-Lester Holt. Lester, it's great to see you.
I wish -- I miss running into you
in the elevators and the hallways at 30 Rock.
How you doing? -How am I doing?
My feeling right now, Jimmy, is I wake up every day.
When I know that I'm healthy,
when I know the people in my life are healthy,
then it's gonna be a great day.
And we can't worry about, you know, tomorrow.
Let's enjoy the day we have and press forward,
but, you know, a lot of sadness.
We're dealing with a lot.
-You're doing the show from home.
Is it tricky for you?
Where did you end up -- I mean, is your wife
setting up the lighting for you like my wife is?
-Well, the engineers came and they set up
a studio for me in my home office.
And, you know, I've got to do a bunch of stuff before the show.
I've got to turn on different lights and then dial in
so I can hear the control room and all kinds of stuff,
but it's the other stuff,
all the interviews we're doing, you know, using Zoom.
And we're always trying to find different places
in the apartment, and my wife has become my --
She's like my technical manager, my lighting director,
my set designer. -[ Laughs ]
-I said, "I got to do an interview with Jimmy Fallon,"
and she came in here and started arranging things
and moving the lights and the vase.
Looks great, doesn't it? -Yeah --
By the way, you have a beautiful spread.
It looks gorgeous. -We don't really live this way.
The set director did this. [ Laughter ]
-I have to find the right corners.
I'm like, okay, where are the kids not going to run through,
and where's it going to be the quietest?
I mean, you have -- your kids are grown
so they're not going to interrupt your shot,
but you do have someone there.
Is Lucy there, is your dog there?
-Is Lucy here? She's right here!
-I know you, Lucy.
-She's being a little sweet and precious and sleeping.
Let me tell you, in a few hours when I get ready to do the news,
she becomes a hellion in this apartment.
And so, I'm getting ready to do the news and I hear --
[ Barking ] And she wants to play the ball
at that time of day.
So my wife, along with being set decorator,
lighting director, and technical manager,
is also the dog handler during that time when I'm on the air.
It's going to happen some night.
Some night it's going to be, "Good evening --"
[ Barking ] -And you'll hear it.
Yeah, absolutely, yeah.
I saw Stefan, who, you know, we also love.
He's an anchor on local NBC News,
posted a photo of his setup,
which I want to say is in like a closet in his attic.
-Attic, yeah. -Yeah, and it's like --
and he had his two babies,
one behind the camera, one in front of the camera.
He's like, "Future, you know, journalist,
future photographer," you know.
-It warmed my heart because it immediately made me think
of a picture that was taken when I was an anchor in Chicago
at the CBS station,
and the two boys had come down to the studio.
And I took this picture on the set with them.
And, you know, one of them, I clearly saw
he had the bug for the camera, and of course, that's Stefan.
He went on into the news business, but yeah,
it was really heartwarming, you know, to think back,
"God, I remember when you guys were little
and we did pictures like that, and now there's my grandson."
-That's wild.
While you've been covering this --
you've been doing such a great job.
-I just want to thank you... -Thanks.
-...on behalf of millions of people
that turn to you and need someone to give them
the straight news and kind of lift our spirits.
And you've been doing a great job.
-Thank you. -It's wild.
'Cause I know you're doing a "Nightly News" for kids thing,
it's on YouTube, it's on Peacock,
it's on NBC News.
And I like it because I have a 6-year-old and a 5-year-old.
But just to see what all these kids are doing
and also the questions they're asking.
-Yeah, they're asking such great questions, so we --
This is kind of a lark.
One of our senior producers said,
"Hey, why don't we do a show for kids?"
And a bunch of us were like, "Yeah, why not?
That sounds like a good idea. So we quickly put together one
and we got such great feedback, we said, "Let's do some more."
So we're doing them twice a week now.
We let kids ask their questions,
and our doctor comes on and answers it.
We do stories of -- inspiring stories
of what some kids are doing, you know,
to help make medical gear or deliver stuff.
-Yeah. I saw one kid had a 3D printer making masks.
-Yeah. -I think it's really cool,
and I just think it's a great thing.
So anyone who has kids, you're always looking
for something to do, anything to do.
-Yeah. -This is actually
a great thing for both of you,
'cause I was getting some information as well,
so it helped me. 'Cause they were asking --
-You have to come on and be a guess on our show someday.
-I'll do it tomorrow. That's -- I got --
-You got nothing else to do, right?
-I'm here, absolutely, yeah.
I do want to say quickly though, the America's Heroes --
the American Heroes thing you're doing,
it's a segment you've been doing now,
and I just want to say I love it
because, gosh, if that's not one thing I'm getting from this
is appreciating the people who we always
kind of appreciated but I mean, really,
I think sometimes just forget about,
and you go, "Oh, I love them."
Like, I think it's so great.
-Yeah, I mean, grocers and truck drivers
and people operating buses and subways.
I mean, these are our heroes right now.
Because without them, this economy
would go to a total halt.
-It's a great thing you're doing.
We asked you if there's a charity that you'd like
to put a spotlight on.
I know there are so many great charities,
but you chose one that I love.
It's God's Love We Deliver.
-Yeah, these are some folks that --
they've been around since really the beginning of the AIDS crisis
in the '80s, delivering food to very sick people.
And their mission has expanded, expanded.
They're neighbors of mine, they're in my neighborhood.
In the mornings I'll walk the dog
and I'll see their trucks out there, you know,
loading up food and taking it to people.
So I wanted to give them a shout out.
I think it's great what they're doing.
I love to support, you know, certainly a local charity,
in this case, you know, one right down the street from me.
-Lester, thank you for taking the time for me
but also thank you for doing what you're doing.
You're doing amazing work. We're all looking to you.
And it's got to be tough,
and you're not showing a bit of sweat.
So thank you so much. -And thank you, thank you
for giving us something to smile about and laugh about.
You found -- you know, I know it's not easy.
You guys have found the perfect tone,
and it really lightens our spirits, so thank you.
-I can't wait to see you in person.
And, Lucy, what a good dog. You didn't bark the whole time.
-Yeah, yeah, you wait. You just wait.
-Bye, buddy.
-Bye-bye. -Thank you.