During Block 4 dancers were shown a pump-up video featuring words of encouragement from Today Show anchors Al Roker, Natalie Morales and Willie Geist. The three NBC broadcasters, after quick shout-outs to Northwestern and Team Joseph, demonstrated some questionable dancing skills and a few "whoop, whoop" party sound-effects. Roker even slipped in a "'Go Cats" cheer, but stopped short of telling dancers what was happening "in their neck of the woods." If you don't recognize at least two of the personalities in the video, here are some facts about the personalities over at Today:
- At the time of The Today Show's first broadcast in 1953, it was the first ever morning show to mix news headlines with interviews and lifestyle feautres. Its late-night companion show, The Tonight Show, aired the next year with Steve Allen as its first host.
- While best known for his long-running role as Today's folksly meteorologist, Roker has experience hosting his own shows as well, including a short-lived game show on MSNBC called "Remember This?" The show tested contestants on their knowledge of recent NBC headlines, and ran for one season in 1996-97.
- Like he mentions in the video, Willie Geist was born in Evanston. What he didn't mention is that his father is longtime CBS correspondent Bill Geist, known for his quirky feature segments on CBS Sunday Morning.
- Since becoming a national correspondent for Today in 2006, Natalie Morales has hosted three major beauty pageants: Miss USA 2010, Miss Universe 2010 and Miss Universe 2011. Also, in 2007, People en Español ranked her number one in its list of the Fifty Most Beautiful People.
- Last November, Roker and fellow Today mainstay Matt Lauer made headlines by getting prostate exams on the air to promote men's health. Roker said that the 35-second procedure, was "not comfortable, but certainly doable."