CNN Anchors Lose It As Reporter Fully Commits to July 4th Costume: ‘I Feel Like a Rotisserie Chicken!’

CNN’s Laura Coates and Brianna Keilar lost it over their colleague Derek Van Dam‘s commitment to his all-in July 4th costume as he covered festivities in Washington, D.C. on America’s 250th birthday.

Coates and Keilar, while reporting live from the National Mall, checked in with Van Dam, a CNN meteorologist and extreme-weather field reporter, to find him wearing an inflatable bald eagle costume, a Uncle Sam-style hat, and red, white, and blue glasses.

Van Dam was reporting from the Great American State Fair and he noted the heat wave was so bad that D.C.’s parade was cancelled, making his costume choice all the more questionable.

“All right, so I’ve got this digital thermometer. It feels like a hundred and five degrees outside but inside my suit feels like 250 degrees. I feel like a rotisserie chicken inside of this suit right now! So I’m only wearing this once for TV,” Van Dam said.

As Van Dam showed off various attractions, he told the laughing anchors to “soar with me” as he made his way to a ferris wheel and stuffed himself inside with his costume.

“Derek, don’t be a rotisserie chicken. You’re a bit of a rotisserie eagle there, maybe,” Keilar said as Van Dam showed off his costume, pointed at the camera, and declared, “Fourth of July!”

“I didn’t know where he was putting the thermometer. I was like, what is he doing right now?” Coates said laughing after Van Dam aimed the thermometer inside his suit.

“This is a family show,” Keilar joked.

“But that commitment, Brianna,” Coates marveled. “I want to wear it.”

“You’re only seeing this one time in my career, okay?” Van Dam said, cracking up his colleagues again (the pair also found themselves sharing plenty of laughs during a William Shatner interview during their coverage).

“There was a little boy who walked beside him and was kind of like, did a double take, thinking, okay, well, it’s the fourth,” Coates said.

“You’re having fun, Derek!” Keilar added.

Watch above via CNN.

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