Two days ago, a Waterloo, IA evening TV sports announcer was reassigned to the early morning local news – but told to cover the weather pertaining to the blizzard blasting through Iowa. Mark Woodley did NOT appear to be a happy camper during his three-and-a-half-hour stint. And he wasn’t shy about letting his audience know it … in the most snarky and entertaining way that has now gone viral.
Woodley had originally posted the montage of clips to his personal Facebook page, but his friends and family intervened and convinced him to put it on Twitter.
The next thing he knew, the movie director Judd Apatow and the actor Josh Gad (voice of Olaf) were retweeting him. And his humorous antics have since been covered by NBC’s “Today Show” as well as The New York Times and even the Wall Street Journal.
Besides putting on his heavy winter togs, Mark Woodley also put on a grimace to head out into the subzero temps to report on the impending blizzard.
Woodley noted that he usually does the evening news stint which run “for only 30 minutes and are generally inside.” So, he started the first of his 14 freezing outdoor reports explaining why he was covering the weather instead of sports.
“I usually do sports; everything here is canceled for the next couple days, so what better time to ask the sports guy to come in about five hours earlier than he would normally wake up, go stand out in the wind and the snow and the cold and tell other people not to do the same.”
He got grouchier and grouchier as the three-plus-hour-long morning news show slogged on. And the warm and cozy staff inside was loving it!
Woodley handled their ribbing expertly:
“This is a really long show. Tune in for the next couple hours to watch me progressively get crankier and crankier.”
We’re all familiar with the local TV news folks’ banter, so it was no surprise when Woodley seemed to quibble over a colleague’s assignment tracking the impending storm inside the station’s warm van.
“Clint got the better end of that deal — that thing’s heated.”
“The outdoors currently is not heated.”
As is not uncommon, the temperature outside continued to fall throughout the morning show, even as the sun was slowly coming up.
“I’ve got good news and bad news: The good news is I can still feel my face right now. The bad news is I kind of wish I couldn’t.”
Woodley was begging to return to his regular job and felt someone had it out for him:
“I’m pretty sure, Ryan, that you guys added an extra hour to this show just because somebody likes torturing me.”
Woodley’s reply when asked by the warm-as-toast anchorman sitting inside the nice warm studio how he was doing is a classic:
“Again, the same way I felt about eight minutes ago when you asked me that same question.”
“It’s absolutely fantastic, Ryan.”
Finally, in the last shot of the morning, Woodley got to sign off:
“Live in Waterloo – for the last time this morning … THANKFULLY!”
His snarky take on reporting the weather has been greatly appreciated by an audience who have lavished praise on his honest reporting. Here are a few of the accolades Woodley received on Twitter:
Like most local TV reporters, Woodley has always dreamed about making “big” someday. He’s facing his new curmudgeon notoriety admirably well:
“Being known for being the crotchety old sports and weather guy was not on the list. But it is what it is.”
