Live news broadcasts can be a gold mine for humor, especially when an animal is involved. Animals really donât care if youâre broadcasting live to an audience, and the chaos they can cause once that red light is on is simply hilarious. Luckily for us, these broadcasts can live on forever on the internet, especially once they find their way to YouTube. Here are 15 examples of what can happen when an animal goes rogue during live news.
While broadcasting the weather forecasts from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, Indianaâs 14 First Alert chief meteorologist Jeff Lyons gained a new on-air costar. His cat, Betty, became an internet sensation after she interrupted one of his forecasts while seeking some attention. Sheâs since appeared in many of his subsequent broadcasts, much to the delight of viewers around the world.
Technological snafus come with the territory of working from home. Such was the case when Buddy the Golden Retriever accidentally bumped his head into the computer while Paul Dellegatto, Fox News 13-Tampa Bayâs chief meteorologist, gave the forecast. Buddyâs clumsiness caused the digital maps to disappear. With the maps gone, Dellegatto broadcast the weather with Buddy center stageâthat is, until the dog ran across the room to greet another person.
In 2010, Steve Jacobs was broadcasting live from Sydneyâs Taronga Zoo for an extended segment of the Australian show TODAY . He still had to report on the weather forecast from the remote location, but didnât get far into it before a pelican bit him on the behind. Thereâs no way to keep a straight face when that happens.
Nicole DiDonato of WXMI was doing a live news tease in July of 2012 when an intrepid cat jumped up onto her shoulders. When DiDonato returned to do the full report, the cat was still there, attempting to take her attention away from her job.
Cats pay no mind whatsoever to conventions like keeping a studio floor clear during a live broadcast. Univisionâs Eduardo Rodriguez was presenting a weather report at WLTV in Miami in 2012 when a cat sashayed across the studio floor. Rodriguez kept his composure and finished his report as the crew cracked up in the background.
At WXYZ in Detroit, a stray kitten decided she wanted to get to know reporter Nima Shaffe just a little bit better. The fact that he was on location for a news report made no difference, and the kitten wouldnât take "no" for an answer. The station went with it and made the report about the kitten. The local Humane Society took the kitten in and planned to put her up for adoption .
A reporter from Macedonia TV tried his best to deliver a story on equestrian training, but a horse named Frankie couldnât contain his curiosity and affection . It makes perfect sense to put a horse in the background for such a report, but this one wasnât good at following stage directions. You can see the clip here .
This interview from a Russian news channel was placed right in front of a donkey enclosure, which, as you'll see, is never a good idea for a coherent broadcast. The lone donkey in the shot was not going to stand idly by when he had the opportunity to address the audience. Weâre not sure what he said, but he came off like a real jackass.
Terrifying ? A dog, maybe a mountain lion, made itâs TV debut during my morning live shot!!! What animal do you think this it is? pic.twitter.com/gklGAGHH5e
One early morning in October 2018, reporter Morgan Saxton was shooting a live segment in Utah's Spring Lake when a mysterious creature interrupted the shot. "What youâre seeing isâactually a dog coming into our live shot,â she said nervously. âI think itâs a dog, Iâm not sure. Anyway, thereâs some sort of creature below me.â Saxton later shared the segment on Twitter, asking what animal her followers thought it was. Some went feline, saying it was a mountain lion; others, however, said it was a dog. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources ultimately determined , based on the animal's tracks, it was indeed a pupper.
Meteorologist Ryan Phillips was delivering the weather report at NBC 6 in Miami in January of 2015. Meanwhile, the broadcast crew was preparing for the upcoming âPet of the Weekâ segment, featuring a pet from a local animal shelter, Pooches in Pines . King, an American bulldog, couldnât wait for his turn in front of the camera and decided to jump up on the news desk to get some extra attention from the weather man. King was soon adopted by his foster family.
In March 2016, Andrea Martinez of KYTX CBS1 9 News was reporting on storm damage in Malakoff, Texas, when a dog on a lawn mower distracted everyone. The dog wasnât trying to interrupt, but once Martinez saw him, the news crew had to take a closer look. Needless to say, more people saw the dog than would ever see the storm report.
In early 2015, meteorologist John Zeigler was doing his report at KOLR 10 in Springfield, Missouri, when his dog Griffey decided it was time to play. Zeigler distracted the dog by tossing a ball, but Griffey knows how to play fetch, so it was a constant struggle to keep him off-camera. However, Griffey was such a hit that he became the stationâs mascot, complete with legions of fans and his own Facebook page .
Youâre probably familiar with the way broadcast news blends various graphics into the background of weather reports. Broadcasters get used to responding to whatâs on the air instead of whatâs physically in front of them. But that response went haywire when a spider crawled across the lens of a camera in downtown Vancouver as Global BC meteorologist Kristi Gordon was giving the weather forecast. She couldnât help but respond as if the spider were right there with her.
That wasnât the first time a spider on a camera lens caused laughter on the air. In 2007, as NASA prepared to launch the space shuttle Atlantis on the oft-delayed mission STS-122 , they had a constant video feed on the launch pad. When this segment made YouTube, it came with an announcement:
When KCCI meteorologist Kurtis Gertz did a live report from the Iowa State Fair in 2008, he volunteered to appear in a snake show. A huge Burmese python named Dawn slithered her tail up into the leg of Gertzâs cargo shorts and out the other leg. It took some time to extract her, and even longer for everyone to stop laughing. The video became a classic.
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