Inter-nuts Katie Couric & Bryant Gumbel relive 1994 humor

BMW Katie Couric are Bryant Gumbel are again confused by technology, this time in a BMW ad that spoofs their befuddlement over the Internet in 1994.

Apparently a Super Bowl commercial deal really helps bring out the humor in things. In 2011, furious NBC execs fired a staffer for leaking an old 1994 “Today” clip in which anchors Katie Couric and Bryant Gumbel sweetly struggle to know the still-new Internet. But now, the network seems to have found its amusing side in the ad – with the help of BMW’s advertising department.

In1994, the hosts were reportedly “embarrassed” by the footage, in which Gumbel wrestles with the thought of an @ sign and a flummoxed Couric flatly questions a producer, “Allison, what is Internet?” The NBC worker who posted the archived video to YouTube was axed after doing so.

Digital2/BMW Katie Couric and Bryant Gumbel’s BMW spot will air during the Super Bowl.

But on Monday “Today” debuted BMW’s Super Bowl commercial, in which the pair reprise the moment, this time pretending not to know how the German carmaker’s futuristic electric car works. Introducing the ad, the anchors even proudly announced the clip had “gone viral” when it was first posted. What a difference four years and a paycheck make.