“I’m Ron Burgundy”: Watch BBC News Presenter Maryam Moshiri Make Joke After Autocue Error

Jesse Whittock
·2-min read

BBC News presenter Maryam Moshiri has become one of social media’s biggest providers of viral clips in recent months, and today she added another memorable moment.

During a BBC News bulletin this morning, Moshiri quoted Will Ferrell’s famous “I’m Ron Burgundy?” line from the initial Anchorman movie after an autocue mistake caused her to falter on a light relief story about hazel dormice numbers in the UK.

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“It’s hoped a new job project that sees them re-released into their natural habit could help to restore the population,” she read, before breaking the fourth wall and asking producers, “Is it ‘habit’ or ‘habitat’? I’m probably going to get emails about this. Well, it’s ‘habit’ on the autocue so what can I say?”

She then passed over to a colleague before making the Anchorman quip, saying, “I’m Ron Burgundy.”

The clip has been shared on X (Twitter) and quickly become the latest Moshiri moment tickling social media users, with the owner of the account that initially posted the clip saying it was “great to see some ‘personality’ returning to the channel when the mood permits.”

In 2004’s Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Ferrell played a polished but old-school news reader who was known for reading whatever was put on the autocue in front of him. In one scene, he famously reads, “I’m Ron Burgundy?” with a questioning inflection when a question mark is mistakenly added to his teleprompter script.

Today, Moshiri channelled a slightly more knowing energy than her fictional counterpart, as later in the broadcast, she said: “I, of course, meant to say ‘habitat,’ but ‘habit’ was written on the autocue, which just shows you that I just read whatever is written in front of me, clearly.”

Moshiri has become a cult figure to many media watchers for her quirky news presenting, most famously going viral last year for making a rude gesture with her middle finger while unknowingly been broadcast live before a bulletin began. She also made headlines impersonating a seagull earlier this year.

The Anchorman incident today happened soon after Moshiri had compared herself to the dormice, who were described as “being known for their big eyes and being famously sleepy.” Moshiri’s eyes narrowed quizzically as she looked down and uttered, “Am I talking about myself here?”

It could be assumed this won’t be the last comic moment coming out of Moshiri’s news broadcasts this year.

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