You Won't Recognize a Young Craig Melvin Playing the Violin in a Turtleneck & Glasses
Jimmy Fallon couldn't help but bring up the adorable pic when the TODAY co-anchor stopped by The Tonight Show.
Craig Melvin is a good sport when it comes to his NBC colleagues resurfacing a sweet vintage school picture of himself.
Savannah Guthrie and Melvin stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on January 15 to talk all things TODAY, including Melvin's recent co-anchor promotion. Jimmy Fallon also had the duo play a round of "Know Your Co-Host," and since it was all fun and games, he couldn't help but bring up the infamous school picture of Melvin from seventh grade.
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"You guys have a lot of fun over there as well as doing the hard work, but one thing I always love when they kind of burn you a little bit, Craig," Fallon told Melvin. "They show a childhood photo of you."
"This is Craig Melvin in seventh grade," The Tonight Show Host said to the audience as he shared a portrait of a young Melvin, wearing a white turtleneck, a pair of large round glasses, and playing a violin.
Craig Melvin explains story behind the childhood photo of himself playing the violin
"So, my mother, she was the first in the family to go to college, [she] grew up in the projects. She was a schoolteacher, and she wanted to expose us to things that she hadn't been exposed to," the TODAY co-anchor explained. "So I took magic classes. I did oratorical contests. And at one point, she came home, and she announced that I would be playing the violin."
"No one in the family had played the violin. She certainly hadn't played the violin. I'd never seen anybody play a violin," he continued.
As for the white turtleneck, Melvin said his mother "also clearly dressed me. She dressed me until the eighth grade. She didn't want us to hang out with girls, Jimmy. that was her way."
The stylish school picture is familiar to TODAY viewers, since, as Guthrie said, "the control room has that basically on speed dial. It's always ready. You just have to think about it, and suddenly it's there."
"You have to do it, and you have to have fun with each other. It's all part of the job," Fallon said.
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Of course, the following morning, January 16, on TODAY, Melvin's third hour co-hosts, Al Roker and Dylan Dreyer, couldn't pass up the chance to broadcast the image once again when they brought up his Tonight Show visit.
"Do you ever wish you never took that picture?" Dreyer asked Melvin, who admitted, "Actually, I gotta be honest with you, there are times where I think if I hadn't taken that picture I actually might be not be sitting here."
"That picture made you who you are today," said Roker, as Melvin added, "If you can endure the torturous mocking that I got for years..."
