Will Ferrell and Molly Shannon, In Character As Cheesy Local TV Hosts, To Cover Rose Parade Live For Amazon

A New Year's Day tradition just got a new and silly twist, as Amazon hires "Cord Hosenbeck" and "Tish Cattigan" to cover the parade.

Will Ferrell and Molly Shannon’s upcoming collaboration for Amazon and Funny or Die might be one of the holiday season’s funniest media experiments. The duo, in character as local Los Angeles broadcasters “Cord Hosenbeck and Tish Cattigan,” will host a live broadcast of the 2018 Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day for the streaming platform.

As announced by Amazon in an impressively sneaky press release on Wednesday, “Cord Hosenbeck and Tish Cattigan are no strangers to the Rose Bowl, having covered the event for the past 25 years. However, their move this year to Amazon from a local station will allow their fans from around the world to stream the event live.”

No network has exclusive TV rights to the Rose Parade, which is why Amazon will be able to join the other broadcasters carrying it on New Year’s Day. The characters of Cord and Tish might be an homage to local Los Angeles commentators Bob Eubanks and Stephanie Edwards, who covered the Rose Parade on KTLA for years, before retiring in 2016. Eubanks and Edwards’ coverage dominated local Los Angeles ratings on New Years Day, as viewers tuned in for their banter — which sometimes bordered on passive aggressive bickering.

A Funny or Die representative has confirmed that Shannon and Ferrell, who collaborated together as “Saturday Night Live” castmates from 1995-2001, will actually be commentating/improvising live during the morning’s broadcast.

If you were wondering who “Cord Hosenbeck” might be and turned to Google for the answers, you may have discovered Cord’s official website, an impressively deep tie-in showcasing Cord’s many talents. (Tish doesn’t appear to have one.) The project appears to have sponsorship tie-in with Wix.com, showcased specifically by Cord Hosenbeck’s official website, which not only features prominent Wix branding but a video spot featuring Farrell in character, using the service to build his website.

“The 2018 Rose Parade Hosted by Cord & Tish” will stream live on Amazon Prime Video on New Year’s Day, Monday, January 1, 2018 at 8:00am PT / 11:00am ET. Check out “Cord” and “Tish” announcing the special in the announcement below.