‘Today’s' live prostate exams is Rx for healthy ratings

It turns out prostate exams are not only a potentially life-saving medical procedure, but a handy morning show ratings grabber.

Matt Lauer and Al Roker of NBC's "Today Show" underwent live prostate exams Thursday morning - a 34-second procedure to which the show spent an hour and a half teasing.

Lauer's and Roker's female cohorts Savannah Guthrie and Natalie Morales joked about the segment by donning rubber medical gloves, while former cohost Meredith Vieira sent in a tweet wishing good luck to "two of my favorite pains in the butt."

Roker joked about limbering up to sing "Moon River."

Now that's entertainment.

Happily, the prostate segment itself, part of a month-long campaign to promote men's health awareness, shifted to a more serious tone.

RELATED: LIVE ON 'TODAY': PROSTATE EXAMS FOR MATT LAUER AND AL ROKER

Even then the doctor did weigh in with a joke about losing weight to reduce the size of his finger. But that seemed appropriate, intentionally or not, because let's face it, that's how guys respond to uncomfortable situations: They make the kind of jokes that make other guys slap them on the back.

Medical procedure connisseurs may have been disappointed by the procedure segment, because even though there had been full-screen promises that the exams would be done "on-air," they weren't.

Both Lauer and Roker disappeared behind a closed door into their doctor's office, while the camera stayed outside.

This was in keeping with Guthrie's earlier pledge that the segment would be "tasteful. . . . We're not The Learning Channel."

That's okay. It's been many years since The Learning Channel was The Learning Channel, too.

But for the procedure segment itself, the only thing Roker and Lauer took off was their jackets - which, for the record, is less than former "Today" host Katie Couric took off when she did a live colonoscopy segment in 2000.

RELATED: 'TODAY' SHOW HOSTS GET PROSTATES CHECKED ON LIVE TV

In this case, what we got from the guys was an oral report.

"It's not comfortable," said Roker, but it's not unbearable.

"Is it the best 34 seconds of your life? Probably not," said Lauer, but the potential benefits outweigh the unease.

Realistically, "Today" probably doesn't expect any huge ratings spike from Prostate Exam Day. Rather, it just helps to humanize the show, taking the hosts off a television podium and putting them in the same waiting room as civilians.

But medical matters are a reliable TV draw - and it could be argued that the prostate exams weren't even the oddest medical segment on Thursday's "Today."

The show also ran a short video in which a woman about to undergo a double mastectomy held an impromptu "party" with the doctors and medical staff, who were all boogeying around the table in the outfits they were wearing for the operation.

Laughing. It beats the alternative.