Hugh Jackman is certainly not the first celebrity guest on TODAY to join Al Roker at the weather board. I would bet he’s one of the few to do so by interrupting the morning show host’s report. The Wolverine actor and Kate Hudson appeared on TODAY Monday morning to talk about their upcoming musical biopic on the 2025 movie schedule, Song Sung Blue. The movie is based on a 2008 documentary of the same name about the ‘80s Midwest phenomenon Thunder & Lightning, a husband and wife Neil Diamond tribute band. While the real Thunder & Lightning never met Diamond in their heyday, it turns out the X-Men actor has, and it’s a story he decided to tell during Al Roker’s weather report.
Just after chatting with the Song Sung Blue actors, Samantha Guthrie passed the broadcast over to Roker to do the weather. The nearly 30-year TODAY show vet transitioned with a personal anecdote about singing “Sweet Caroline” with Diamond out on the TODAY plaza back in the day, and Jackman couldn’t help but one-up Roker about singing with the rock legend before becoming hilariously self-aware:
I did too, I got to do some karaoke–do the weather, do the weather. That’s more important.
Ever the good host, Roker invited the Greatest Showman actor to join him up at the weather board. Jackman immediately stood up to finish his story, keeping it short and sweet:
Yeah I gotcha, I’ll keep talking. I went to his house, I invited myself over, and he said do you want to do some karaoke, and I said 100%. So I did that with Neil.
While he was up there, the Logan actor figured he would give a slightly chaotic impromptu weather report that left the TODAY host doubled over in laughter. Though Jackman initially interrupted Roker’s broadcast time, it was all in good fun, with both men bantering throughout the whole exchange. Take a look:
Please, as if Hugh Jackman could be rude. I don’t think the Aussie actor has a rude bone in his body. The only thing that could have made that interaction better was if Jackman, Roker, Hudson and Guthrie had broken into “Sweet Caroline” live on air. It would have been very on brand for the Les Misérables actor and Almost Famous actress, as they’ve been doing a lot of Neil Diamond karaoke lately.
The duo sang alongside the real life Thunder, Claire Sardina, at the premiere for Song Sung Blue in New York City, as well as recently showed up at a NYC bar to celebrate their Gotham Awards win (via People) to surprise the bar patrons with some “Sweet Caroline” karaoke. This video of the surprise performance posted by @joeefowler on TikTok is electric, and as a Boston native, I would have given anything to be in that bar.
I wonder if things got this lit when Hugh Jackman invited himself over to the “Cracklin’ Rosie” singer’s house. If this is part of Focus Features’ marketing strategy for Sing Sung Blue, it’s working. Jackman and Kate Hudson are celebrated actors with incredible singing voices, but these guerrilla karaoke performances have me sold on their chemistry. I’m excited to go see the Golden Globe-nominated performance when it releases in theaters on Christmas Day.