# Brian Williams is so hot he sets off the fire alarms **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 30, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brian-williams-is-so-hot-he-sets-off-the-fire-alarms/604575 "2011-11-30T17:20:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brian-williams-is-so-hot-he-sets-off-the-fire-alarms/604575/1 "2011-11-30T17:20:08Z")
Anyone else watch _The NBC Nightly News_ last night (Nov. 29?). About two minutes into the broadcast, the _WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP_ fire alarms started in the studios, and they didn’t manage to turn them off till about five minutes before the show ended. I was highly amused (and glad that mine is not the only office with near constant, deafening fire drills). Brian seemed more amused than annoyed, and carried on with his prompter-reading manfully, but I wonder if there was a Jessica Savitch-quality meltdown at 7:01. I wonder too if they did it on purpose? I stayed tuned solely to see if they ever got the alarm turned off . . . ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brian-williams-is-so-hot-he-sets-off-the-fire-alarms/604575/2 "2011-11-30T17:33:17Z")
I was surprised to learn that he’d been a firefighter for a while. When someone first mentioned that in commentary about this event, I assumed it was some reference to his (rather delightful) Saturday Night Live host appearance; I thought he played a firefighter in an interview but could be misremembering. ---
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brian-williams-is-so-hot-he-sets-off-the-fire-alarms/604575/3 "2011-11-30T21:00:33Z")
The thread title is apt, because he’s one of my unrequited celebrity crushes 😃 (Yes, I have seen that episode of “Family Guy” where Meg has a crush on the news anchor but I’ve never stooped so low as to smooch the TV) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brian-williams-is-so-hot-he-sets-off-the-fire-alarms/604575/4 "2011-11-30T21:16:39Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Brian seemed more amused than annoyed, and carried on with his prompter-reading manfully, but I wonder if there was a Jessica Savitch-quality meltdown at 7:01. Here’s what really tickles me. The networks do two feeds of their evening news – at 6:30 and 7:00. Normally they just repeat the 6:30 feed, but if there’s breaking news that needs updating, or (ahem) a technical problem, they’ll do the newscast over again. So Brian Williams, or the director, or the executive producer, or whoever it is whose job it is to have a temper tantrum had to get through another show before blowing up. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brian-williams-is-so-hot-he-sets-off-the-fire-alarms/604575/5 "2011-11-30T21:31:37Z")
I usually flip around the various news shows at that time, but I found it so amusing the way he was handling it ("…and _once again_ I’d like to apologize for the fire alarms…") that I had to keep it on the whole time. Of course somewhere, some studio exec is going to hear stories like mine and declare “Fire alarm noises in the background! _That’s_ what people want in a newscast!”. So, sorry about that everyone… ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brian-williams-is-so-hot-he-sets-off-the-fire-alarms/604575/6 "2011-11-30T21:33:52Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > I was surprised to learn that he’d been a firefighter for a while. When someone first mentioned that in commentary about this event, I assumed it was some reference to his (rather delightful) Saturday Night Live host appearance; I thought he played a firefighter in an interview but could be misremembering. That was a good episode of SNL and Brian Williams was funnier and his acting was better than many of the name-brand comedians and actors who are the usual guest hosts. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brian-williams-is-so-hot-he-sets-off-the-fire-alarms/604575/7 "2011-11-30T23:14:25Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > Of course somewhere, some studio exec is going to hear stories like mine and declare “Fire alarm noises in the background! _That’s_ what people want in a newscast!”. I was hoping they’d go all \*Airplane! \*and have interns in flames rushing to and fro in the background. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brian-williams-is-so-hot-he-sets-off-the-fire-alarms/604575/8 "2011-12-01T01:33:33Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > I was hoping they’d go all \*Airplane! \*and have interns in flames rushing to and fro in the background. …I foresee a new promotional ad for his “Rock Center” show, considering they already have one that’s a crossover with “30 Rock.” ---
**Author:** ![Madame\_Joy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@Madame\_Joy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madame_Joy)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brian-williams-is-so-hot-he-sets-off-the-fire-alarms/604575/9 "2011-12-01T01:53:47Z")
I like Brian Williams, but have you ever really looked at his face? It is completely asymmetrical. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brian-williams-is-so-hot-he-sets-off-the-fire-alarms/604575/10 "2011-12-01T04:34:08Z")
I love seeing him on Jimmy Fallon Late Night doing the slow jam of the news…you can’t tell me that he doesn’t blow some Joe on the weekends. ---
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brian-williams-is-so-hot-he-sets-off-the-fire-alarms/604575/11 "2011-12-01T06:59:24Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > Of course somewhere, some studio exec is going to hear stories like mine and declare “Fire alarm noises in the background! _That’s_ what people want in a newscast!”. Back in the day they had teletype machine noises in the background. And we liked it! ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brian-williams-is-so-hot-he-sets-off-the-fire-alarms/604575/12 "2011-12-01T13:37:09Z")
> [@Madame\_Joy](#): > > I like Brian Williams, but have you ever really looked at his face? It is completely asymmetrical. I _know!_ He looks like he got his face caught in the elevator door when it was going down!