This Is Quite Possibly the Most Painful News Interview in Recorded History

Back in April, local San Diego news station KUSI News sent meteorologist and jazz musician Dave Scott down to something called the Inflatable Run, a festival celebrating all things bouncy and buoyant. The family-friendly fair included a 5K run and inflatable jousting, but it was Scott who really stole the show, giving what is quite possibly the most awkward on-air interview ever recorded in modern history.

First, Scott starts off by asking his fellow anchors, viewers at home, festival-goers, and really anyone who has an opinion, if "the world of inflation" is a "good thing or not a good thing?" Unclear if he means inflation in the economic sense, or simply just the expansion of air, KUSI co-anchor Jason Austell presses Scott until he concludes that "if you say 'good,' you're right, because this is the world of inflation."

Scott then cuts his losses with the tough crowd back in the studio and focuses his attention on the festival volunteers, who half-heartedly give themselves a round of applause at the meteorologist's request. (Perhaps they're confused, too, about how this event falls into a weatherman's purview.) Scott then moves the interview along by asking some of the hardworking volunteers, "What kind of fun do you think you're going to have today?" The responses range from "lots of fun" to "um, helping" to "bouncing."

Then, as if things couldn't possibly get any worse, Scott decides he will lead the clearly confused group of volunteers in what he calls "like a magic chant," asking them to repeat the mystical phrase "Abracadabra one, two, three" to summon a half-human, half-inflatable entity known as Mr. Wacky.

And honestly, thank God for Mr. Wacky, because the dancing inflatable tube man really saves Scott from what has already been a two-minute train wreck and actually shares some key details about the festival. But, still, no cute little dance could distract Scott from asking yet another bizarre question in his agonizingly endless amount of air time.

"Now does that mean that everybody here becomes an inflatable today?" Scott asks Mr. Wacky, who is not an actual inflatable himself, but just a man in a costume who can actually speak.

"Do they want to be inflatables today?" Mr. Wacky responds. The crowd replies with yet another round of awkward, forced applause. And with that, Mr. Wacky, our masked hero, takes the excruciating three-minute and 19-second segment out by leading the unwitting bystanders in their "best Mr. Wacky dance."

Thank you, Mr. Wacky, for proving once and for all that inflatables really are a good thing.

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