In a world where so many things are carefully scripted, a bit of spontaneity can be laugh-out-loud funny.
As Hurricane Sandy worked its way north earlier this week, my wife Liz and I were watching a local TV reporter here in Maine broadcasting live from a coastal town that was being buffeted by very high winds. Judging by what was visible on screen, the place seemed deserted, but appearances can be deceptive. Seemingly out of nowhere, a middle-aged man wearing a gray sweatshirt walked up behind the reporter, stared into the camera, and began waving at viewers.
The cameraman moved the camera a bit to try to exclude this intruder from the shot, but the publicity hound was standing so close to the unflappable reporter that it was impossible to do so. Eventually, the interloper wandered out of camera range.
What happened next wasn’t visible, but it was easy enough to figure out. A member of the TV crew must have tried to shoo the guy away with hand signals, because suddenly the off-camera voice of an angry man - obviously the guy in the gray sweatshirt - drowned out the reporter.
"Fuck off," the man shouted at the top of his lungs on live television. "It’s a free country."
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