Matt Lauer left Ohio University only four credits away from a degree, but by that point the 22-year-old was working steadily in local news as both a producer and an on-air personality. As he progressed, working through larger and larger markets, he honed his interviewing skills hosting a variety of local-interest talk shows. In the early '90s, Lauer landed at the NBC-owned local station in New York, which led to him occasionally appearing on The Today Show, eventually becoming the show's regular newsreader in 1994. He ascended to the co-anchor spot beside Katie Couric on January 6, 1997. During his time on the show, he conducted a number of memorable interviews, including a contentious conversation with Tom Cruise about psychology and the first national interview with Hillary Clinton after the Monica Lewinsky scandal became public knowledge. Lauer also became known for a recurring segment called "Where in the World Is Matt Lauer," in which he would travel to a different place in the world every day for a week or more.