What started off as a fun segment on "Ellen" has now become a full-fledged (and crazy-funny) prank war between Matt Lauer and Ellen DeGeneres.
How it started: During TODAY's "Fifty Shades of Grey" week in February, Ellen poked fun at Matt by doctoring his interview with the film's stars Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson, making Matt appear to fit right in with the racy themes of "Fifty Shades of Grey."Score: Ellen 1, Matt 0
As if that wasn't enough, she released another video of Al with a similar treatment, in which he's seen delivering the weather forecast in next to nothing.
When Matt finally appeared on Ellen, she gifted him with a giant framed still from her doctored video, which he joked that he kept in his dressing room. Ellen couldn't resist playing another prank, Photoshopping Matt's dressing room as well to look like a set piece from "Fifty Shades."Score: Ellen 2, Matt 0
And then there was the doctored video of fetish fun with Matt and Vince Vaughn.Score: Ellen 3, Matt 0
Enough was enough. Matt finally had the balls to deliver proper payback — he filled Ellen's car with more than 20,000 ping pong balls while she finished a taping earlier this week.Score: Ellen 3, Matt 1
Matt believed he'd brought some closure to his prank war with Ellen — or so he thought.
Before he even had time to enjoy the fruits of his prank, she informed him she already had another lined up. Ellen then played another doctored clip that seemed to show Matt and "Brady Bunch" star Florence Henderson getting frisky in the Orange Room.Score: Ellen 4, Matt 1
"Now it's on," Ellen promised. "Before it was just fun and games. It was jokes. But now, it is on, Lauer."
Looks like there's plenty more where this came from.
"You know the definition of a nanosecond?" Matt asked his fellow anchors on Thursday. "It's the period of time between feeling good about getting her back and being scared for your life."