Craig Melvin Kissing a Baby Dinosaur on ‘Today’ Is the Too Awkward

Craig Melvin finds a way… 

The Today co-host shared a very uncomfortable moment on Wednesday, June 25, when guest Scarlett Johansson brought her “friend” Dolores onto the set to meet Melvin while promoting her upcoming action film Jurassic World: Rebirth. 

“What is that thing?” the 46-year-old journalist asked, looking alarmed as a handler arrived carrying the animatronic baby dinosaur. 

“This is Dolores,” Johansson, 40 declared. “Do you want to pet her?”

But Melvin wasn’t interested, noting, “No, I’m good.”

“She’s a baby!” Johansson insisted, to which Melvin replied, “No, she’s not.”

As weatherman Al Roker and Johansson encouraged Melvin to kiss the tiny creature, Melvin warned the handler, “Now, don’t turn this into a meme. Just be gentle.”

But Melvin managed to give a meme-worthy performance without any help from Dolores or her handler. The NBC anchor very awkwardly moved his head around, trying to find the right angle for his prehistoric peck, hovering above Dolores and to either side. 

“Don’t you bite me!” he warned. 

Finally, he planted an extremely hesitant kiss on the top of Dolores’ head, before returning to his seat. 

“Isn’t she sweet?” Johansson asked, informing Melvin that Dolores is “a real morning person.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

During her interview, the action star admitted that she has been eager to join the Jurassic franchise since she was a kid. 

“It was a childhood dream of mine to be in this movie,” Johansson shared. “I’ve been trying to get in the Jurassic universe for three decades, and it turns out if you harass Frank Marshall enough, you could get a job. That’s the message.“

Johansson said she had fond memories of seeing 1993’s Jurassic Park in the theaters. 

“I saw the movie Jurassic Park when I was 10 years old in the theater and it was so impactful,” she recalled. “I was, like the entire audience, completely transfixed, mesmerized, carried away, terrified, all of that stuff. It’s just part of the formative part of my childhood. I think just being a part of this universe, it’s meaningful in a way.”

Jurassic World: Rebirth hits theaters July 2.