Craig Melvin & Dylan Dreyer Miss ‘Today’ for Meaningful Reason

Craig Melvin and Dylan Dreyer took a trip outside of New York City for a special occasion.

The Today hosts were absent from Studio 1A on Monday, September 14, but appeared on the show live from Norwalk, Connecticut. The duo skipped the NBC morning show to attend Melvin’s annual Bottoms Up Invitational golf tournament, which he hosts with his wife, Lindsay Czarniak, and serves as a fundraiser for the Colorectal Cancer Alliance.

“We had some weather issues yesterday here in Connecticut. We got a lot of rain in a very short period of time, so the course got flooded,” Melvin explained to his Today colleagues in NYC, noting that the attendees would be golfing a shorter course due to the weather.

“That means Dylan’s gonna have at least four birdies,” he joked. “So, weather became an issue, but we’re still gonna do it. It’s gonna be great. This is the fifth year we’ve done it, and last night was great. We had a big concert, and we’ll do golf today.”

The fifth annual event kicked off the day prior with fundraiser concert, at which Wyclef Jean performed. On Today, Melvin took a moment to share his appreciation for Dreyer’s support for the tournament over the years.

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“Dylan Dreyer, by the way, has been here every single year playing golf,” Melvin gushed. Dreyer replied, “I wouldn’t miss it. And this year, I mean, there were about 10 inches of rain in about four hours. A lot of flooding in this area, so the course was underwater for a little while. But it looks great now.”

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Dreyer added that Melvin will lead attendees in a game of bingo later that day to fill time in the schedule affected by the weather.

Savannah Guthrie concluded the segment by praising Melvin’s cause, stating, “Craig and Lindsay put on an incredible event, and I know it comes from love. Craig, your brother Lawrence, we’re always thinking about him, and you do it in his name, I know that. So, thank you so much. Enjoy today, even if the golf course is a little soggy.”

Melvin was inspired to create the event after the death of his older brother, Lawrence Meadows, who died at the age of 43 in 2020 following a battle with stage 4 colon cancer.

Over the years, the tournament has helped raise more than $5 million for the Colorectal Cancer Alliance. In an interview with People published on Thursday, September 10, Melvin said he has also seen the impact of his colorectal cancer awareness firsthand at Today.

“‘Hey, Craig, I had a colonoscopy.’ You’d be surprised how many people actually do say that to me,” he shared. “Every week, there’s one or two. That’s actually been one of the joys of doing this for five years — I have become associated with colonoscopies.”

 

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A post shared by Lindsay Czarniak (@lindsaycz)

Melvin said he hopes to continue “demystifying colonoscopies,” stating, “[We want to] encourage people to have awkward conversations with their friends and family members, have people talk about blood in their stool and abdominal pains and weight loss that’s unexplained. All those things that 10 years ago people didn’t want to talk about? Now people are talking about them.”

He continued, “Every year we are blown away by the response. I continue to be just flat-out amazed by how willing people are to help when you just ask. Five years ago when Lindsay and I started this, I didn’t envision it becoming this annual family reunion. The family being anyone ever affected by colorectal cancer. That’s the family.”

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