Almost everyone has fallen prey to a case of the giggles at the wrong time. In church, during a funeral or memorial moment of silence, performing on stage, while livestreaming, or on the radio or TV during a live broadcast, it's mortifying in the moment, but impossible to control no matter how hard people try.
But while it's embarrassing, there are better and worse places for it to happen. Take a local newscast in Maine, for example.
As of 2026, the state has a population of only about 1.42 million people. The island of Manhattan alone in New York City has approximately 240,000 more at 1.66 million. Even though some neighbors from New Brunswick, Canada, and New Hampshire regularly tune in to Maine newscasts, it's still a comparatively small audience to view a moment of public embarrassment.
Unless the moment goes viral on social media.
Which is what happened to meteorologist Patrick Osborn after a recent live broadcast of WABI TV5 out of Bangor, Maine. Yes, that's the central Maine city of only about 32,600 people that Stephen King made famous.
Osborn, the station's weekend meteorologist was in the studio with reporter and weekend anchor Josh Gabbard and the broadcast's producer when things went sideways. Someone recorded the moment and it went viral on TikTok.
After the first small chuckle, Osborn told the audience they were "having a little bit of a scene offscreen." Then he dissolved into a fit of giggles that he tried to power through, remarking this was a first for him, apologizing, and saying "oh, geez" and "oh my gosh."
He finally, breathlessly, told Gabbard:
"Josh, please take it."
Gabbard appeared in a split screen with Osborn in that moment and joked:
"What happened to professionalism, Patrick?"
Which became even funnier after people learned what triggered Osborn's case of the giggles.
WBRC 6 News out of Birmingham, Alabama, was kind enough to share the viral clip on their TikTok, complete with convenient subtitles for everyone having trouble understanding Osborn, followed by a clip of Osborn's explanation of what happened.
WBRC 6 News' post, seen here, also went viral.
WABI TV 5 shared the full interview with Osborn, seen below, on TikTok as well.
Turns out, Osborn and his producer had been teasing Gabbard during a commercial break, comparing his storytelling to the "wawa" sound the adults in the Peanuts cartoons make. Osborn had pulled up a video featuring the sound to poke fun at Gabbard, expecting a short clip that would end during the commercial break.
When the sound continued in the background after the live broadcast resumed, everyone in the studio lost it. Osborn just happened to be the one on camera, and the mic, at the time.
People compared Osborn's laughing voice as he tried to finish his forecast to several well known animated characters.
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But the overwhelming consensus was that Osborn does a great impersonation of Mr. Pops, seen here, from Cartoon Network's Regular Show.
Regardless of who Osborn sounded like, people found the moment hilarious and joyful.
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A few wondered if Gabbard didn't take the opportunity to get the last laugh.
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Although, the old proverb "he who laughs last, laughs best" may not apply here.
Osborn seemed to have a pretty good chuckle over the whole thing, both during and after.
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