Lena Denham said 'penis' live on TV and the presenter just couldn't handle it

On Friday, the creator of the TV show Girls, Lena Dunham was on NBC's Today Show with Maria Shriver.

The duo talked about politics and what viewers can expect from the the final season of the boundary-pushing show.

Picture: NBC/screengrab

Maria Shriver rounded off the conversation by throwing out that she had seen “three shows for this new season and it looks terrific”.

Surprised, Lena Denham asked her.

You saw a penis, right?

Picture: NBC/screengrab

After a flustered moment, Shriver managed a laugh at the camera.

Yeah well yeah I saw more than that… I saw… Yeah you caught me there for a second – I’m not sure you’re allowed to say that on television but you did!

Eventually the camera panned to Matt Lauer, and then back to Shriver and Dunham.

Dunham apologised, but Shriver laughed it off.

That’s okay- that’s the difference between generations. I wasn’t bought up talking like that.

Dunham attempted to leave – said the word penis again – only to have Shriver tell her they were still on air.

The internet loved the faux pas: