Anchorman fans in the Bismarck, North Dakota area were sure in for a surprise when Will Ferrell joined the local newscast in character as Ron Burgundy. Ferrell participated in the evening broadcast on Saturday night and interestingly enough, it wasn’t originally announced that he was in character. So, some viewers thought their weekend newscast had picked up a new (and rather odd) co-anchor while others were left wondering whether the new guy really was Will Ferrell.

Ferrell’s new movie, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues will hit theaters December 18, a little less than 10 years after the first film was released. Ferrell has been doing a lot to promote the movie so far, including filming several commercials in character as Ron Burgundy for Chrysler. And just like the Chrysler commercials, Ferrell didn’t receive any payment for his part in the newscast–the promotion was compensation enough.

According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Ferrell’s agent approached KXMB over the summer about appearing in character as Ron Burgundy during a newscast. Weekend anchor Amber Schatz said she was thrilled to get to work with Will Ferrell/Ron Burgundy as she had watched Anchorman about 30 times. Not surprisingly, Schatz had a tough time pulling off the newscast since she wanted to laugh at every other line that came out of Burgundy’s mouth.

“The second he said, ‘Good evening, I’m Ron Burgundy,’ I lost it,” Schatz said. “It was really hard not to laugh.”

If you have some time to kill, watch the entire 30 minute broadcast below.

While Ferrell did the newscast straight for the most part, he did get in a few lines that you’ll find hilarious, especially if you’re a big Anchorman fan. After a commercial break, Ferrell told his co-anchor “Amber, you look lovely tonight” and then asked if she was married. Schatz told him she wasn’t and Ferrell responded with “Well I am, so don’t get any ideas.” The only bad part of the newscast was that Ferrell didn’t manage to get in a “Stay class, Bismarck” on air before the end.

As you can see from the Twitter comments below, Anchorman fans are loving Will Ferrell’s newscast.

It is my dream to host a newscast with @RonBurgundy. Very jealous of those anchors that got to!!

— Kristen Reeves (@Kristen_Reeves) December 2, 2013

SO. FUNNY!! RT @wmbfnews: Ron Burgundy co-anchored a real TV newscast – watch it here: http://t.co/YUHVXHsFvw pic.twitter.com/NDvMYJ9QtC

— Laura Phelps (@queenofwrap) December 2, 2013

[Image via YouTube]