'Jackwagon!' Evansville meteorologist Jeff Lyons remembers going viral at Fall Festival

EVANSVILLE – Jeff Lyons didn’t know what had happened until he got home that night.

It was Oct. 5, 2022. Like he does every year, the longtime WFIE-NBC14 meteorologist had been doing live shots at the West Side Nut Club Fall Festival when a high school-age kid walked up with the camera rolling.

"Do you want someone to talk to?" the kid asked.

That should have been a red flag. Lyons has spent decades interacting with random Evansville residents on air, and the people who approach him are usually the ones you want to avoid. But hey, he had time to fill. And this kid clearly had something to get off his chest.

There’s no way he could know their ensuing exchange would rocket across social media and cement its place in Fall Fest lore.

Kid: Can I tell you my favorite meal here?

Lyons: Sure, you can tell me your favorite meal here.

Kid: Every I time I come here, I get Deez.

Lyons: OK.

Kid: Straight up. Y’all know what Deez is?

Lyons: No.

Kid: Deez nuts.

With that, the kid offered a celebratory shrug and glided out of frame with the poise of a seasoned comedian. Lyons replied “OK, go right ahead” and continued his interview with a local booth worker, unaware he’d been “caught hook, line and sinker” in a classic prank.

It wasn’t until he walked in his front door that night that his kids explained what happened. Oh my god dad, they said.

“He did the set up and I was the perfect straight man,” Lyons said. “I had it coming.”

But that moment was just the beginning of one of the most eventful Fall Festivals in Lyons’ long career. A day later, he’d find himself at the center of an even more viral moment: one that eventually spawned t-shirts, koozies and an outpouring of love that took him by surprise.

With this year’s festival in full swing, and with his usual humor and good nature, Lyons relived it all for the Courier & Press.

‘Jackwagon’

“Watch my back, would you?” Lyons told a WFIE intern the next day.

He meant it as a joke, but with the memory of “deez” still fresh in his mind and another live shot looming for the 4:30 p.m. broadcast, he couldn’t be too careful. Along with a cameraman, they set up near a booth and Lyons launched into a soliloquy about corn fritters.

And that’s when the Jackwagon appeared.

In video later posted to Facebook, you can see a short bald man in a blue t-shirt enter frame and wander past, as though he’s innocently going about his day. Suddenly he leaps back in, his head pressed against Lyons’ right shoulder, and screams an obscene sexual phrase before running away.

Just like with the “deez” kid, Lyons wasn’t sure what happened at first. He wears an earpiece during live shots that funnels control room chatter straight into his brain, so it was hard for him to hear exactly what the man said. But he knew it was some kind of profanity: a huge no-no for broadcast television. Under the right circumstances, an F-bomb can bring a hefty FCC fine. (Luckily, the station avoided one.)

“I couldn’t tell where he was because I was looking forward,” Lyons said. “And I just instinctively whipped my elbow around. I thought, ‘Wouldn’t I like to get a piece of that.’ I missed him, thank God. The last thing I need is to beat somebody up at the Fall Festival. I’m supposed to be the friendly weatherman.”

Several responses popped into his head. But because he is the friendly weatherman, all the profane ones stayed inside. Instead, what flowed forth was a beautifully weird, G-rated insult that will probably follow Lyons for the rest of his life.

“Jackwagon,” he said.

The incident would have gone viral anyway, but the addition of “jackwagon” was kerosene on the flame.

“I’m thinking, ‘Well there probably aren’t a lot of people watching the 4 o’clock news. They’re down here,’" he said. “And before 5 o’clock … instantaneously there were screenshots and it blew up on the Internet.”

And nearly all the posts brimmed with love and support:

• “Handled like a pro. I want Jeff Lyons saying "jackwagon" tattooed on my brain.”

• “Poor Jeff Lyons can’t catch a break.”

• “Jeff Lyons at the Fall Festival throwin elbows! He's tired of y'all's s---.”

The support on the ground was just as fervent. Crews from Evansville’s other TV stations offered synpathy; then-Sheriff Dave Wedding and law enforcement “made a phalanx” around him; and a horde of West Side Nut Clubbers came to his defense.

“The Nut Club, they want a good event. It’s not the image they want. And man, they were hot about it,” he said. “Some guys came and said, ‘We’re going to find him.’ And I thought, ‘Boy, to be the Jackwagon. He doesn’t know what’s about to hit him.’”

Within days, local Etsy stores churned out “jackwagon” commemorative shirts and other merch. Assistant Police Chief Phil Smith even posted a picture of himself wearing a black tee with the new catchphrase emblazoned across the chest.

Lyons didn’t have anything to do with the capitalistic windfall. He just wanted to move on from back-to-back viral moments. After all, the “deez nuts” episode didn’t offend him. And as for the other guy, well, “I felt for the Jackwagon,” he said.

Eventually, they both messaged Lyons and apologized. He readily accepted.

‘I couldn’t ask for better treatment’

Of course, none of this was Lyons’ first rodeo.

The Evansville native started doing live remotes at the Fall Fest back in 1989. He’s had a grandmother tell him to “get the hell away from me.” He’s seen children drinking Ski out of baby bottles. He even lived through a truly unenthusiastic marriage proposal.

It was about 30 years ago, and a producer sent him to the festival and told him to go live around 10 p.m. Anyone who’s ever been to West Franklin knows that can be a bad idea. The festival gets weirder as the day goes on, and the people prowling the street after dark may or may not be fit for live television.

But the boss couldn’t be swayed, and before long a man approached Lyons and asked if they could film while he asked his girlfriend to marry him.

“I’m not gonna turn that down. That’s like catnip,” Lyons said. “But it was the funniest thing. He got down on his knee and everything and made his proposal, and she looked at him and just said, ‘Yeah.’ It was like, ‘Do you want another pronto pup?’ Yeah. ‘Do you want to get married?’ Yeah.

“No affect, nothing. You wonder if they’re still together today.”

If they are, they’ll find Lyons at the Fall Festival.

Despite the fracas in 2022, he’s down there again this year, doing what he always does. And he’ll carry even more history with him. The word he slung at the man who invaded his live shot – one he’s used around the house for years – has officially become part of the Fall Festival. The booth where the Nut Club sells half-pot tickets has been christened “The Jackwagon.”

But anyone looking to pull another stunt may have a tough time. Lyons said the Nut Club is keeping an eye on him, and he expects “more big straw hats in proximity whenever I’ve got that microphone out.”

It’s all part of an outpouring of support for the meteorologist who's only grown stronger as time goes on.

“I didn’t want to pitied, (but) it wasn’t pity. It was kind of like a parental or a bigger brother reaction. ‘Don’t mess with Jeff because we’ll beat you up,’” he said.

“… I’ve been around a long time and people almost universally are very kind to me. I couldn’t ask for better treatment. I didn’t realize people felt that strongly. I kind of think I would be something on TV in the background – the talking lamp. That was gratifying in a way.”

Contact Jon Webb at jon.webb@courierpress.com

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Evansville's Jeff Lyons went viral twice at last year's Fall Festival