The city of PhiladelphiaBefore the retired All-Pro lineman drove around the city in his Eagles helmet automobile while wearing his Super Bowl parade Mummer’s costume, Jason Kelce chatted with the Linc, and the steel and concrete of the Philadelphia Eagles’ home stadium responded with a motivational speech. Before the first day of his new employment, he parked the modified golf cart and threw the keys in a ZZ Top fashion.
Then, at the beginning of his monologue, he used an expletive.
The most recent host to crash late-night television is a little more raw than the conventional suit-and-tie joke tellers, so roll out the Chug Machine, fly, F-bombs, fly, and save a seat for Sir Charles.
For the first of five episodes of They Call It Late Night with Jason Kelce on ESPN, Jason Kelce hosted a late-night party with his wife, parents, a Philly band, a fan with a Phillie Phanatic tattoo on his navel, and an unfiltered (at least on stage) take on sports.
Kelce is here!
Growing up, I like watching late-night TV, Kelce remarked.
Soon after, Kelce demonstrated that there was room for another JK. Late at night, Kelce vanished through a portal and entered Jimmy Kimmel’s office (without pants) to solicit hosting advice. He then moderated a loose panel of sports-related topics featuring NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger, rapper and actor Lil Dicky, and Charles Barkley.
Additionally, Kelce claimed that Kimmel gave him practical advice on the art of hosting.
According to Kelce, he sat me down and thoroughly discussed a few things that he believed might hasten this process for me.
During commercial breaks, Kelce joked around with the guests and fielded questions from a handful of the roughly 300 fans in attendance. The retired celebrity joked, “I don’t go into New Jersey,” in response to a New Jersey fan’s invitation to his wedding.
Caleb Tinley, a Penn State student and Eagles supporter, found out just two days prior that he had been chosen at random to receive two complimentary tickets and that he had to wait until noon to secure a good seat for the taping. He thought the TV show was as near to the New Heights podcast, which he enjoys listening to and co-hosts with his brother, Travis Kelce, a tight end with the Kansas City Chiefs, as he could.
According to Tinley, he has been a Philadelphia legend ever since he gave that speech in the Super Bowl.
After 13 years of playing exclusively for the Eagles, 37-year-old Kelce announced his retirement in March, and since then, his prominence has grown significantly. In addition to hosting the podcast, the Super Bowl champion has become a prodigious salesman, peddling everything from soup to chicken wings, laundry detergent to cereal, hoagies, and his own beer brand.
What was another job for Kelce, who was already very visible on social media and television?
Thus, Late Night came into being.
Kelce already makes an appearance on ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown show and is in the first year of a multiyear contract with the network. Although he did don his Cleveland Heights letterman’s blazer, the retired center’s appearance on a late-night mainstay like a talk show looked like a logical progression of his expanding entertainment career.
The title of the show is a reference to the 1967 full-length NFL film They Call It Pro Football. Ed and Steve Sabol, the founders of NFL Films, are inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The film was first produced in Philadelphia. Additionally, it contained John Facenda’s voice, which Kelce and his panel mimicked on the show as they presented current NFL highlights.
“I felt that we wanted to make a show that celebrated the NFL landscape, so I knew I wanted NFL Films,” Kelce said. not only from players and games that are now playing, but also from players and games from the past. former commentators. NFL supporters and the NFL subculture. Our goal was to produce a program that truly incorporated all of that.
The music was from Snacktime, a band from Philadelphia. As the foul-mouthed sidekick from her position in Kylie’s Korner, Kylie Kelce just overtook Joe Rogan as the top podcast on the Spotify charts.
As he switched from talking in the locker room to cable television, Kelce’s profanity in the monologue wasn’t a passing epiphany. In an attempt to make their relationship seem as genuine in the studio as it is at home—where they have three girls and are expecting a fourth this year—Kelce and his wife interspersed their chats with profanity. After all, it is late at night.
After the performance, Kelce stated, “We really wanted the language to be real and authentic.” To sort of prepare the audience for what to anticipate, we went a touch overboard today. The F-bombs, I believe, were the one instance when I was advised, “Listen, we want to give you range to be who you are, but we might want to be a little cautious there.”
In front of a live crowd at the Union Transfer concert venue in Philadelphia, the first one-hour Late Night edition was recorded on Friday. The show will tape over the next four Friday nights after airing on ESPN at 1 a.m. EST. The schedule falls during the final week of the NFL playoffs and regular season.
In an attempt to prevent Kelce from smashing them like he did in a viral moment at Penn State, comedian Seth Herzog warmed up the audience by making jokes about the event’s no-phones ban.
Barkley played to the crowd when he predicted the Eagles would win the Super Bowl, but the real Kelce stated he wanted a show that would appeal to fans across the country. The Philly slant was unmistakable; they even filmed a scene in which a female fan spit hoagie bites into the mouth of, well, Jason Kelce from the future.
ESPN has not promised anything beyond the limited run, smash hit or not.
“I think everyone was on board to experiment and see what happens,” Kelce said, adding that our main goal was to do something enjoyable. I do believe that this is possible, particularly during the football season.
Following a skit with his parents, Ed and Donna, a celebration with the fastest beer-guzzling winner, and a cold one at the bar with legendary Eagles player Harold Carmichael, Kelce dissected the show in the same manner that an Eagles player would in the locker room after a game.
“Game day,” Kelce declared. Like a game, lots of mistakes. There’s a lot to tidy up. But I’m really pleased with how it turned out.
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