Bill O'Reilly Rages, Anderson Cooper Giggles: Top 6 Reporter Freak-Out Videos
Nov. 11, 2011
Top 6 Reporter Freak-Out Videos
By Jonathan Balthaser
Nov. 11, 2011
Everyone makes a blunder at work every now and again. Luckily, most of us do not have cameras pointed at us, recording our every mistake.
That's not the case for television news reporters. These intrepid journalists get up every day, step in front of a camera and report the news for us.
But we're human, and sometimes things go wrong. Tempers flare, equipment malfunctions and sometimes we just get a case of the giggles. Many of these videos now live on in infamy on YouTube.
Check out the top six viral videos of reporters losing it below.
1. Jessica Savitch – 'This Is Primetime Television Here, Folks!'
In the early 1980s, Jessica Savitch was known as the golden girl of network news. The newscaster anchored PBS's "Frontline" and gained a loyal following as the weekend anchor of NBC's "Nightly News." But now she may be best known for when she lost it on the set while rehearsing for an NBC News Update.
The tape was later leaked. Luckily for Savitch, YouTube did not yet exist when she let loose a tirade after technical issues and a missing stage manager got her flustered. "This is primetime television here, folks!" she yelled.
With more than two million hits on YouTube, Jessica Savitch is now likely to be remembered as simply that "Angry Anchor" because of her tirade rather than for her journalistic legacy.
Savitch drowned in a car accident in 1983 after the vehicle she was in veered off the road and into the Delaware River.
2. Gordon Boyd – The Clipboard-Toss Heard Round the World
As Gordon Boyd finished his live stand-up for WVLT Volunteer TV in Knoxville, Tenn., he couldn't hold his frustration in. According to Boyd, while trying to introduce his story about a horrific carjacking and rape, a producer began screaming in his ear about an unrelated issue.
He assumed she would stop, but she just kept getting louder and louder, irritating and distracting Boyd during his live shot. After finishing his report, he threw his clipboard down in disgust on live television.
"This incident would be funny were it not for the destruction it has wrought upon my personal and professional life," Boyd told ABC News in an email. Boyd claims the station forced him to resign. He received six weeks' severance instead of a full payout of his contract, he said.
The media jumped on the incident. Jimmy Kimmel, Ellen DeGeneres, Conan O'Brien, "Morning Joe," Anderson Cooper, Keith Olbermann and "Tosh.0" all aired the clip.
Boyd has gone on to become a reporter for WRCB in Chattanooga, Tenn. "The 'clipboard toss heard round the world' is the video that won't die," said Boyd. "I'm just trying to stop it from killing me."
3. Justin Mosely – Weatherman vs. Cockroach
Justin Mosely was just getting started recording a weather segment for SNN Local News 6 in Sarasota, Fla., when he felt something crawl up his leg. It was a giant cockroach. Mosely lost his composure, and when an employee posted the video online, a YouTube celebrity was born.
Mosely said he went through many emotions when the tape was first aired on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno." "There's a lot of frustration," Mosely told ABC News. "You're wondering, 'Why is this happening?' Looking back, I'm able to laugh at it. It's a funny clip. It wasn't funny at the time. And to this day, you're just not sure how it will impact the rest of my career."
Mosely's career seems to be doing just fine. He is now chief meteorologist at the same station where the incident happened and has become a local celebrity. "He is a rock star around here," said a colleague. "People ask him for his autograph everywhere he goes."
4. Bill O'Reilly – 'F**k It! We'll Do It Live!'
During Bill O'Reilly's six-year stint as the anchor of "Inside Edition," the conservative pundit had one of the most epic meltdowns ever recorded. Flustered and unable to understand the phrase "to play us out," O'Reilly lost it, lashing out at his staff and unleashing some choice words about his failing teleprompter.
Media reporter Brian Stelter said that the O'Reilly clip hasn't done much to dent his career. "The Bill O'Reilly clip didn't contradict his essential nature," he told ABC News. "Oftentimes when these clips tell us something different about a person, that's when they really seem to shock people."
O'Reilly seems to be doing just fine. He hosts "The O'Reilly Factor" on Fox News, and just published his 10th book, "Killing Lincoln," in September.
5. Isiah Carey's Change of Demeanor
Isiah Carey was working as a television reporter in Little Rock, Ark. While taping a segment about a local high school student who had died. Carey began his report in his most earnest "news reporter voice." Shortly after, a grasshopper leaped directly into his mouth. His professional demeanor melted away, and he let the obscenities fly.
The incident was mostly forgotten until the tape resurfaced on Youtube and went viral, racking up more than 13 million views. "That's me losing control, losing composure," Carey told comedian Daniel Tosh in an interview on Comedy Central.
But he understands why everyone seems to love the clip.
"You see reporters as robots and stiff, and they just give you the facts, and in this particular instance you get to see a real reporter act a fool," he said.
The fame Carey has garnered from his infamous bug-in-mouth incident seems to have helped his career. Carey now works as a general assignment reporter at Fox 26 in Houston, one of the biggest markets in the country.
6. Anderson Cooper's Giggle Fit
After mentioning that the cleaning crew should "thank their lucky stars it wasn't Depar-two," Cooper broke down into a nearly minute-long giggle fit. Still giggling, and wiping tears from his eyes, Cooper reflected that "you always see this sort of thing on YouTube, and you don't think it could actually happen to you." Cooper turned the tables on himself the next night by putting himself on the RidicuList, and noting that "it's a little embarrassing to lose it like that, especially because I giggle like the 13-year-old girl meeting Justin Bieber."
Or if you prefer my condensed version of Anderson's giggles, here it is:
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