Travis Kelce is one of the best tight ends in history, but that’s not his only talent. The Kansas City Chiefs star has a role in the upcoming Adam Sandler movie Happy Gilmore 2 and hosted the first season of the game show “Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?” on Amazon Prime Video.
He also hosted an episode of “Saturday Night Live” in 2023, and while he largely impressed, the three-time Super Bowl champion found the most challenging part of the production even before the audience had filled in.
Travis Kelce Reveals Surprising Reason Behind the Part He Found the Hardest on His SNL Debut
Kelce was the host of the March 4, 2023, episode and said it was “fun” working with longtime head writer Kent Sublette and cast members like Michael Che and Colin Jost.
“The writer’s room was fun because you’re just getting pitched ideas,” he said during an interview on the Bussin’ With The Boys.
However, when it came to executing those ideas, particularly the table reading, Kelce found it the hardest. The reason? He couldn’t read.
“The table reading, for a guy that can’t really read that well, it was kind of a f—ed situation,” Kelce shared. “I felt like I was just trying to get through the reading instead of acting it out, and giving it a voice, and giving it a character, and things like that. I was just focused on, ‘Don’t f—ing skip this line, you know what I mean.”
Kelce went on to add he was an “audio” guy and termed the table read “the hardest f—ing part” of the whole experience.
However, he eventually aced it as the host and did the table read without flubbing a line. The tight end turned out to be a successful host, and here’s what he went on to say later in one of his monologues:
“If you don’t know, I just won my second Super Bowl, which was amazing. But hosting SNL is that much better, baby.”
Recalling his overall experience on the show during the podcast, Kelce admitted he didn’t want to come out as a loser to the fellow participants, but didn’t want to stop himself from having fun as well.
“I want to have fun doing it, but I don’t want to look like a loser doing this. I want to make them respect my approach and how I’m taking it serious,” he said. “But it was just a fun roller coaster. You’re there all week, fucking up till 2, 3 in the morning every day just trying to knock stuff out, do some of the prerecorded stuff.”
The four-time All-Pro also revealed he found doing comedy a little easier than acting, but he is nevertheless a good actor. His performance in “Happy Gilmore 2” was called “surprisingly good” by famous actor Christopher McDonald, and if you want to watch it yourself, it’s hitting Netflix on July 25.
Meanwhile, on the football field, Kelce will hit the Chiefs’ training camp on July 22. He is coming off a down year in 2024, and there were rumors of his retirement swirling during the offseason, but the tight end is determined to get back to his productive self this upcoming season.