Bicycle accident keeps Lauer off the air

Bicycle accident keeps Lauer off the air

NEW YORK — A flip off his bicycle took “Today” show co-host Matt Lauer off the air Monday with a shoulder injury.

Lauer, 51, was riding his bicycle on Long Island this weekend when a deer jumped into his path. He flipped over the bike’s handlebars and was slightly hurt, NBC said.

“Today” show publicist Megan Kopf said Lauer, who was wearing a helmet, separated his shoulder and was scheduled to have surgery Monday.

“He’s doing well, and we hope to have him back on ‘Today’ later this week,” Kopf said in an e-mail.

Lauer’s broadcast partner, Meredith Vieira, joked on the air that Lauer thinks the deer was hired by the competition.

“Matt’s banged up with a displaced shoulder, it popped out,” she said. “So hopefully he’ll be on the mend soon.” Lester Holt filled in as Vieira’s co-host Monday.

Robin Williams recovers in Cleveland hospital

NEW YORK — Robin Williams was recovering at the Cleveland Clinic after heart surgery that his doctors deemed successful, his publicists said Monday.

The 57-year-old actor had an operation to replace an aortic valve March 13, publicists Mara Buxbaum and Chris Kanarick said. He was expected to make a complete recovery in the next eight weeks.

“His heart is strong and he will have normal heart function in the coming weeks with no limitations on what he’ll be able to do,” said Dr. A. Marc Gillinov, a cardiothoracic surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic. “A couple of hours after surgery, he was entertaining the medical team and making us all laugh.”

Williams was initially treated at the University of Miami Hospital before being transferred to Cleveland. He had been in Florida earlier this month when he was forced to cancel the remainder of his one-man comedy show, “Weapons of Self-Destruction,” after experiencing shortness of breath.

Williams, whose sold-out, multicity tour is expected to resume in the fall, thanked staff at both hospitals.

Today’s birthdays

Singer Nick Lowe is 60. Comedian Louie Anderson is 56. Actor Robert Carradine is 55. TV personality Star Jones is 47. Actress Lara Flynn Boyle is 39. Rapper Maceo of De La Soul is 39. Actress Alyson Hannigan (“How I Met Your Mother,” “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”) is 35. Actress Keisha Castle-Hughes (“The Nativity Story,” “Whale Rider”) is 19.