A Maine meteorologist became an internet sensation after a prank he attempted on a colleague backfired, causing him to erupt into uncontrollable laughter during a live weather segment. Patrick Osborn, a meteorologist for WABI, was delivering a routine weather report Sunday morning when he was overcome by a fit of giggles.
Video footage shows Osborn gasping for air and struggling to announce temperatures between fits of laughter, repeatedly apologizing before his speech became unintelligible. The laughing fit lasted approximately one minute, during which Osborn briefly stepped off-camera before returning to hand back to a co-anchor.
Osborn explained that the laughter was triggered by a short Charlie Brown video clip he played for its sound effects during a commercial break. He had intended to play a brief clip for fellow anchor Josh Gabbard, but it turned out to be an hour-long compilation with recurring sound effects. The audio, described as the "Wa, wa, wa" sound from a Charlie Brown phone call, unexpectedly played again as Osborn began his weather segment, immediately setting off his laughter.
"It’s the Charlie Brown phone call noise. It’s one where his mom or teacher calls him, and it’s the ‘Wa, wa, wa,’" Osborn told his station. "Something as silly and light-hearted as a Charlie Brown sound made me completely lose my composure."
He noted that trying to suppress laughter in a professional setting only intensified it. "I was just trying to keep it together but I couldn’t. Like, when you’re not supposed to laugh, you’re in an environment when you can’t laugh, and you’re trying to hold it back, that just makes it 10 times worse," Osborn said. He added that he attempted to continue but had to leave the studio.
Co-anchor Brian Sullivan remarked on the intensity of Osborn's laughter, stating, "That’s the hardest I’ve heard … really anyone laugh." He later joined in the laughter while recounting the moment with Osborn.
WABI posted the clip of the incident to TikTok, where it had garnered nearly nine million views as of Thursday night, contributing to Osborn's newfound viral fame.