Carson Daly's 'TRL' Costume Was Made for Millennials

Throwback costumes referencing the past 25-or-so years have been really popular with celebs this Halloween, from Kylie Jenner’s spot-on “Dirrty” Christina Aguilera getup to Matt Lauer’s take on Seinfeld‘s unforgettable puffy shirt, and Bette Midler’s self-referential Hocus Pocus look.

But perhaps no throwback costume got our collective millennial hearts racing like that of The Voice and Today host Carson Daly, who showed up to work Monday morning looking like he’d stepped back in time to his TRL glory days — whisker-washed baggy jeans, sideburns, chipped black nail polish and all.

From the late ’90s to the early aughts, no cable TV-watching American teen’s day was complete until she had plopped herself down on the couch for an hour after school to tune into MTV’s Total Request Live — TRL, for short. And Daly was the guy who made the magic happen, counting down hit music videos and interviewing the likes of *NSYNC, Eminem, Mariah Carey, Britney Spears, Smash Mouth, Will Smith, and of course, Xtina (whom he also dated — along with Jennifer Love Hewitt and Tara Reid). He left the show in 2002, changing our lives forever.

For the rest of Today, Daly (who’s currently filling in for the recently axed Billy Bush) brought us all back to reality — well, kind of — by changing into a Terminator costume. But for a moment there, I really was tempted to take the subway to Times Square and stand outside what were once the TRL studios, holding a homemade sign and screaming at the top of my lungs for Carson to pick me to come up and see the action up-close. Sigh…

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