"She got mad at me for doing things on maternity leave," Couric recalled, laughing alongside Bill Maher on Sunday's Club Random podcast. "And she was giving me endless crap for taking a month or two off. I was having my first baby."
Couric recalled Gumbel saying to her: "Why don't you just leave him in the field and come to work or something?" She acknowledged that he was "making fun of me" but said his comments were "emblematic of an incredibly sexist attitude."
Couric's recollection of events came early in the episode when Maher mentioned Gumbel, referred to him as "a man's man" and said the two were "friends".
"He's a man's man, you got that right," Couric responded. "He was prickly, but what a talent. He's such a flawless broadcaster, he speaks eloquently. When the countdown happened - five, four, three, two, one - he would literally hit it perfectly. He added: "I think he's a complex man, though; a really talented man, incredibly smart."
