Maine meteorologist suffers laughter attack on live TV after hilarious prank backfires

A local meteorologist is experiencing viral fame after he was caught on live television suddenly breaking into an uncontrollable fit of giggles that grew increasingly hysterical as he struggled to keep his composure.

Patrick Osborn, who was delivering a regularly scheduled weather report on Maine news station WABI, left viewers completely stunned Sunday morning as he repeatedly tried, and failed, to hold back his laughter.

In the video, 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.

Recalling the moment 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.”

Maine meteorologist Patrick Osborn suffers a giggle attack on live TV after a prank backfires. WABI TV5
Osborn, who was delivering a regularly scheduled weather report on Maine news station WABI, left viewers completely stunned Sunday morning as he repeatedly tried, and failed, to hold back his laughter. WABI TV5
The laughing fit stretched on for about a minute, with Osborn stepping off camera before returning and eventually tossing back to a colleague. WABI TV5

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 said he 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.

He said 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.

Osborn 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. Meteorologist Patrick Osborn / Facebook

“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.”

“That’s the hardest I’ve heard … really anyone laugh,” Sullivan said, laughing along.

WABI posted the clip to TikTok. As of Thursday night, the clip had nearly nine million views.

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