The Today Show Weekend Hosts Pound Vodka Shots on Live TV in Sochi

Today Show Hosts Take Vodka Shots on Live TV, It Goes as Well as You’d Expect (Mediaite)

The Winter Olympics are in Russia this year, so of course, filling time on the air requires the occasional indulgence in Russian customs, and for NBC’s Lester Holt and Natalie Morales today, that meant downing vodka shots. It did not go over well, and they had to hurriedly cut to commercial so they at least had time to recover.

Now, it’s understandable that when you’re in another country, you’re gonna want to explore its cultural richness, like, say, going to a bathhouse just because. But “pounding down” a shot of vodka on live television may not be the best idea (unless you have an esophagus of steel like Hoda and Kathie Lee).

And the look on both Morales’ and Holt’s faces as they realize this was a bad idea are just priceless. Though, for what it’s worth, Morales seemed to be holding up just marginally better than Holt, who let out a yell the second the stinging liquid left the glass and coughed a bit as they cut to commercial.