Sunday With: Matt Lauer

The Today host on life in the fast lane and waking up before the rest of the world—even on his days off.

By M.B. Roberts

Going into his 18th year as co-anchor of the Today show, a job he describes as “the best gig in broadcasting,” Matt Lauer, 57, has interviewed nearly every president, movie star and key newsmaker you can name.

Along with his daily responsibilities with the long-running morning news show, Lauer also pulls double duty hosting high-profile events from the Olympics to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

With all of that on his plate, we were curious what Lauer does when Sunday rolls around.

PARADE: What’s your perfect Sunday?

Sunday is the family day in our lives. Sometimes I’ll get the kids who’ve decided to get up early and we’ll go for breakfast down at this great little diner in our area. But there are two things that never change: We always gather around the kitchen table for family lunch and we always have family dinner. Our kids love pasta Bolognese. It’s our time to be solely together. There’s no TV on in the background, nothing like that. We really dive into family. It’s our way of putting an exclamation point on the weekend and setting up the week. It’s wonderful.

What other family activities do you do on the weekend?

A regular gathering in our household is family movie night. We have three kids ranging in age from 8-13, so the hardest thing is finding a movie they’re all interested in. We struggle a little bit because the 8-year-old has more juvenile taste and the 13-year-old has more adult taste (within reason!) but we do it. Last week we watched The Boxtrolls.

You talk for a living. When the weekend comes, do you tend not to want to talk?

I do unplug a little bit. I’m not one of these people who keeps a cell phone in my hand constantly. I check it periodically but I know that if something big happens they will find me!

I don’t really do social media on the weekend and I try not to spend much time logged into the computer. I don’t want my kids to remember me as the guy who always had his nose buried in the computer or had a cell phone in his hand.

Are you able to sleep late on Sunday mornings?

No, I wish. It’s been so long that I’ve been waking up at 4:10 a.m. that even on the weekends my eyes open by 5 a.m. I often get less sleep on the weekends than I do on the weekdays because if I go out to dinner with [wife]Annette or we stay up doing things with the kids, I go to bed a little later.

Do you think that will ever change?

I hope so!

What was your most memorable recent interview?

My extensive interview in December with Janay and Ray Rice (the NFL player charged with assaulting his then-fiancée in an Atlantic City elevator in early 2014), which was obviously a very difficult subject. A lot of people question whether the assault was an isolated incident or something that had happened before. My job was to ask the right questions and let people decide for themselves.

How do you prepare for an interview that you know will be challenging or uncomfortable?

I don’t think you prepare any differently. You do the basic research, then the most important thing is to listen. You don’t have a predetermined direction that you think the interview is going to go. You ask questions, listen and let the interview kind of travel organically. I ask follow-up questions based on my own curiosity.

Is there an interview you’re hoping to get this year?

It’s always whoever is in the headlines. The minute you’re done with today you’re always looking ahead to the next one.

Monday morning comes around early and often, especially for you. Does that make Sundays kind of bittersweet?

That’s why the events of Sunday are so important.