Laura Palka
Anchor/Reporter/Actor
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If you’re watching The Outsider on HBO, you know there are very few moments of comfort. So, it felt like a reprieve to see a familiar face pop up as a reporter at the beginning of the second episode — Laura Palka, host of the “The Daily Two” on WSOC/WAXN-TV. Laura’s been a familiar face on Queen City screens for years, but now she’s added acting to her resume, appearing in Homeland, The Red Road, Rectify, Powers, Good Behavior and the feature film Masterminds, about the famous Loomis Fargo bank heist from a few years ago.

After we recovered from watching this week’s episode of The Outsider, we reached out to this reporter, field hockey/dance mom and self-confessed British royalty buff.

Laura graciously reached back out, we used our precious time to ask this Charlotte media legend five ridiculous questions:

Did you wait to move to Charlotte after New Year’s Eve 2000 because you wanted to see if Charlotte was still standing after the Y2K bug destroyed the city?
Ha! No, I moved here when I got a job offer from WSOC-TV to anchor the weekend news. I wanted to live close to work, but in 2000 there were no condos or apartments built Uptown yet. Crazy, right?

Canada already seems to be sick of Megan and Harry. As CLT’s most prominent “Royal-phile,” you’re in charge of getting them to move here. What’s your 15-word pitch?
The Queen City will treat you like royalty and with much better weather. (Plus, we have several daily nonstop flights to London if you get homesick.)

As a Wayne State grad, who would you rather interview, Wayne Brady or Wayne Knight (Newman from Seinfeld)?
Definitely Wayne Brady. Hosting the “Let’s Make a Deal” is much harder than it looks because you have to expect the unexpected. I’m sure he has some wacky stories to tell.

Okay, you’re in the truth business, level with us. Did Captain James Jack carry the Meck Deck to Philly or not?
No clue! But I do know the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence happened on my birthday – May 20th, because it says so on our state flag.

Please complete this sentence: “When my kids see me on TV, they …”
When my kids see me on TV, they used to ask how mommy got in the box. Now, they are too busy looking at their phones.

And, one to grow on …

Of all the “fake” news stories you’ve reported on in movies and TV, which one do you wish was real?
While most scripts are fictional stories, the Masterminds Loomis Fargo heist fiasco was true, which made it that much funnier. Dumb criminals are always funny.