If you can't get ratings with fake news try what CNN'S Don Lemon did--drunk on live TV!

For 364 days of the year he is the serious journalist host of CNN Tonight.

But On New Year's Eve, Don Lemon likes to let his (proverbial) hair down, and Saturday night was no exception.

The 50-year-old, who certainly does not look - or act - anywhere near that age, even got his ear pierced live on air.

For the second year running, #drunkdonlemon was trending on Twitter.

The New Years festivities saw a concurrent broadcast ringing in the new year across all of America's time zones, in New York, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

But all eyes were on New Orleans, where Lemon once again was not holding back on the alcohol, getting fully into the swing of the city.

As midnight approached in Louisiana, the host tweeted: #CNN producers & @brookebcnn trying to convince me to get a tattoo or a piercing of some sort. Should I? #cnnnye'And it wasn't an empty threat either, as he recruited a piercer shortly afterward to stick a needle through his earlobe live on television. 'If this hurts I'm going to be so mad,' he winced as co-host Brooke Baldwin gripped his hand tightly in support.

'Is your mother watching?,' she asked. 'I bet your mom is... Momma lemon, I don't know what he's thinking. At least it's just his ear, you know what I'm saying?'

'Don't get blood on the jacket... it has to go back to Burke's Brothers,' he pleaded before squealing in pain as he was brutally stabbed in the ear.

Twitter lit up with approval, with most agreeing #drunkdonlemon was the best of the New Year's Eve hosts.