Craig Melvin’s ‘Today’ Co-Hosts Totally Embarrassed Him Live on Air

The Today Show team embarrassed co-anchor Craig Melvin on Tuesday, Dec. 13 by once again reminding viewers that he once played the violin for National Violin Day. Sheinelle Jones and Dylan Dreyer had fun mocking their colleague, who has admitted in the past that he was not a good violinist. The revelation that Melvin once played violin isn’t news to longtime Today viewers, who showed off the embarrassing photo of him with the instrument back in 2019.

During the Dec. 13 broadcast, Jones began a segment by asking Melvin if he knew what day it was. “Tuesday? What are y’all doing?” Melvin replied, with a clear idea of what was coming. “Today is a day to honor a classic. Here’s a hint for you,” Jones said. The Today producers then threw up the old photo of a younger Melvin holding a violin and wearing a white turtleneck under a black jacket.

“You people cannot get enough of that picture!” Melvin said as everyone in Studio 1A began to laugh. “It really is National Violin Day and I thought maybe we should share some fun facts about the violin,” Jones said.

Toward the end of the segment, Jones threw the photo up again. “You haven’t aged a bit,” she told Melvin. “Your face got wider,” Dreyer said through a chuckle.

“You mastered it at a very early age,” Jones told Melvin after she listed off random violin facts. “I think you’re being generous,” Melvin said. “I did not master it.” Melvin later said he could play a little “twinkle twinkle.” This inspired Dreyer and Jones to suggest that to “elevate” the joke in 2023, they could ask Melvin to play on the show. “Maybe it’s time to just let the picture go,” Melvin said.

The picture has been a bit of a running gag between Dreyer, Melvin, and Jones. After they showed it during a 2017 broadcast, Dreyer jokingly asked if the violin was really a prop. “I played. I wasn’t very good but I played. Ok, I was awful. But I played,” Melvin tweeted in January 2017.

Today also showed the picture in a 2019 “Flashback Friday” segment where he and his colleagues roasted each other about old photos. Al Roker called Melvin’s picture their “hands down” favorite and called Melvin the “Black Henny Youngman,” referring to the comedian-violinist famous for one-liners. Melvin admitted that he was a “social outcast” during his younger years.