It is performances like this that are classic tv moments. Anybody remember the Today Show in which the cast and crew of Today's show honored Bryant Gumbel who was leaving the show. Well as a special surprise... guess who walks out on the stage to perform for him? What made this moment even more special or funnier{depending on your point of view} was that he was actually dressed like Bryant Gumbel. This was sort of a joke he was playing on Gumbel. In an interview Gumbel had did with him and Mayte . He asked him would he ever consider dressing conservative ...LIL MAN's reply was NO!!!. So for him to come out on stage with the suit and a pair of glasses on was totally hilarious...Then he changed the lyrics on "Take Me With U"..to pay tribute to Gumbel...That was a classic Prince TV moment right there...

I met a guy last week, who worked on the Today show. He said that Gumbel was an arse.

I thought it was kinda strange how they tell him "The Artist is back to preform for you.." etc, etc

And his reaction is of total shock, he keeps saying "get out, get out of here", and yet opposite him set up is the NPG ready to do the song.

If he was that much of a fan, wouldn't u question why the NPG is set up in your studio?

That was the most insincere moment, totally fake!

dnaplaya said:

hmmm, u know what...u have a point there...maybe he was faking his surprise...perhaps Gumbel knew that Prince would be there, but he didn't know that he would be dressed like that. I think Gumbel's uproarious outburst was sincere, cuz of the way Prince was dressed.

LadyCabDriver said:

Agree, the way he was dressed took him by surprise, but when Katie says to him "Well, The Artist is back", he just keeps saying "get out, get out of here" for a few moments before he steps out, that raised a few eyebrows with me

I think that performance showed how COOL, SWEET & NORMAL Prince really is..

He was just so no ego.. just their for a friend & all the sweet kind words he said about Bryant.. on that show were very nice

Byrant was very touched



just a nice guy.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

You remember the added words to the song that he sang on the show over 5 years ago??!! U are a fan, sheesh

i finally saw this clip last week.
made me laugh!

He probably didn't recognise the NPG to look at is all until Prince came out kept in the dark. He seems a glory day Prince fan anyway hence he gets to sing along to Take Me With U and Raspeberry Beret. Had Wendy & Lisa and Bobby Z been set up he'd of cottoned on...

Sadly, I was at work that day and Have never seen this.

Oh the misery.

dnaplaya said:

It's been a long while since I've watched this tape, but, wasn't it just Prince on the piano and not the entire band? It was just a brief piano medley, if i'm remembering correctly. I also remember that Price gave Bryant the black folio with the gold embossed symbol which containted the sheet music he was playing from. The tags were still on the suit as it was a fairly spur of the moment thing and they had gotten the suit for him that morning.
Gotta find that tape...

I saw this live! Supposedly Gumbel was a huge Prince fan and "Raspberry Beret" is his favorite song. You could see him mouthing the words, looking all teary-eyed.

I'll never forget this...it was so weird. I've always been a Prince fanatic, but by the late 90s I was very used to not seeing him on TV or hearing him on the radio. So I've got the Today show on while I'm getting ready, la dee da, and holy shit, is that Prince? In a fucking suit and tie? My whole morning stopped. It was great.

dnaplaya said:

There's no way he faked that!! If he did, he deserves an oscar!