While cable news channels like Fox News have been pulling in huge numbers in recent weeks with all the political debates and primaries happening all over the country, I can guarantee you that you’ll find more interesting TV happening over on the local news circuit, where mindless accidents and unpredictable outbursts are almost a given if you’re lucky enough to know where to look. Take the exchange below, in which a weatherman turns a sexually-tinged schoolyard insult into the most effective mood killer imaginable.
This video is stacking yikes on yikes on yikes. Everything about this back and forth makes me want to roll my chair into a corner and sweat uncomfortably for a while. I’ve seen jokes fall flat before, but this one started out thinner than looseleaf paper.
Let’s break down just what went wrong with this attempted slice of hilarity from Madison-based chief meteorologist Charlie Shortino. First, he bumbled through his words as soon as he started talking. Not to poke fun at anyone’s speech, but when you’re trying to slam someone like that, stuttering over the common phrase “get a room” is not a sign of strength.
Second, he took that hotel room comment way too far. Had he just spit it and quit it, the comment would have been strange but not altogether unappealing. But then he brings up how there’s “a lotta action” happening between his coworker and the dog. The dog with which he insinuated she should take to a hotel room to spend some time. I don’t know why Shortino felt the need to extend a cute moment with a dog into some kind of bestiality fan fiction, but that’s not even the part that took anchor Christine Bellport out of the conversation, as her reaction was just saying his name in a playfully chiding way.
No, it was when Shortino then expanded his worldview of Bellport’s sexual activities and surmised that her current time with the dog was the most action she’s gotten in a while. In months, even. It’s there when the weatherman’s coworkers decided to just opt for silence over any retorts that might draw more bedroom speculation. Had he accidentally turned things naughty, it’d have been forgivable, but this guy very clearly wanted to take it to the gutter. At least he (presumably) didn’t then talk about his coworkers being in white T-shirts during that rainstorm.
Power to him for continuing to laugh at it, though, even if “it” was actually the stunning amount of discomfort that filled the room. You never know what will happen on the local news, but it’s always worth watching to see.
