"Today" show co-host Matt Lauer returned to his TV gig this morning with his arm in a sling -- and his pride slightly damaged.
The 51-year old who received shoulder surgery after he took a spill off his bike while trying to avoid a deer appeared on the show today for the first time since the accident -- and quickly became the butt of jokes.
NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams joked that Lauer was probably all "half-gooned on Percoset" and said that the urban deer population was getting out of hand as he dodged an on-screen deer graphic.
"This is a scourge so we're happy to have you back," Williams said.
An employee from Good Morning America brought over a yellow sign with the words "Matt X-ing" emblazoned on the front.
"You didn't send the deer, right?" co-host Ann Curry asked the ABC employee.
"That wasn't us," she said.
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"That was the other one," Lauer joked.
Lauer was biking on Long Island when he stopped short to avoid a deer that darted into the road ahead. The sudden braking caused him to flip over his handlebars and dislocated his shoulder.
"He was riding his bike over the weekend, and he had a run-in with a deer," co-host Meredith Viera said Monday on the "Today" show. "He apparently dislocated his shoulder, and he's at the doctor's this morning."
Lauer apparently joked in an email that the deer was "hired by the competition."
