Lester Holt is currently on tour. And while he doesn't have backup dancers or a banging set list, he's nevertheless traveling to five cities in five days for the "Across America" tour this week.
He rolled into Denver Tuesday and plans to anchor "Nightly" live at Union Station in LoDo.
Here are nine things you might not know about Lester Holt:
In the 90s, his co-anchor was former 9NEWSer Adele Arakawa
Denver television darling and all-around gem Adele Arakawa anchored the news in Chicago together at CBS affiliate WBBM. For some totally 90s-tastic hair and old news graphics, watch a clip below of this power pair.
He's had a cameo on 30 Rock
The NBC sitcom "30 Rock" was always crawling with cameos from journalists and TV personalities like Chris Matthews, Tucker Carlson and (frequently) Brian Williams. Lester Holt even made the cut in season 1.
The storyline of this episode centered on character Tracy Jordan who was targeted by the Black Crusaders, a (fake) group of influential African-American celebrities who task themselves with helping the black community avoid humiliation.
In one scene, Lester Holt is anchoring the news when he turns to face the camera and speaks directly to Tracy and delivers the line, "Tracy Jordan, the Black Crusaders are coming for you."
He also did a voice-over in the episode "Sandwich Day", announcing that Jack Donaghy would be a new cabinet member in the Bush administration.
He spent 19 years with CBS
Although NBC News and Lester Holt are synonymous and have been since 2000, he spent 19 years at competitor CBS. In 1981, he was hired as a reporter for WCBS-TV in New York City. In 1982, he became a reporter and weekend anchor on KNXT in Los Angeles, and the next year he returned to WCBS-TV as a reporter and weekend anchor. In 1986, Lester moved to WBBM-TV in Chicago, where he spent 14 years anchoring the evening news (with Adele!).
He's the first African-American to solo anchor a weekday network nightly newscast
He took over NBC Nightly News in June 2015, after the embellishment scandal involving Brian Williams.
Lester spoke about the impact this had on him to Steve Harvey last month.
"It took awhile for that to sink in, the significance," Lester said. "But then I started getting notes from people and photographs of little children of color watching me and it really began to sweep over me what the impact is. I'm honored and blessed to be in a position that can inspire."
He's a grandfather!
One of Lester's sons, Stefan, had a baby with his wife in 2017 and Lester was all smiles in a full suit to meet his first grandson. His name? Henry Holt!
One of his first dates with his now-wife was to a forest fire
Lester told Sactown Magazine when he was pursuing his wife, Carol Hagen, KCBS routed him to an out-of-control forest fire in the Napa Valley. Rather than cancel the date he already had planned, he invited her along. She said yes, and they spent their "hot date" observing the burned-out areas from the back of a Highway Patrol car. They were married in 1982.
He's a huge fan of "The Office"
In 2007, Lester told a TODAY Show blog that he was big into the Steve Carell-led comedy "The Office.
"My favorite episode was “Diversity Day” (from the first season). When Michael put the label on his head, “Martin Luther King.” And Stanley put the one “Black” – I just lost it. Absolutely funniest episode."
Good choice, Lester. Good choice.
He would practice bass guitar in his office at NBC
Literally, he admitted once that not only does he have " a couple of basses" in his office, he would frequently practice them. And though he would try to be courteous of the people around him who were you know, WORKING, he would sometimes "get carried away and crank up my amp."
He would also play around New York City at clubs with a friend who jazz vocalist. He's a cool dude.
He got kicked out of an Alaska radio station a few times
When Lester and his family were stationed in Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska, his half-brother was a radio station employee a local affiliate KTVA.
An 11-year-old Lester got an opportunity to see broadcasting firsthand, but his half-brother's boss was less than enthused: “He got thrown out a couple of times by the program director there,” says Mike Swanigan, 64, now an airline captain with Alaska Airlines. “And I got chewed out for having my little brother there. But then later I’d sneak him back in, and he’d get caught again, and they’d tell him to leave."
After Tuesday, Lester Holt and the team then head to Chicago, Pittsburgh and then Raleigh-Durham as part of his "Across America" tour.
