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Cassoulet - Mystery Solved

November 10, 2008 4:44 PM

ABC News' Brian Hartman reports: Throughout ABC's election night coverage from New York, it was impossible to miss, amid shots of the boisterous crowd gathered in Times Square, a large banner emblazoned with the conundrum: "cassoulet."

One viewer wrote on the Dallas Morning News website, "That may well be the most confusing sign I have ever seen anywhere."

Heads also were scratching in ABC's election coverage studio.

"I want to know who 'cassoulet' is," George Stephanoulos said on-air to Charles Gibson just before a commercial break.

Many viewers were just as curious. Thousands logged onto the internet for answers, making "cassoulet" -- a French bean casserole -- one of the top 100 search terms on Google for Election Day.

The real answer, it turns out, appears to be that US election night was the backdrop for a French joke.

As seen in this video clip, a sound engineer for "Le Petit Journal" (The Little Journal), a comedy show that airs on the Canal + TV network, had been making the rounds of US live news broadcasts that day. Wherever Mathieu the engineer could find a camera, he would wave a sign with messages for his mother -- capping off the day with a massive banner that paid homage to her beloved cassoulet.