Viewers in Bismarck, North Dakota received a special surprise on Saturday when they tuned in to the local CBS affiliate for the evening news and found anchor Amber Schatz joined by Ron Burgundy as Will Ferrell unveiled his latest publicity stunt to promote Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.
Staying in character throughout, Burgundy read actual news stories and bantered with Schatz. Although he played it relatively straight, there was still plenty of goofing around, such as Ron leaning into a one-shot of Amber and, after the sports report, remarking that, “I’ve never seen fighting in a hockey match before. That was fascinating.”;
Producers had expected Ron to exit with his traditional sign-off, and put “Stay classy, Bismarck!”; on the teleprompter. Unfortunately, he missed the cue, instead quipping, “What? Am I supposed to read that?”;
From there, Ferrell headed to Winnipeg to act as a TSN commentator for the Canadian curling trials. These publicity stunts, which have also included doing commercials for Dodge, launching the Ron Burgundy-themed “Scotchy Scotch Scotch”; flavour of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and singing Rob Ford’s campaign song, are part of a massive marketing compaign to promote the upcoming comedy, which also stars Paul Rudd, Steve Carell and Christina Applegate.
