Bill O'Reilly Rages, Anderson Cooper Giggles: Top 6 Reporter Freak-Out Videos

When You work on camera, losing your cool can make you a Youtube legend.

ByABC News
November 10, 2011, 11:41 AM

Nov. 11, 2011— -- Everyone makes a blunder at work every now and again. Luckily, most of us do not have cameras pointed at us, recording our every mistake.

That's not the case for television news reporters. These intrepid journalists get up every day, step in front of a camera and report the news for us.

But we're human, and sometimes things go wrong. Tempers flare, equipment malfunctions and sometimes we just get a case of the giggles. Many of these videos now live on in infamy on YouTube.

Check out the top six viral videos of reporters losing it below.

1. Jessica Savitch – 'This Is Primetime Television Here, Folks!'

In the early 1980s, Jessica Savitch was known as the golden girl of network news. The newscaster anchored PBS's "Frontline" and gained a loyal following as the weekend anchor of NBC's "Nightly News." But now she may be best known for when she lost it on the set while rehearsing for an NBC News Update.

The tape was later leaked. Luckily for Savitch, YouTube did not yet exist when she let loose a tirade after technical issues and a missing stage manager got her flustered. "This is primetime television here, folks!" she yelled.

With more than two million hits on YouTube, Jessica Savitch is now likely to be remembered as simply that "Angry Anchor" because of her tirade rather than for her journalistic legacy.

Savitch drowned in a car accident in 1983 after the vehicle she was in veered off the road and into the Delaware River.

Jessica Savitch's On-Set Tirade

2. Gordon Boyd – The Clipboard-Toss Heard Round the World

As Gordon Boyd finished his live stand-up for WVLT Volunteer TV in Knoxville, Tenn., he couldn't hold his frustration in. According to Boyd, while trying to introduce his story about a horrific carjacking and rape, a producer began screaming in his ear about an unrelated issue.

He assumed she would stop, but she just kept getting louder and louder, irritating and distracting Boyd during his live shot. After finishing his report, he threw his clipboard down in disgust on live television.

"This incident would be funny were it not for the destruction it has wrought upon my personal and professional life," Boyd told ABC News in an email. Boyd claims the station forced him to resign. He received six weeks' severance instead of a full payout of his contract, he said.

The media jumped on the incident. Jimmy Kimmel, Ellen DeGeneres, Conan O'Brien, "Morning Joe," Anderson Cooper, Keith Olbermann and "Tosh.0" all aired the clip.

Boyd has gone on to become a reporter for WRCB in Chattanooga, Tenn. "The 'clipboard toss heard round the world' is the video that won't die," said Boyd. "I'm just trying to stop it from killing me."

The Clipboard Toss Heard 'Round the World