Will Ferrell & The Channel 4 News Team

"The Channel 4 News Team" is Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell and David Koechner (in character as Ron Burgundy, Brian Fantana, Brick Tamland, and Champ Kind, respectively).

Ron Burgundy, (played by Will Ferrell), a five-time Emmy award-winning journalist, is the main anchor for the KVWN Channel Four News Team. Ron Burgundy has suits so fine that it would make Sinatra look like a hobo. Always confident, he is nevertheless ignorant, egotistical, and not very intelligent (he believes "diversity" is "an old, old wooden ship used during the Civil War era" and that "San Diego" is a German phrase for "a whale's vagina") but also remains the rock for the entire group. He develops an infatuation with newcomer Veronica Corningstone, initially having trouble wooing her with tried and true measures that allegedly won him many bimbo-type women in the past. He has a great fondness for scotch whisky and his pet dog Baxter, and can play the jazz flute.

Brian Fantana, (played by Paul Rudd), is a lustful field reporter for the Channel Four News Team. He absurdly overestimates his personal qualities. For example, he wears a cologne called "Sex Panther," which his friend Burgundy describes as smelling of "pure gasoline" and other coworkers describe it as smelling like "Bigfoot's dick", a "used diaper filled with Indian food", "a turd covered in burnt hair" and numerous other negative associations. Fantana nonetheless believes it to be a powerful aphrodisiac, stating "60% of the time, it works every time". Adam McKay comments on the DVD that though Fantana fancies himself as something of a ladies man, he has in fact never slept with a woman. At the end of the film, it is explained that he goes on to host the Fox Network's Intercourse Island. He reveals at the beginning of the film that his penis is called The Octagon, and his testicles are James Westfall and Dr. Kenneth Noisewater. Fantana considers himself the stylish one of the group.

Champ Kind, (played by David Koechner), is the southern sportscaster for the Channel Four News Team. He vehemently opposes the adoption of co-anchor Veronica Corningstone, asserting, "It is anchorman, not anchorlady, and that is a scientific fact!" At the end of the film, it is declared that Kind, whose signature catchphrase is "Whammy!", became an NFL commentator, but ended up being fired after being accused of sexual harassment by Terry Bradshaw. Champ is a stocky, balding man who always wears a ten-gallon hat.

Brick Tamland, (played by Steve Carell), is Channel Four's weatherman, He has an IQ of 48, and has a habit of stating unrequested or irrelevant information, such as how he likes to eat ice cream, that he enjoys a nice pair of slacks, and that he thinks that women's periods attract bears because "the bears can smell the menstruation". His condition is the source of much of the film's comedy, especially in the anchorman battle mid-point in the movie, wherein he inexplicably produces a hand grenade that he cannot remember acquiring (see left) and murders a rival by throwing a trident (During a summary of the battle, he says, "There were horses and a man on fire, and I killed a guy with a trident!"). He is treated as something of a mascot by the rest of the people who work at Channel Four, and in many ways, his personality is dog-like: not bright, but good hearted and loyal. Much of the time, the group has to watch their friend as if they were watching a child. At the end of the film, it is explained that Tamland married, had eleven children, and became a top political advisor to President George W. Bush.