Sports reporter asked to cover snow storm goes viral thanks to his cranky coverage

'The same way I felt about eight minutes ago when you asked me the same question'

A sports reporter has gone viral for the sassy comments he made live on air after being asked to cover a snowstorm. Mark Woodley, from Iowa news channel KWWL, posted a compilation to Twitter of all the cranky complaints he made during his day as a weatherman. Reporting in the midst of a blizzard at 3.30am in the morning, the footage begins with Woodley being asked by a presenter how he was feeling. "The same way I felt about eight minutes ago when you asked me the same question," he dryly responded. He also said during the broadcast: “I normally do sports, everything is canceled here for the next couple of days.

"So what better time to ask the sports guy to come in about five hours earlier than he would normally wake up, go stand out in the wind and the snow and the cold, and tell other people not to do the same? "I didn't even realise that there was a 3.30am also in the morning until today. “I’m used to these evening shows that are only 30 minutes long, and generally on those shows, I am inside. "This is a really long show, so tune in for the next couple of hours to watch me progressively get crankier and crankier."

At one point, Woodley also asked: “Can I go back to my regular job? "I’m pretty sure you guys added an extra hour to this show just because somebody likes torturing me.” https://twitter.com/MarkWoodleyTV/status/1605961457337712640 After the compilation was watched by nearly 27 million people, Woodley appeared on CNN to provide some context for his comments and to discuss the massive reaction to the video. He said that he only found out the previous afternoon that he would be filling in on the earlier weather shift and that, because of this, he did not have time to adjust his sleep schedule. "I was running on about three hours of sleep at that time," Woodley explained.

"So, I think some of the things maybe I wouldn't have said had I slept for eight hours but it is what it is. "We cover these things every single year. It's all the same and I think sometimes viewers might tune it out. "I thought maybe if I bring a little attitude to it, people will pay attention."

Woodley did stress that he took the storm "very seriously" and that the compilation is just 90 seconds of his 15 to 20 minutes of reporting on the blizzard. He also said that he originally spliced his cranky comments together just to give his friends and family a laugh but that he was persuaded by his sister-in-law to post it on Twitter. "I put it on Twitter, thinking 20, 30 people are going to see this and the managers aren't going to care. It's not going to go anywhere," Woodley stated. "Within hours, I'm getting these text messages like: 'Dude, you're going viral. Judd Apatow retweeted you.' "At this point, 90% of me is kind of giddy about it. The other 10% is like: 'Am I going to get in trouble for this?'." Thankfully, Woodley said his bosses were "on board" with his antics. That said, the sports reporter has ruled out becoming a weatherman on a long-term basis. “I’m a team player. If asked, sure, I’ll do it, but that would be my absolute nightmare," Woodley told CNN. "I hope to God they do not ask me to ever do that again.”