Real or Fake? Weatherman 'Freaks Out' Over Epic Snowstorm

We've all seen weathermen at one time or another act flat out crazy or at least a bit eccentric. So how much of the craziness is real and how much is merely performance shtick to attract attention? The latest prominent example of on-air weather craziness comes to us courtesy of AccuWeather.Com's Jim Kosek. Here is a Business Insider report (including a strange shot at Bill O'Reilly) on Kosek's bizarre reaction to the big snowstorm which blanketed the mid-Atlantic region yesterday:

Early this morning, Jim Kosek Accuweather.com weatherman went on another tear during his weather forecast.

Kosek, a kind of Bill O'Reilly for the weather world, got really excited about this weekend's big storm in Baltimore. "Oh boy, 14-22 inches of snow," he starts out, quiet calmly... Then comes his verbal storm, screaming lines like:

* "Our paralyzing, crippling, record-breaking storm comes TA-DAAAAY!"
* "Road closures, flight cancellations in the hundreds, power outages by the tens of thousands, maybe the hundreds of thousands? Yes."
* "14 to 22 inches of SNOOOOOW winding down Saturday afternoon."
* "Tertiary problem, yeah I've been reading the dictionary, blowing and drifting AAHHH!"
* "Can I get a one-way ticket to New Orleans? Sun comes back Sunday, Monday. Listen, I love crab cakes but we could replace them it jambalaya."

So what is the secret of Kokek's (real or staged) performance? Kosek provides the answer:

Jim has said on air that it's ok to be "juiced, tanked, a little under the influence," while delivering the news.

 Hmm? Is that really a message that Kosek would want to send to young, aspiring meterologists? In fact, does Kosek even get juiced and tanked or is that statement also part of his performance shtick? However, the gold standard of crazy weatherman who was most definitely juiced, tanked, and under all sort of chemical influences was Mark Mathis as you can see in the video below.

Eventually Mathis was forced to go into rehab and I am happy to report that he got completely cleaned out. However, his rehab stay also seems to have cleaned out the absolutely berserk Mathis performances. If you want to see more of the ultimate in truly crazy weathermen, the Mark Mathis videos live on in YouTube eternity.

The jury is still out on the authenticity of Jim Kosek but Mark Mathis, you were truly an entertaining loon  during your pre-rehab career.