from nbc news, this is "today," with kathie lee gifford and hoda kotb, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. >> hey, everybody. so glad you're with us today for wines day wednesday. it's august 13th. we're very excited because we do have golden globe winner jon hamm with us. >> he is such a sweet guy. >> doll. >> do you know there are 20 fridays up till christmas? >> what? >> bearer of terrible news.

>> that was so jarring when i saw it. 20 fridays. people are getting out a calendar. maybe i'm wrong. but that's what i've read. >> oh. i just want that it's halfway through august already. we need words of wisdom from you. >> from the great maya angelo. if you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love. don't be surly at home and go out in the street and start grinning "good morning" at total strangers? she's right. >> yeah. >> okay. >> who you are at home is who you really are. and only those people know. yeah. >> be the person that you want toe with. sorry. little inside -- >> she's repeating that. >> i know. i'm sorry. >> one quick -- >> i get a kick out of it. >> one photo if i can. i went yesterday to chop. these kids, you guys, we're going to show you right now, are terrific kids. going to star in this music

video we're working on. i want to show you their faces. went to chop in philly. >> children's hospital of philadelphia. world renowned. >> great kids. i wanted to show them and let you know -- >> were they excited? >> they are going to be in a music video and we're going to show it now september. these kids are the stars of it and should be. >> god love them. and their families are there with them. >> it's special. >> beautiful. >> the ice bucket challenge continues. >> yes, it does. you guys remember your loving devoted son. >> cody. >> took the ice bucket challenge and then called out someone, all to benefit als. >> he. >> he challenged me. >> and greg gutfeld. >> i did it. he made me. >> yep. >> two, one. >> challenged three people. i challenged drew brees. >> right. >> blake shelton and you. >> me. >> first of all, drew brees accepted my challenge along with two other saints coaches.

>> what power you have. joe and rob. take a look. >> this is drew brees, quarterback for the new orleans saints i've been challenged by hoda kotb for the ice bucket challenge. here we go. >> oh. >> cool. >> that was classy. >> awesome. >> the guy is injured. he's at camp and injured and did that dive. >> drew is injured? >> yes. he's injured. >> that's a man. >> he's a real man. >> they did it in honor of steve gleason a former new orleans saints' player who does suffer als. >> drew challenged governor bobby jindal, bubba watson and >> ellen had been challenged. >> when drew says get wet, you know what you do, get wet. >> get wet. >> blake shelton -- >> then blake also took the challenge. >> let's see what went down there. >> hey, everybody. i'm blake shelton. >> hey, guys, carson daly here. we've both been challenged the ice bucket challenge for great cause for als. who were you challenged by? >> freakin' hoda.

>> hoda. >> never hated two people more in my whole life. >> this one's for you. >> oh! >> that was great. >> all right. >> i thought we had a deal. >> had a deal. >> do it quick. >> who will you calling out? >> okay. >> cold, right? >> i hate you. i still love you, hoda. still love you, hoda, still love you hoda, still love you hoda, still love you hoda. >> all day long. >> who did he challenge. >> pharrell. >> oh. >> gwen stefani and adam levine who happened to walk over at the time and adam got dumped on. watch what he did. >> oh, lord. >> please. >> are you ready for this? >> wa wa. >> great cause. one, two, three. >> wow. >> freezing. >> way to go, buddy. >> thank you. >> should have gotten his hair wet. the rule should be get your hair

wet. don't you think? >> i love those two guys. one person who i love more than both of them combined. she's sitting next to me and i didn't know if you were really going to do it. >> why not? >> because you said, maybe you would write the check. >> i'm doing that too. >> of course you do. you do it all. >> i've been waiting for this. do it. >> cody challenged hoda to the als ice bucket challenge. she did it. god bless her. i have not have accepted had her challenge, but i challenge kenny loggins, and billy bush. okay. frank. >> are you naked? >> oh. oh! >> yes. only you were naked in the tub doing it. >> i had a bathing suit on.

frank's never seen me naked. are you crazy? >> was that cas laughing. >> cas was shooting it. >> making a lot of money by the way. >> oh, my gosh. >> this is working for als. up to $3 million and it's going to be growing. >> i think we all have someone in our lives who has suffered from that or continuing to suffer from it. it's a horrid, horrid disease. millions raised now in a very -- and it's become a fun thing. >> it has. >> it really has. >> so as often happens after a great tragedy like losing our robin williams, then yesterday we hear that lauren bacall had passed away, died in her home of suspected massive stroke, 89 years old. >> yeah. i mean she made her movie debut when only 19 years old "to have and have not" opposite 44-year-old humphrey bogart. i didn't realize there was that much of an age gap. >> oh, yes yes. they had quite the love affair and she -- that movie had that famous line. you know how to whistle, don't you steve. you put your lips together and blow. >> you don't have to say

anything and you don't have to do anything. not a thing. oh, maybe just whistle. you know hows to whistle, don't you, steve? you just put your lips together and blow. >> wow. >> great iconic moment. >> she won two tony awards and oscar nominated in "the mirror has two faces" and the american film institute named her one of the most 25 significant movie stars in history. >> this song is such a great song. even if you didn't grow up with them. when you heard this song it's like having a love affair. such great lines. >> yeah. >> we wish her family all the best. >> yes. we certainly do.

>> what else? >> "america's got talent." >> yeah. everybody is talking about this acrobat, right, who's just crazy. >> the hit of the evening. christian stunif. >> god bless you. >> incorporating his dog scooby into his balancing act. this what is he did last night. ♪ >> oh, my gosh. oh. ♪ >> oh. [ applause ]

♪ >> we have a winner. >> give them the prize. >> it's over. >> that's adorable. >> he had that little dog since he was a baby. scooby is 11 years old. >> oh. >> all right. this is interesting. have you heard about the unplugged wedding? how do you feel about wedding guests taking photos during a wedding? it's gotten to the point where everybody has a camera up instead of watching the wedding. >> you watch a bride walk down the aisle, everyone was looking and beaming and now everyone has an iphone up trying to capture a moment. this wedding photographer got upset named cory ann and took to her blog and talked about how guests are always ruining all of the great shots. >> she's a professional. >> the people want. so here's one. this guy stepped out into the aisle way and took one. some of the guests block the view, others throw up camera flashes and blast out what's going on. like these are i guess photos that the couple wanted. they hired the photographer and instead getting the backs of people. >> that's -- >> here's the flash. >> you know what, but i also have -- i can see the other side of things as well.

now sometimes the videographer and the photographers are so in the way that those of us who are friends and family who have come to the wedding can't see. >> trying to look around. >> so they're in front of you taking the -- i don't know. i just missed the good old days when people went to a wedding, took out the kleenex and just went and danced and had a wonderful time and kept the memories. >> on my phone i have videos of many people's weddings. >> you never watch again. >> i never watch. at that moment you kept thinking oh, my god, i have to catch this, it's so beautiful and now you find yourself looking at an iconic movement through a little screen that big instead of it's live in front of you. >> we're missing it. >> i agree. >> what do you think? go >> our facebook page. >> jessica simpson is getting a lot of push back i guess. >> all right. >> she looks so phenomenal. i think i'd walk around in a bathing suit all the time. >> her sister's bridal shower. everyone is dressing up in regular bridal shower attire. except jessica. she wore a bathing suit.

>> so did the other girl. >> who is the other girl? >> i don't know. a friend. >> a friend. anyway, so they did -- this what is picture she posted. she does look great. >> she looks amazing. >> then there was a group shot that got tweeted out later that showed everybody else. everyone looks like -- >> a pool party. >> oh. >> maybe everybody else had bathing suits on underneath. >> cover-up. >> yeah. >> some do. but -- >> i say give her slack. she took so much flack for her weight during the times when she -- you know, after "daisy duke." >> what do you think of this? jennifer aniston is doing something a lot of women don't like to do. she revealed her weight. her weight, she likes to be between 110 and 113. >> who doesn't? >> look, if i weighed between 110 and 113, promise you, everybody would know it, okay. i would be telling anybody who asked me. what's your name? i'm 113. it would be so fun. >> you're tall. you're 5'9".

she's 5'3" she says or 5'5". there's been a -- anyway. >> anyway. >> she says -- >> she's over her goal. >> no one likes to hear skinny people talk to about her weight. she said it's harder at her age. >> what is she 42. >> it gets harder. >> i guess whenever a small person talks about weight, i want to drop two or three pounds, it's just -- it just doesn't feel right. >> hoda goes postal, is that okay to say. >> yeah. >> starring in a new movie, probably see this weekend, aussie hottie brenton thwaites from "the giver" is here. >> what's better than one hot actor, two hot actors. >> "mad men's" -- >> jon hamm will sit down with us. >> if he's got the guts. >> i think he might. energy! energy, energy, energy. it's inside of all of us. even gary here. [applause] berocca has guarana and caffeine to support mental sharpness.

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jon hamm with his hit show "mad men" wrapping up next year, jon moved on to another

critically acclaimed period piece as executive producer and star of "a young doctor's notebook". >> he plays the alter ego to his younger self offering advice on everything including the young man's quest for a beautiful aristocrat. >> this is just another self-destructive obsession you hold together with lies. >> lies? what lies. >> all of them. you have destroyed the poor girl. >> natasha. >> yes, natasha. she puts on a brave face but she is alone, fragile, vulnerable. >> but you do think i have a chance? >> hi. >> hello, jon. >> hi. >> you furry faced guy. >> i know. >> what's going on? >> taking a break? >> yeah. i wrapped "mad men" about a month ago. >> really wrapped it. >> this is what happens. >> wow. >> it turns into this. i've been on vacation essentially. >> good for you. >> this show was so interesting.

you're the one that handpicked daniel radcliffe, right? he was your first choice? >> we got really lucky. it was this curious little show that a friend of mine over in england decided to put together and sky atlantic -- sky arts decided to pay for and we hired some writers and made this thing and all of a sudden we're like why don't we try to get daniel radcliffe. after everyone stopped laughing because no way would he ever do it, shouldn't we just ask. >> the guy never sleeps. he's here every month with a new movie and now he's got this. >> he is. >> hardest working guy. when we shot the second series -- >> the sweetest. >> he was, in fact, doing a play on the west end every night. he would shoot the show in the morning and do a play every night. when i was 25 i barely made it off the couch. >> but you had a different career path by far, didn't you? >> you did. >> i was reading with interest how you were just not right for almost anything for the longest time. how did you hang in there?

what was your odd job while you were not actually working as an actor? >> i had a lot. i was a day care teacher when i was in college. i was a bartender and a waiter after college. i taught high school after college as well. i had tons of like jobs that, you know, catering, the classic sort of situation and it was, you know, it is what it is. you work until you get something else. >> or else you give up along the way. >> or else you give up. i was very practical about it. i said when i came out to l.a. at 25 from st. louis, missouri, i was like i'm going to give myself five years. by the time i turn 30 i'm not actually doing this, then maybe the market has spoken. >> what was the first gig you got some. >> the very first job. >> paying gig. >> i think was weirdly, was a commercial for the very first espys hosted by samuel jackson. >> yeah, sure. >> i did a commercial for it and 20 years later i hosted the show. >> you're kidding. >> you have to hang in there. it's a tough business.

>> you've become so well known as don draper and then you have to do what daniel is doing, get people to forget you're don draper, forget that you are harry potter, and do weird period things like dr. zhivago have we spent so much time in russia. >> it's interesting. i mean that's all i can say about the show, is that it's different and the sort of landscape out there, there's so many different things out there. this is another funny, fun, weird, dark. >> dark. >> lot of surgery with buzzsaws. >> there's a lot of that. i just watched an episode of "the nick" and that's -- there's a lot -- pretty dark as well. >> where can people see this? >> it's on ovation, which is one of those channels that you need to like dig deep into your -- >> got to want to go there.

>> you got to want it. it's also -- it's also on-line and on demand. >> which is where everyone is watching tv now. >> that's how you do it. >> great to see you. enjoy your vacation. say hello to is jen. >> i saw. >> the second season of "a young doctor's notebook" premiers tuesday on ovation. >> get ready for another thrilling game of who knew. >> i can't wait. >> and if you're thinking about replacing your gutter before fall -- >> can we talk about gutters? >> you know who's going to be here. >> who. ♪ lou manfredini he's got a name that rhymes with ♪ >> san fredini. >> we'll be back after this. ( whistle bl)ws okay patrick, one more stop. lets go base, shark, blitz. base, shark, blitz, break! when the game's on the line... okay, this is for the game. the nfl trusts duracell quantum to power their game day communication. flag nineteen, set hut! abort! abort! he's keeping it.

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it's time to give you a taste of today's game who knew in which we in honor of what would have been alfred hitchcock's 115th birthday. >> here's a question to get you started. how long was alfred hitchcock's acceptance speech when he was awarded an honorary oscar in 1968? two words, five words, 10 words or 26,000. >> sure you don't want to go out in the rain with me? >> also actor brenton thwaites from "the giver" is with us. never slip on your area rug again. ♪ lou manfredini >> is here with solutions after this.

>> hi, everybody. i'm hoda kotb and i am a hokie. all eyes on the tunnel when your heart and your feet start jumping. hey, everybody. director alfred hitchcock's 115th birthday we're celebrating all that suspenseful in pop culture. kathie lee is at the nbc experience store ready to hand out $100 to anybody who gets the questions right. those who don't get one of her fabulous cds. here to help me out in studio is our good friend, "entertainment weekly" senior writer tim stack. >> hi. >> we asked this question, how

long was alfred hitchcock's acceptance when he was awarded an honorary oscar in 1968? two words, five words, ten words, or 26,000 words? what was the answer, tim. >> the answer was b, five words. not the shortest in history. he walked up to the mike and just said, thank you, and then pause and said very much indeed and then just walked away. >> that was it? >> yep. he's a baller, dropped the mike, bye. hitchcock. >> across to kathie lee. >> hi stackable. all right. this lovely lady is a graduate of temple university film school. you better get this right. all right. what was the name of the hotel in hitchcock's 1960 film "psycho"? midnight inn, norman's bed and breakfast, no tell motel or the bates motel. >> that would be the bates motel. >> that education is paying off. >> she went to college. the bates motel where norman and his mom run the hotel where janet leigh was famously killed in the show.

you can visit it at universal studios they have a replica on the back lot. >> over to kathie lee. >> talking to these lovely folks from baltimore. all righty. what is the highest grossing suspension horror film of all time? "the exorcist," "the blair witch project," "the sixth sense" or "the conjuring." no cheating. doesn't mean he's right. >> "the exorcist". >> he was right. it's "the sixth sense". >> sold more than "the exorcist". >> made $293 million domestically and over $670 million worldwide. it's huge. but yeah, the movie came out in august of 1999, very famous twist ending. a huge movie and only cost like $40 million. a huge return investment. >> back over to kathie lee. >> a couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and have wonderful, wonderful tastes because he said he would much rather win my cd. okay. what was the working title for michael jackson's "thriller,"

"halloween," "starlight," "midnight" or "zombies." >> zombies. >> you got your wish, buddy, happy anniversary. >> i would have guessed that too. the correct answer seems odd, "starlight." >> the songwriter rod temperton was going to call it "starlight," thought about "midnight man" and woke up and thought it should be called "thriller". >> imagine dancing to "starlight." >> no. >> back to kathie lee. >> which film actor wore pounds of prosthetics to portray alfred hitchcock in the 2012 film "hitchcock"? malcolm mcdowell, nicolas cage, anthony hopkins or robert de niro? >> anthony hopkins. >> yes, indeed. >> anthony hopkins played hitchcock in a 2012 movie. it only took -- pounds of makeup but only took an hour and a half to do it because they were so -- the makeup team was so great and got nominated for an oscar. >> look at him.

>> like jowls, he has blue eyes, brown contacts, different hair, intense. >> amazing. kathie lee, over to you. >> from saratoga springs which of the following is a real place, bloody springs, mississippi, screamtown, california, witch's brew kentucky, or goblintown, massachusetts? bloody springs, mississippi. >> what a darn good guess that was. >> that was a great guess. >> yeah. >> really a place? >> there is a bloody springs. it's very small in mississippi on the boarder between mississippi and -- close to alab >> you don't even know. >> i don't know. >> you don't know where it is. >> it's real, though. i'm sure people are watching from bloody springs and lovely. it was named bloody springs the rumor has it because of the civil war. >> oh, my gosh. >> yeah. fun. >> back across to kathie lee. >> good morning. lovely lady came the farthest from manhattan. author and poet edgar alan poe is said to haunt multiple locales of what city? newark, new jersey, charleston,

south carolina, washington, d.c., or baltimore, maryland? >> i'm going to guess baltimore, maryland. >> yeah. you almost didn't. >> that was an excellent quick change. baltimore? >> yes. his family is from baltimore. he lived there a period of time and this bar, the last place he was seen drinking at called the horse you came in on supposedly is haunted by him. live show from there. >> kathie lee, by the way, tim says he's -- kathie lee, can you hear me? >> yeah. >> is obsessed with your bathtub. >> i am. >> who isn't? >> all right. before you remove that wall paper in the bathroom, lou manfredini has advice and he's already a huge deal in australia but now making a name for himself stateside in "the giver," actor brenton thwaites is with us. we look forward to chatting with him. first these messages. well, did you know the great wall of china wasn't always so great?

that's dirt

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