Watch Foo Fighters’ Homage to Jim Vance

Jim Vance’s departure from WRC’s 11 PM news broadcast isn’t just a blow for local fans of Washington’s favorite newscaster. Even high-profile expats are mourning the fact that the 73-year-old is stepping away from the late local news, as evidenced by the latest promo for Foo Fighters’ July 4 concert at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium.

The ad, which the band posted on YouTube Thursday evening, features a yokel in a Baltimore Orioles cap watching television on his couch and talking to a “hon” at the Road Ducks reunion. The screen in the video shows a classic Vance moment from 2008, in which he closed out a 6 PM broadcast with a clip from Paris Fashion Week in which a runway model stumbles twice, prompting Vance and George Michael to burst into on-air hysterics. The clip has enjoyed a long run as a viral video and frequently turns up in the top search results for either Vance or “news anchor can’t stop laughing.”

The Foo Fighters ad, which is titled “Jim Vance, we’re gonna miss you,” ends by purportedly cutting into the klutzy model’s reaction to the stumble, except in this shot, the model is replaced by former Springfield resident Dave Grohl, who appears in a blonde wig and tear-streaked makeup before the frame freezes with details for the concert.

Grohl’s tears might be a bit premature. Vance isn’t retiring in full. While his longtime chair at 11 PM will be filled by Jim Handly, Vance plans to stick around on News4’s 6 PM broadcast until his contract runs out in 2017.

Benjamin Freed

Staff Writer

Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.