A Maine meteorologist delivered one of the most uncontrollable on-air laughing fits in recent memory Sunday morning, squealing through his weather report after a studio prank involving the classic “wah-wah” Charlie Brown phone call sound went spectacularly sideways.
Patrick Osborn, the weekend meteorologist at WABI TV5 in Bangor, was midway through a routine forecast when he suddenly lost all composure. What started as a suppressed smile quickly escalated into full-body laughter, high-pitched squeals, and an inability to form coherent sentences as he tried, and failed, to continue pointing out rain and temperatures across Maine.
Viewers watched as Osborn covered his mouth, turned away from the camera, and fought for his professional life while the weather maps kept rolling behind him. The clip, which has racked up hundreds of thousands of views in less than a day, shows the meteorologist in a clear state of helpless hysterics.
Osborn himself later addressed the moment, explaining that a simple Charlie Brown phone-call sound effect — the iconic muted trumpet “wah-wah-wah” adults make when speaking in the Peanuts cartoons, was played in the studio during the Sunday morning newscast. “A simple Charlie Brown phone call sound backfired on me and it was the catalyst for this moment I may never live down,” he wrote.
The prank, apparently intended as light studio banter with his co-anchor, instead triggered a cascade of laughter that Osborn could not contain. By the time the segment progressed through humidity maps and the extended forecast, the meteorologist was still struggling to regain control.
The video quickly spread across social media, with commenters calling it everything from “epic blooper gold” to “the laugh of a lifetime.” Many praised Osborn for the raw, human moment in an industry often criticized for being overly polished and scripted.
Osborn, who joined WABI in 2024 after graduating from Vermont State University-Lyndon with a degree in atmospheric sciences, has taken the viral attention in stride. He and a colleague even revisited the incident on the station’s 4 p.m. show Monday, leaning into the humor rather than trying to pretend it never happened.
In an era of carefully managed live television, Osborn’s meltdown serves as a refreshing reminder that even professional weathercasters are only human, and that sometimes a childhood cartoon sound effect is all it takes to bring the whole broadcast crashing down in the best possible way.
Maine residents now have a new favorite Sunday morning tradition: tuning in to see whether their weatherman can make it through the forecast without another case of the giggles.
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