Year in Review: Matt Lauer callously uses simple knock-knock joke to fire co-anchor Ann Curry live on Today Show

New York--Lauer, fighting back laughter, told his co-anchor on live television that there is no crying in the morning talk/news show business, but later admitted this was simply an attempt to "cheer Curry up." After the public dismissal, where things got very uncomfortable when Curry became visibly upset over having to leave the show, Lauer looked directly into the camera and heartlessly, in a somewhat somber tone, said: "We'll be right back with an all new recipe for turning stale bagels ... into healthy snacks for your kids. A pretty great little recipe. We'll be right back." It is widely believed that the Curry firing resulted from the Today Show dropping from the number one morning show position in the ratings race.