Morning Show Crew Panics As Raccoon Wanders Into Studio

At a local NBC affiliate in Michigan, anchors got to introduce their audience to the show’s unofficial mascot, Rusty the Raccoon. Their attempts to lead Rusty out of the studio and back to his home ended in shouting, laughter, and saying the Lord’s– and his entire family’s– name in vain way more times than most morning shows allow as Rusty didn’t get the message and instead casually made his way to the producer’s office.

Rusty had been making background noises in the studio for some time, so anchors Bryan Hughes and Liz MacFarland bravely interrupted their broadcast to lead the raccoon to the safety of the woods surrounding the studio. Their insistence on making him move, however, only sent him running in the other direction, and once finding himself safely before the cameras, he slowly proceeded through the studio, weather center, and, finally, director’s office and up the stairs to the rest of the building. Hughes is seen wearing thick gloves to handle the animal while MacFarland screams in the background, and after much commotion, Hughes gives up and tells the audience “boy, could we be in trouble.”

There are very few videos that make waking up before dawn to report news to a groggy working audience look fun, but this is one of them. Video below:

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