Who deserves last laugh over anchor's blooper clip?

Boston TV anchor Jonathan Elias thinks it's time we know the real story behind that Hall of Fame TV Blooper from his WCCO-TV days.

Elias claims it was all the fault of meteorologist Rebecca Kolls, who graciously describes herself as a "multimedia maven who doesn't lie." She vigorously disputes the version of reality I got from Elias and WCCO anchor Don Shelby, who kind of blames Rebecca -- although Jonathan says Don had a role in it.

A few years ago, Elias was reading a serious news story that included footage of a man with large pecs that looked like breasts, aka moobs. Elias descended into giggles. That clip was replayed at the 2008 Upper Midwest Emmy Awards during the annual blooper reel. You can see it, apologies about the sound quality, at startribune.com/video (click on entertainment). Elias' colleagues at Boston's WBZ-TV tipped off Jonathan that his blooper was subject of new chatter in Minnesota.

"You know it's funny," he told me. "When people ask you about screw-ups in your career, I've probably got about five. This one is definitely one on the list."

But there's a "back story," Elias said. "Rebecca Kolls and Don Shelby were both laughing out loud and doing things to bust me up. It was so funny. Rebecca, who could make a sailor blush, walked by when she heard that story and then saw the video. ..." Off camera "Rebecca is making an obscene gesture, laughing her butt off. Shelby slaps his knee, laughing but not laughing. I'm thinking, 'I'm not going to hold it together.' It worked."

Shelby told me: "There is no question I was laughing out loud very loud, but I was laughing at Rebecca. I didn't even see what was on television. I was not in the vicinity of Jonathan, but Rebecca was breaking up and the louder she laughed, the louder I laughed. Therefore, it's all her fault! But yes, I contributed to it."

The woman from rebeccakolls.com said: "Jonathan Elias, what a liar he is. I'm not kidding. I remember that day like yesterday. I was BACK IN THE WEATHER DEPARTMENT; granted, it was right behind the [news] set. When he was reading that -- it did tickle my funny bone and I did laugh out loud hard and he heard me and that's what started his giggling. But I swear to you, I never went out to the set and did anything."

Still, this is a two-against-one situation. "Listen, these guys, they're after me after the years of torture I inflicted on them when I sat on the set," said Kolls, whose response to my first phone call was to call Elias to ask what exactly he'd told me.

"Can't we let old wounds heal?" said Kolls, sounding like Rodney King.

Later in the day, Kolls left a voice mail saying that Brian Jarvis, a former WCCO weather producer, was at her house dining on "a moose burrito, I kid you not, and I mentioned to him that I had just talked to Elias. And [Jarvis] said, Remember that day you were in the weather department and you laughed out loud and that's what made him continue laughing? I never went out to the set. I've got proof now!"

Jarvis remembered hearing Elias "starting to spin out of control" and hearing "Rebecca laughing; you can hear her voice a mile away. The way I recall it, she was inside the weather center laughing at the story. I didn't see her encouraging him. I kind of trust her version of it, just because I know her."

Said Elias: "There are times I miss the WCCO of old. What a great place to work."

"I'm doing great. ... The family [wife Holly, kids Taylor, 13, and Cole, 11] has adjusted to the East Coast and the winters are mild. Funny thing, when folks here tried to tell me what to brace for when it comes to weather, I would say, 'At least you stay in positive numbers because when I lived in Minneapolis things got a bit chilly.'"

One constant source of heat in Jonathan's world is his physique. It's no home for moobs. "It's my church. I go to the gym every day," said Elias.

Another question on Elias' mind was whether I've heard from Brad Goode, or as I prefer to memorialize him, Brad Goodelookin'. Elias said they had lost touch, but last he heard Goodelookin' was in Seattle and starting a family.

Kolls added: "Oh! I just saw Brad in Seattle. He's married with children and happily. He even said, 'How's C.J.?' And we talked about you calling him Brad Goodelookin.'"

An anatomy of a blooper and a trip down Memory Lane for readers who've asked about Elias, Goodelookin' and Kolls.