Cat jumps on cameraman’s head during news shoot
CBC cameraman Sam Martin was in the field on November 15th with reporter Briar Stewart in Bonnyville, Alberta, Canada covering a story about school buses when Sam had a very unexpected surprise. A camera friendly feline strolled near the bus then took notice of the cameraman and his gear. What appeared to be a grey and white tabby cat leapt up Sam’s back while he was shooting a promo for the story, made its way atop the cameraman’s head, then perched on the tripod mounted camera.
Off camera, you can hear Sam saying, “Is this for real?” Briar Stewart could not contain herself, laughing uncontrollably then saying “I have never seen that in my life! Somebody needs to video tape this Terry.” Briar was talking to CBC Network producer Terry Reith, who managed to snap multiple shots of the hilarious event. After composing themselves, the crew got back to work and the feline member of the team was taken down from the camera. But the cat was not quite done with the CBC news crew and before they left, it sat in a stare down with Sam on his car hood.
While the cat was clearly entertaining, Briar felt that, “It would have been funnier if it did that to me while I was talking.” We’d have to agree. In fact, that did happen to WXMI Fox 17 reporter Nicole DiDonato in July 2012 during a live shot she did in Grand Rapids, Michigan. As Nicole shot a promo for her upcoming story, audiences saw a paw emerge over her left shoulder, then a bold cat that jumped up to sit on the reporter’s shoulder. An impressive professional, Nicole finished her read and didn’t miss a beat.
