It’s only the beginning of the year, and Al Roker is already getting roasted for his weatherman skills.
The beloved weatherman, who has been a meteorologist on Today since taking over for the late Willard Scott in 1996, got a taste of some stormy weather during John Mellencamp‘s visit to Studio 1A on Friday, during which the rocker roasted him for what he claimed are a lack of skills when it comes to predicting the weather.
“I have a question for Al,” Mellencamp began his interview before the 3rd Hour of Today co-hosts could begin asking him about his upcoming tour. “Why is it… that with all the new weather stuff you people have, are you doing as bad a job as they did in 1955?”
Roker, who had been nodding along and encouraging the “Jack & Diane” singer to continue his line of questioning, took a moment before responding while his co-hosts, Craig Melvin and Dylan Dreyer, burst into laughter.
John Mellencamp on ‘3rd Hour of Today’.
Today
“That’s a good question,” Roker gamely replied, taking Mellencamp’s zinger on the chin. “You have just spoken for America!” Melvin interjected to Mellencamp.
Mellencamp cheekily continued, “It’s like how on earth — you have guys have all this information!”
Dreyer, who is also a meteorologist for Today in addition to co-hosting the show’s third hour, tried to have her peer’s back as she inadvertently caught a stray. “Remind him we’re predicting the future,” she mock-whispered to Roker.
“David Letterman used to be the weatherman in Indiana, and he was much righter than you guys,” Mellencamp, another famous Indiana native, quipped.
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But as Roker proudly pointed out, “I’m still doing it, and I’m making money, so I must be doing something right.”
“Yeah, but you’re handsome,” Mellencamp conceded, to which Roker cheered he “brought it around,” before the pair high-fived one another.
Melvin was still cackling with laughter as Roker and Mellencamp jokingly “made up.”
“You just made Craig Melvin’s day,” Al said, which his co-host could not deny. “It did,” Melvin agreed. “Maybe my year. That is a clip that will live in infamy, John Mellencamp. It will be right after the ‘Jack and Diane’ video.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Mellencamp opened up about hitting the road this summer for his upcoming tour, Dancing Words Tour – The Greatest Hits. The musician announced the news earlier this week in a short film featuring Sean Penn.
“I’ve been very fortunate… I’ve made 36 albums so I have a lot of material to choose from,” Mellencamp said when asked how he chose the setlist for his tour.
Unsurprisingly, the Dancing Words Tour will feature most of Mellencamp’s biggest singles and will travel across 19 American cities from July through August, including Los Angeles, Phoenix, Kansas City, and, of course, his home state of Indiana, where he’ll play Indianapolis’ Ruoff Music Center on July 18. The rocker will wrap up the tour on August 12 at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA.
John Mellencamp performing in 2025.
Gary Miller/Getty
“They’ve been asking me to do this for years. ‘Come play outside again.’ And I’m saying, ‘No, no, no.’ But this time, I’m 74 years old. I thought I might be getting to the age where I might want to try to share these songs with people again,” Mellencamp told PEOPLE when announcing his tour on Wednesday. “In the video that Sean and I made, Sean says, ‘There’s no reason to keep these songs to yourself. What’s the problem with trying to make people happy?'”
He continued, “I don’t mean to sound corny, but I could never, in my wildest dreams, have imagined, when I made my first record at 22, that at 74, I would still be here. [But] I don’t think it’s a good idea to sit on the couch. If you want to die, sit on the couch.”
Watch Mellencamp’s interview on Today above.