There hasn't been a media circus like it since the panda Ling Wong gave birth in the first Anchorman movie.
Last night, a similar melee ensued when Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner, Steve Carell and director Adam McKay arrived on O'Connell Street to attend the Irish premiere of Anchorman 2 at the Savoy cinema.
It has been nearly a decade since the previous outing, which followed Ron Burgundy, a 1970s news man, through news-team street fights, a cappella renditions of Afternoon Delight and a sex-scene depicted as a magical unicorn ride.
When it was first released it was a modest, absurdist success, but it has grown hugely in popularity since.
At the Savoy, its many devotees are out in force. They wear Burgundy moustaches and wave signs paraphrasing the film: “I love Paul Rudd and lamp,” reads one.
A man dressed as David Koechner's character says he quotes the movie 10 times a day. Irish "anchor man" Aengus Mac Grianna tells me that Anchorman reminds him of RTÉ in the 1980s. Matt Cooper claims to be in "a glass box of emotion".
Suddenly all is still. Seasoned celebrity journalists sniff the air like hunters. "Will Ferrell is near," hisses one. The crowd shriek. The stars are funnelled towards hungry journalists. It's like the street fight from Anchorman itself, as journalists vie for territory and snaffle up soundbites.
Paul Rudd tells me that his father was a Titanic scholar and that he's been to Ireland 10 times. "It's my favourite place on Earth," he says.
Will Ferrell has also been here often. “Specifically here on the sidewalk,” he says. “I had a lot of meals at [he names a restaurant].” You like it? “I got food poisoning 11 times but I keep coming back,” he says. “I don’t know why.”
Why has the first film become so popular? “We’re just such good actors,” says Ferrell modestly.
“It’s emblematic of the character flaws in all of us,” says Koechner.
“Over the years on cable and DVDs it kind of found an audience,” says Steve Carell. “A lot of people took ownership of it.”
“My theory,” says Adam McKay, “is that countries that have been fed a line of BS at some point in their history know when someone is full of it. Ron Burgundy is totally full of it and the Irish know that.”
