Patrick Osborn has spoken out after his on-air laughing fit went viral.
The WABI meteorologist, who delivers weather reports for the Maine news station, broke into an uncontrollable fit of giggles during a live broadcast Sunday morning that left viewers stunned and quickly racked up millions of views online. Osborn, who was attempting to deliver a regularly scheduled weather report, repeatedly tried and failed to hold back his laughter as the moment stretched on for roughly a minute.
Recalling the incident with WABI co-anchor Brian Sullivan, Osborn said, “I got a fit of laughter that I was not able to control on air, unfortunately. A lot of times, something funny happens, and I’m able to contain myself, but this one, it was just a little too overwhelming.”
He revealed that the laughter was triggered by a prank he had attempted to play on fellow anchor Josh Gabbard, only for the joke to backfire on him. During a commercial break, Osborn played a short Charlie Brown video for its sound effects but failed to realize the clip was actually an hour-long compilation that periodically replayed the sound every few minutes.
The audio then unexpectedly played again while he was starting his weather segment, almost instantly sending him into hysterical 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.”
“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,” he said.
Osborn added: “I tried to get through it,” but “Josh had to leave the studio.”
In the viral moment, Osborn was seen gasping for breath as he blurted out temperatures between chuckles, repeatedly apologizing before the laughter finally rendered his speech completely incomprehensible. The laughing fit stretched on for about a minute, with Osborn stepping off camera before returning and eventually tossing back to a colleague.
“That’s the hardest I’ve heard… Really anyone laugh,” Sullivan said, laughing along.
WABI posted the clip to TikTok, and as of Thursday night, the video had nearly nine million views.
Osborn is expected to return for his next scheduled weather report on WABI.