALLY "stabbed Jen in the heart," it's a reference to that whole thing about how Angie finally admitted that, yes, she was in love with Brad before he was divorced. That little spark is a refreshing break from the reams of Madonna divorce drama. But claps to Star for its tag: "GUY BLASTS: She won't have sex & sleeps in a plastic bag!" Let's see what other sticky and sweet secrets lurk in the 'zines this week...

"I Kissed A Girl" singer Katy Perry dove into a giant cake at the Latin American MTV Video Music Awards in Guadalajara, Mexico. Wow! They only way she could get any more WILD is to slap Paris Hilton or wear a vial of someone's blood. And oh, wait, those things are already passé.

"Project Runway" winner Leanne Marshall taking her boyfriend and her prize money and moving from Oregon to New York, where she hopes to make waves. Literally, get it? Get it?? Moving on ...

When it was put to a vote, 87% of Us Weekly readers said that Katie Holmes should cease to design her own clothes (and certainly cease to market them). And I'm 87% sure it was her "All My Sons" opening night black lace/white satin Princess Jasmine outfit that put them over the edge.

Not only are Jen Aniston and John Mayer back together, says Star, but he has agreed to marry her and father her children. How did this happen? She performed a "naughty impersonation" of Marilyn Monroe in lingerie and fed him expensive tequila. Funny, that's exactly how Charlie Sheen coaxed a "yes" out of Brooke Mueller.

Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher have approached Michael Phelps about starring in a reality show, says Life & Style, which will be fine for his image as long as he doesn't spend all his time juggling multiple random girls and growing a goatee. Oh, wait.

When Miley Cyrus turns 16 next month, she wants to move out of her parents' house and into a luxury L.A. condo. She simply wants a place, sympathizes a Star source, "where she can have friends over to watch movies and eat popcorn and have her boyfriend, Justin Gaston, over." Okay, Mom and Dad? It's just a pad for friends, movies, popcorn, and my 20-year-old boyfriend! (Optional guilt trip: "I bet Taylor Momsen's parents would let HER have a condo!")

But maybe this is all a moot point, because Life & Style says papa Billy Ray already allows sleepovers with Gaston, and that Miley brags about them on the "Hannah Montana" set. "It was like she was bragging about having been up all night doing God knows what," sneers an insider. Um, praying, insider. She was up all night praying.

Faith Hill Pictures

Faith Hill Pictures

Nancy Reagan hospitalized with broken pelvis

Former First Lady Nancy Reagan broke her pelvis and has been admitted to the hospital, her spokeswoman said in a statement Wednesday morning.

Reagan, 87, fell last week at her home in Los Angeles and went to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center for tests Monday after "experiencing persistent pain," the statement said. Her recovery time is expected to last six to eight weeks, and will include physical therapy and a modified schedule.



Reagan is expected to remain at the hospital for "a few days" until doctors are satisfied with her progress, spokeswoman Joanne Drake said in the statement.



She said no other doctors or officials were available for interviews. A spokeswoman for the medical center did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.

Madonna and Ritchie to announce divorce

Madonna and filmmaker Guy Ritchie are to end their marriage after nearly eight years, British newspapers reported Wednesday.

Citing unnamed sources, The Sun and Daily Mail said the couple hoped to have a divorce finalized by Christmas. The Sun said that Madonna, 50, had wanted to wait until her latest world tour wraps up in Brazil in December before announcing the split.

The singer will perform concerts Wednesday and Thursday in Boston as her "Sticky and Sweet" tour continues.

Barbara Charone, Madonna's spokeswoman in London, declined comment on the reports. Ritchie's mother, Lady Amber Leighton, told reporters the family wouldn't be making any statement to the media.

This is the second time this year that the superstar couple's marriage has come under the media microscope. Over the summer, Madonna was linked — unfairly, she said — to the breakup of New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez and his ex-wife Cynthia.

In July, Madonna's U.S. publicist released a statement that said the singer and Ritchie had "no plans to divorce."

Madonna and Ritchie married in December 2000 at a Scottish castle. The couple have two children: Rocco, 8, and David Banda, 3, who was adopted from Malawi in 2006. Madonna also has a 12-year-old daughter, Lourdes, from her relationship with personal trainer Carlos Leon.

The couple are reportedly worth some $525 million, the bulk of that belonging to Madonna. Ritchie has an estimated $35 million fortune. They own homes in London, Los Angeles and New York, and a 1,200-acre retreat in Wiltshire, England.

Alan Kaufman, head of family law for London firm Finers Stephens Innocent, said he would be surprised if Madonna and Ritchie hadn't come to some arrangement before they were married.

Kaufman, who isn't involved in the case, also said he doesn't expect the case to end up in court because the couple would likely prefer to come to a private agreement both custodially and financially.

"They both had substantial assets and don't really need any money from each other," Kaufman said.

"This is not like the McCartney divorce," he said, referring to the acrimonious split between former Beatle Paul McCartney and Heather Mills earlier this year.

Obama Buys a Half-Hour Block From Networks; 'SNL's' Fauxbama Draws 11 Million Viewers

The Democratic presidential candidate's camp is paying less than $1 million to each of the two networks to air its campaign-related program on Wednesday, Oct. 29. That's just six days before the election and the anniversary of Black Tuesday in 1929 -- the notorious day in stock market history that heralded the start of the Great Depression. 

Obama's campaign might want to create a "roadblock" with the show, which is to say, to air it in the same time period on all four major broadcast networks. 

Fox is said to be amenable to selling the half-hour to Obama's campaign -- these are called "time buys" -- in the event there is no Game 6 of the World Series that night. Fox is contractually obligated to carry the game if this year's Series comes to that. Otherwise, the network has nothing to lose airing Obama programming in the time slot, given that its World Series fallback plan is always called "Some Rerun." 

Late yesterday, ABC and Obama's camp were still in talks about whether the network will sell the first half of the time slot, which it had earmarked for another episode of hour-long dramedy "Pushing Daisies." The show is one of last year's freshman series hurt by the 100-day writers' strike and that the network is attempting to relaunch this fall, but so far without much luck. ABC execs may believe there is opportunity for "Pushing Daisies" to get more sampling on Oct. 29 if the network does not join in the Obama time buy. 
 

With CBS and NBC's scripted programming scrubbed to make way for Obama, Fox possibly airing baseball and CW running the reality show "America's Next Top Model," "Pushing Daisies" would be the only scripted series in the time slot on broadcast network TV. 

Less than $1 million is considerably under what NBC and CBS would otherwise get for the 10 or 11 ad "units" they run during that 8 to 8:30 p.m. half-hour. 

But Obama is not getting a price break; the campaign will be charged what's called the "lowest unit cost," in compliance with federal law. 

What will Obama get for his not quite $2 million? Wednesday night at 8 has not been a real ratings bonanza this season. This week, for instance, CBS averaged 7.2 million voting-age (18 years and up) viewers for the Julia Louis-Dreyfus sitcom "The New Adventures of Old Christine," and NBC clocked 5.7 million viewers in that age bracket for its resuscitation of "Knight Rider." ABC averaged 5.2 million voting-age viewers with "Pushing Daisies" and Fox 9.2 million with "Bones." 

On the other hand, The Barack Obama Show might improve the time-slot performance for those networks carrying it. Pre-election programming has been among the most watched this year. Tuesday's presidential debate between John McCain and Obama drew about 66 million viewers, and, the week before, the vice presidential debate between Sen. Joe Biden and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin logged more than 73 million -- a record for a veep debate and the second-most-watched debate ever, of any kind, VP or presidential. 

Obama's time-buy simulcast will be the first by a presidential candidate since Ross Perot peppered the prime-time landscape with a whopping 15 telecasts during his 1992 presidential bid. Overall, the Perot shows drew an average of nearly 12 million viewers. His one simulcast, on ABC and CBS, on Nov. 2, 1992, bagged 26 million. 

The Obama campaign program airing on even two broadcast networks just six days before the election puts the squeeze on McCain to make some kind of similar move. Each camp, for instance, purchased a national ad during NBC's telecast of the highly rated Summer Olympics in Beijing. 

But McCain's campaign agreed to accept federal matching funds, which limits his campaign spending in the weeks leading up to the election.

Barack Obama's representatives had been in talks with the broadcast networks about doing a roadblock paid show on other nights, including Nov. 3, the night before the election. But that's the night NBC has scheduled its traditional pre-election "Saturday Night Live" prime-time presidential bash. 

This election cycle, "SNL" for the first time will air four election-related prime-time shows, the first of which aired Thursday with great ratings results. The 30-minute special, from 9:30 to 10 p.m., clocked nearly 11 million viewers. NBC said it was the most-watched regularly scheduled "Saturday Night Live" broadcast since Jan. 20, 2001. 

The broadcast featured a spoof of the second presidential debate and its host, Tom Brokaw, as well as an expanded "Weekend Update" segment. 

At this rate, the pre-election "SNL"-cast could conceivably give the show's 2000 presidential bash a ratings run for its money. That special, headlined with an appearance by candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore, attracted approximately 16 million viewers.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/

Misty May-Treanor Talks Leaving 'Dancing'

Misty May-Treanor confirmed she is withdrawing from "Dancing With the Stars" at the conclusion of Monday night's competition round of the popular ABC show.

"I am out," Misty, who hit the stage in crutches and with her lower left leg in a cast, told "Dancing" host Tom Bergeron. "I'm not out of cheering on the competitors and keeping in touch with everybody, but I am now gonna be on the sidelines."

As previously reported on AccessHollywood.com, Misty's "Dancing" career was put in jeopardy after suffering an injury during rehearsals last Friday. And on Monday night's show, Misty revealed that her torn Achilles tendon requires surgery, which she will undergo on Tuesday.

"I'm going into surgery tomorrow," Misty said. "I came back from another serious injury [and] I know with this one I'm gonna come back even stronger."

Misty, an Olympic volleyball gold medalist, previously injured her knee. 
Despite the latest physical trouble, Misty said it will not impact her plans as a professional athlete too much.

"You know what? I was planning on taking time off next year anyway," she said. "I get to spend time with my husband now, but also... it really didn't throw a wrench into any of the plans that we had."

Misty offered additional details about exactly how she injured herself while practicing the jive with Maksim last Friday.

"I was doing the lindy hop, finishing up, heard a pop over here... It felt like I got hit in the back with a baseball bat," she explained. "Then I just couldn't put weight on it."

The volleyball star said she was sad that her departure ends Maks' season as well.

"First off, I think all the women are going to be upset with me because he was only on the show for this amount of time," Misty said. "I couldn't have picked a better partner to be with. He's taught me so much... He's such an awesome dancer and I learned the best moves from him... He's a very sensitive, caring guy and I feel like the world needs more Maksims."

And Maks said he too was disappointed to see Misty go.

"Somebody described her as 'angelic,' and I think it's a perfect description," he said. "She's a perfect person and there's not a bad bone in her body. I'm really sad, but I hope that we'll stay friends."
Source: http://omg.yahoo.com/