Matt Lauer has the scare of a lifetime on 'Ellen' while talking Trump

Ellen DeGeneres literally scared NBC "Today" host Matt Lauer out of his seat during Friday's airing of "Ellen."

Midway through their conversation, the two touched upon President Donald Trump's interpretation of the media and "fake news."

"President Trump is waging war against the media," DeGeneres offered as a talking point. "How do you feel about that?"

Lauer responded and said that he feels the president's vitriol toward the media is less than authentic and more of a rallying point for his supporters than anything else.

"He doesn't hate the media," Lauer said dismissively. "As a matter of fact, he's one of the people I know who has, over the years, loved the media more than most people. But it's just this kind of a catchphrase — the fake news and the, you know, fake media — and I think it's working for him, so he sticks with it.

"But I can truly say from the time I've known him — and from his days at NBC on 'Celebrity Apprentice,' we've interviewed him about 30 or 40 times on the show — I've never known him to be a person who hates the media," Lauer concluded.

DeGeneres revealed that she feels the president's "hatred" for the media stems from a lack of praise.

"I think he hates the media that's gonna attack him," DeGeneres said. "Which, anyone would."

Midway through their conversation, a man dressed as Lauer's "Today" co-host, Savannah Guthrie, popped up out from a box and screamed at Lauer, startling him to the point that he jumped out of his chair.

"No!" Lauer cried as he left the chair and began walking around the set stage. "It's so petty! It's so childish! You promised! Now I wet my suit — it's the only suit I have, and I'm wearing your underwear in this suit!"

DeGeneres and Lauer have had a long-standing prank "feud" since 2015 when DeGeneres digitally altered the "Today" host to look like he was giving an interview shirtless and dressed in S&M bondage-wear. To retaliate, Lauer filled DeGeneres's car with ping-pong balls.

Though the two called a truce in January 2016 and said that they'd focus their pranking efforts on NBC late-night host Jimmy Fallon, it would seem that DeGeneres didn't exactly uphold her end of the bargain.

"I'll give you some new underwear," DeGeneres said, laughing. "That was my favorite so far. We must watch that again ... that was one of the best," she said, and played the incident back on the set screens.