Animals do not care about the sanctity of broadcast journalism. They have no respect for news anchors or field reporters. In fact, they blatantly disregard all the rules of television, almost as if they were completely unaware that such rules even exist. An attention-starved dog does not take FCC regulations into account, nor will an amorous baboon consult with the network’s standards and practices department. In a way, their flippant disrespect for the medium is what paradoxically makes animals such perfect TV stars. Daytime and nighttime talk shows alike have been booking animals for decades, largely because of the chaos these creatures create so effortlessly. Anarchy is their business, and business is always good. Jack Hanna and Joan Embery built careers on this.
Newscasts are supposed to be more staid and responsible, at least theoretically, than entertainment shows. They have a responsibility to the public, after all. But even the news has to attract viewers, and producers know that cute animals are good for ratings. Happily, this has led to any number of highly entertaining, on-air mishaps. Some of the best examples are collected in the awkwardly titled “Best Funny Animals News Bloopers,” the latest supercut from YouTube’s News Be Funny channel.
Animals are the nominal stars of this video, and yet “Best Funny Animals News Bloopers” is ultimately a mockery of human foibles. It is not the beasts who look foolish when things go wrong on a local news show; it is the supposedly responsible and educated human beings around them. When, for instance, a frisky pup keeps interrupting a five-day forecast to play fetch with a harried weatherman just trying to do his job, the joke is actually on the weatherman and not the dog. Animals remind people that the so-called “civilization” the human race has spent millennia building up is really just a flimsy illusion. It could fall apart at any time, at the slightest provocation. All it takes is a well-timed fart from a rhino.