TV

NEW YORK — Matt Lauer must have really thick skin.

The Today show co-anchor will be the center of attention — and the target of insults and general humiliation — at a Friars Club celebrity roast Oct. 24. Things could get ugly: The Roastmaster is Lauer's longtime colleague and friend Al Roker, who knows him as well as anyone.

"I will tell you right now," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Wednesday, "I'm not going to invite my mom or anything like that. I have a feeling it's gonna be way over the edge for someone like that to be there."

Lauer, 50, joked: "From what I understand, you basically go in, you pad yourself, you take medication and you sit there and you just kind of brace for the worst."

He's well aware of "how raunchy and filthy" a Friars Club roast can get, so, unsurprisingly, there will be no TV broadcast of the roast, according to Lauer.