What To Know
- Charlamagne Tha God shared humorous stories from his and Craig Melvin’s early career days in South Carolina.
- Today‘s Jenna Bush Hager and Sheinelle Jones cracked up over one of the radio personality’s stories about himself and Melvin in a club.
- Charlamagne also detailed an embarrassing throwback photo of Melvin that he owns.
Charlamagne Tha God spilled some funny details about his longtime friendship with Today‘s Craig Melvin.
“Around the building, we have been clowning Craig for the last five years or so about the fact that he’s your buddy. We were like, ‘What? Charlamagne is so cool.’ We tease him,” Sheinelle Jones told the radio personality on the Wednesday, August 19, episode of Today With Jenna & Sheinelle. Jenna Bush Hager added, “We love Craig, and he will be the first to admit that he was a little bit of a nerd.”
After Bush Hager’s comment, the screen showed a throwback pic of a younger Melvin sporting glasses and playing the violin. As fans of the NBC morning show know, Melvin’s Today colleagues often bring up the snap on-air to poke fun at him lovingly. According to Charlamagne, however, the violin pic doesn’t top his own embarrassing photo of Melvin.
“Oh, I got a picture worse than that,” he told Jones and Bush Hager. “Back in the day, when we were in Columbia, South Carolina, I was doing radio on Hot 103.9. He was on WIS. And there was a guy named Otis Taylor Jr. who wrote for The State newspaper, and he did, like, this ‘top 10 people in arts and entertainment in South Carolina under the age of 25.’ And me and Craig was in there, and Craig is laying in, like, a grassy knoll with a golden retriever licking his face.”
NBC
Though Charlamagne didn’t have the photo on hand, Jones stated that she would give him $12 to show her and Bush Hager the snap. Bush Hager upped the offer to $24, adding, “He don’t need our money.”
Charlamagne went on to call Melvin “one of the most disciplined people” he knows before sharing another funny moment from their past.
“I remember we used to hang out at this club called V12 in Columbia, South Carolina. And I remember us being — I think it was my birthday party or something, so we’re in the VIP,” he stated. “And we’re just sitting back there, cooling, and somebody in the club was smoking marijuana. And I remember Craig going, ‘[Sniffs] Is that marijuana? Charlamagne, I gotta go.’”
Charlamagne joked that Melvin “skedaddled out of the club,” leaving Jones and Bush Hager in a fit of laughter. “Well, but he made it,” Jones remarked. “Now, he’s hosting the Today show.”
NBC
Like Charlamagne, Melvin began his career working in his home state of South Carolina. He worked at the local Columbia news station WIS before going on to work for WRC in Washington, D.C. He joined NBC News and MSNBC (now known as MS Now) in 2011, and joined Today in 2018.
He has co-hosted the third hour of Today since 2018. In January 2025, Melvin began his role as Savannah Guthrie‘s co-anchor after Hoda Kotb left the series.
Today With Jenna & Sheinelle, Weekdays, 10 am, NBC