Ron Burgundy co-anchors entire North Dakota news broadcast

We cannot even begin to describe just how awesome that this is: Ron Burgundy co-anchoring an actual news broadcast, and everyone else in Bismarck, North Dakota actually being able to go along with it without giving in to the obvious emotional response of just going completely insane at the thought of doing a major news broadcast alongside a popular Hollywood actor like Will Ferrell.

But why in the world would Burgundy choose a North Dakota TV station of all places? We imagine that it probably has something to do with the way that Ferrell previously did an Old Milwaukee Super Bowl commercial airing in just a few markets: He knows that the clip will go viral, and it’s almost more effective if he does so in a small place that is somewhat unexpected. The real credit has to go here to the CBS affiliate KXNews’ anchor Amber Schatz, who actually tries to handle this all as professionally as possible, even in spite of Ron’s attempts to completely derail the broadcast.

Obviously, this is all just one elaborate publicity stunt in order to promote the launch of “Anchorman 2” in theaters, but we feel like this is about as good of a stunt as one could be. It’s not hurting anyone, it’s bringing attention to a part of America nobody ever thinks about, and it gives people like Schatz a cool story to talk about with her friends and family for many years to come.

Also, this entire broadcast may serve as further proof that being a real news anchor is way more work than anyone ever thinks that it is. As someone who has done a little bit of this in the past, we can attest to that and then some.

What grade would you give Ron’s real-life news debut? Share some of your thoughts with a comment below! Given the Burgundy promotional campaign being as aggressive as it is, we’re sure that we will have more on this soon.

Photo: CBS

KXNet – Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson