Carson Daly Says His Kids Knew He Was Famous When He Was Name-Checked on “Gilmore Girls”
Carson Daly Says His Kids Knew He Was Famous When He Was Name-Checked on “Gilmore Girls”
Virginia ChamleeMon, March 16, 2026 at 4:55 PM UTC
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Carson Daly (left), Gilmore GirlsCredit: Julian Dakdouk/NBC via Getty; Warner Bros./Delivered by Online USA -
Carson Daly says his daughters are watching Gilmore Girls — and they recently got a shock when they heard his name on the show
Gilmore Girls premiered in 2000 and aired for seven seasons but still has a devoted fan base, all these years later
The show told the story of Lorelai and her teen daughter Rory's close bond while they lived in the charming town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut
Carson Daly says it wasn't his years of experience hosting MTV's TRL or even his 12 plus years on The Today Show that led his kids to realize he was famous — it was a callout on Gilmore Girls.
During a cooking segment on the Wednesday, March 11 episode of Today, 52-year-old Daly spoke to Lauren Graham, who played Lorelai Gilmore on the show.
The original series, created by Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino, premiered on Oct. 5, 2000 and aired for seven seasons. The show told the story of Lorelai and her teen daughter Rory's close bond while they lived in the charming town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut. Rory was played by Alexis Bledel.
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Carson Daly on TodayCredit: Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty
Daly said his daughters recently started watching the show, which went off the air in 2007.
"You know, the girls all went back to watch Gilmore Girls," Daly said.
He continued: "I've been on television every day since 1997. And it wasn't until I got name-checked in an episode of Gilmore Girls that my daughters were like, 'Oh my god, dad, you're famous!'"
"You're welcome," responded Graham, 58.
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Daly was referenced in episode one of the show's third season.
Despite being off the air for so long, the show still has a loyal following — even among fans who were too young to watch the first time around.
In November 2016, Netflix released the Gilmore Girls revival, which saw Lorelai still running her Dragonfly Inn while a 32-year-old Rory worked through job (and relationship) struggles yeas after graduating from Yale. Each episode — individually titled Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall — followed the pair throughout a season of the year.
The reboot was also directed, written and executive-produced by the Palladinos.
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Daly, meanwhile, joined Today in September 2013. Prior to that, he hosted MTV's Total Request Live (TRL), which aired new episodes every weekday on MTV from 1998 to 2008. The show welcomed the biggest musical and entertainment acts of the day live into its Times Square studio, as Daly and other hosts counted down the top 10 videos as voted by fans that day.
From there, Daly hosted long-running late-night talk show Last Call with Carson Daly, which aired from 2002 to 2019.
Daly and his wife — cookbook author Siri Pinter Daly — met in 2005 when she was working as a writer’s assistant on the Last Call with Carson Daly and started dating shortly after. Together they have four kids: son Jackson and daughters Etta, London and Goldie.
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