The Guinness World Record for longest uninterrupted live weather report now belongs to “Today” show meteorologist Al Roker, who hit 34 hours of forecasting on Friday morning. Visibly tired and with his voice nearly gone, Roker was presented with his official plaque as his co-anchors celebrated by his side.
Roker made a point to thank all of his colleagues behind the camera who were also involved in what was dubbed #rokerthon on Twitter.
“Actually, I had nothing to do with it,” Roker said about how hard his supporting crew worked. “What makes this show so great is, it is truly a team.”
In addition to breaking the previous record, Roker’s nonstop forecasting raised nearly $70,000 for the USO through a Crowdrise campaign.
During his 34 hours on the air, Roker was visited by several Hollywood guests and well-wishers, including Alan Alda, Candice Bergen, Aaron Sorkin, former “GMA” weatherman Sam Champion, Jeff Dunham, Nick Lachey, and Roker’s wife Deborah Roberts. Matt Lauer, who was not there to congratulate Roker in person, called into the show shortly after the record was broken to talk to the new champ.
“You sound like Harvey Fierstein,” Lauer said.
Roker’s weather report began on Wednesday night at 10:05 p.m. and ended just after 8 a.m. ET on Friday. In order to officially break the record, Roker had to follow a set of rules outlined by Guinness which included: talking only about the current weather, weather seven days in the past or seven days in the future, only taking a five-minute break for every 60 minutes completed, and having two independent witnesses there at all times.
Watch the video of Al Roker breaking the record above.
