Michael E. "Mike" Randall (born c. 1953) is an American actor, meteorologist and reporter from Buffalo, New York. He is best known for his long run on WKBW-TV, where he has been since 1983 and has been the chief meteorologist since 1999.
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Randall holds seals of approval from the National Weather Association (seal #9708542, which he has held since at least the early 1990s)[1] and the American Meteorological Society (seal #1558, which he earned some time in the 2000s).[2] His meteorology education comes from Mississippi State University's Broadcast Meteorology Program, while his broadcasting education was obtained from Onondaga Community College.
Prior to 1983, Randall worked at WFSB in Hartford and WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, as well as a brief stint as a commercial spokesman for the New York Lottery in 1978.
Randall joined WKBW-TV in 1983 as a feature reporter. In 1989, Randall was paired with Ann Edwards to host Good Morning Western New York, the first morning newscast in the Buffalo market, with Randall assigned weather presenting duties as well as co-hosting duties. Randall became a bona fide meteorologist shortly thereafter; he became the third true meteorologist in the Buffalo market (after WIVB-TV's Don Paul and Mike Cejka). From 1992 through 1993, Randall was named "commander" of the children's television program Rocketship 7. Upon the retirement of Tom Jolls in 1999, Randall was named chief meteorologist and moved to the station's evening newscasts. He was moved back to mornings in 2009 in an effort to revive the ratings of Good Morning Western New York.
Randall is known as a character actor performing primarily in one-man shows. His best known impersonations are those of 19th century authors Mark Twain and Charles Dickens. The Twain performances are known as Mark Twain Live! As Dickens, Randall traditionally recites the book A Christmas Carol as Dickens used to do on stage during his lifetime.[3][4][5][6][7] He holds a degree in theater from the State University of New York at Geneseo.[8]
In 1975, Hal Holbrook, the creator of Mark Twain Tonight, filed a lawsuit against the then-22 year old Randall alleging that Randall had plagiarized Holbrook's work. The two reached a settlement stating that Randall could not use any of Holbrook's work in future productions, but that Randall could continue impersonating Twain.[9]