Love him or hate him, Carl Azuz has punned his way onto campus and is here to stay.
It’s 8:25 AM, and all Calvert Hall students are in their homerooms awaiting the morning news. Suddenly the intro plays, and two anchors show up on the screen, prompting the students to stand for the prayer and the pledge. Once through the introductions, the anchors run through the Bulletin, highlighting important announcements and sporting events, and then it’s all over. But about 4 minutes later, another intro plays and another face pops up on the screen: it’s Carl Azuz, anchor of CNN 10.
His appearance receives a variety of reactions from the students and staff, mostly ranging from lukewarm to unenthusiastic. While Azuz’s reporting itself is top-notch, with his ability to generate in-depth summaries on a variety of stories, the last minutes of the program are what viewers despise because Azuz uses that time to express some humor. His puns, in specific, are what people don’t look forward to. The most common reaction they evoke is a mixture of wincing and cringing, only adding to the students’ tiresome morning. After witnessing one of the puns, Senior Nathan Valencia of CHC-TV remarked: “that one hurt me on a personal level.”
The history of puns on CNN 10 goes back to when Carl was a writer for the show and decided to write a dog pun for the end of the newscast. When asked about this pun, he remarked “Now I know a lot of people would groan at that, it was pretty punful for the anchor to answer, but it got such a strong response that it became a part of the show,” indicating that he knew about his puns’ reputation. After becoming the anchor of CNN 10, the writer who replaced Azuz carried on the pun precedent, making Azuz the bringer of puns for CNN 10.
In terms of the filming for CNN 10, the production crew typically records the show the night before it is launched on the website, sometimes as early as 8:31. Azuz notes that “The time varies. Sometimes, we’ll record later if there’s a lot of breaking news,” but working only at night is a good deal, considering the salary he earns. Mr. Knight, moderator of CHC-TV estimates that “he earns 6 figures a year to be a meme,” and he is not far off. The website Heightline reports that Azuz’s annual salary is $200,000, with a net worth of $2 million. That’s good money.
In all, Azuz has a job that pays quite a bit for just scriptwriting and reporting. His main talent, the art of the pun, has made him both a disliked figure among most students and an admirable figure to people such as Mr. Knight. No matter the opinion people have about him, though, he will always be peddling puns whenever CNN 10 airs, making himself a monumental member of a mostly mundane morning. No pun intended.