PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jason Kelce chatted with the Linc — yes, the concrete and steel of the Philadelphia Eagles stadium answered him with a pep talk — before the All-Pro lineman at the retiree drives around town in his Eagles helmet car while dressed. in his Mummer costume from the Super Bowl parade. He parked the souped-up golf cart and tossed the keys ZZ Top style before the first day of his new job.
He then threw a profanity at the start of his monologue.
Deploy The Chug Machine, fly, F-bombs, fly and save a seat for Sir Charles, because the latest host to crash late-night television is a little cruder than the traditional suit-and-tie joke tellers.
Jason Kelce threw a late-night party — and he brought his wife, his parents, a fan with a Phillie Phanatic tattoo inked on his belly button, a Philly band, and an uncensored (at least on stage) view of the sport for the first of five episodes of “They Call It Late Night with Jason Kelce” on ESPN.
This is Kelce!
“I loved watching late night TV growing up,” Kelce said.
Kelce quickly proved there was room for another late-night JK – Kelce disappeared into a portal where he entered Jimmy Kimmel’s (pantless) office to ask for hosting advice – and moderated a sports topics panel with guests Charles Barkley, rapper and actor Lil Dicky and NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger.
And Kelce said he got some real advice from Kimmel on the art of hosting.
“He sat me down and really explained some things to me that he thought would speed up this process for me,” Kelce said.
Kelce joked with guests during commercial breaks and answered questions from some 300 fans in the audience. When a New Jersey fan invited Kelce to his wedding, the retired star joked, “I’m not going to New Jersey.”
Caleb Tinley, an Eagles fan and Penn State student, learned only two days earlier that he had been randomly selected for a pair of free tickets and was the first in line around noon to get a good one. place for recording. He’s a fan of the “New Heights” podcast that Kelce co-hosts with his brother, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, and thought the TV show was as close to that experience as possible.
“Since he gave that speech at the Super Bowl, he has become a Philadelphia legend,” Tinley said.
Kelce, 37 – who retired in March after a 13-year career spent entirely with the Eagles – saw his profile soar in retirement. The Super Bowl winner once hosted the podcast, but has become a prolific pitchman selling everything from chicken wings to soup, laundry detergent, cereal, hoagies and his own brewery.
Kelce was already omnipresent on television and social media, so what’s one more job to add to his resume?
This is how “Late Night” was born.
Kelce is in the first year of a multi-year deal with ESPN and already appears on the network’s “Monday Night Countdown.” The retired center taking center stage on a late-night staple like a talk show — no Letterman, although he wore his Cleveland Heights letterman jacket — seemed a natural extension of his profile growing entertainment.
The show’s title is an homage to “They Call It Pro Football,” which was NFL Films’ first feature film in 1967. NFL Films hails from Philadelphia and its founders Ed and Steve Sabol are members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It also featured the voice of John Facenda, whose tone was mimicked on the show by Kelce and his panel as they recounted modern NFL highlights.
“I knew I wanted NFL Films because I felt like we wanted to make a show that celebrated the NFL landscape,” Kelce said. “Not just current players and current games, but past games and past players. Former advertisers. NFL Fans and NFL Subculture. We wanted to create a show that really encompasses all of that.
Philadelphia-based band Snacktime provided the music. Kylie Kelce, who just dethroned Joe Rogan as the No. 1 podcast on the Spotify charts, served as a foul-mouthed companion from her perch on “Kylie’s Korner.”
Kelce’s swearing in the monologue wasn’t a momentary brain cramp as he switched from locker room discussions to cable television. Kelce and his wife peppered their conversations with profanity — it’s late at night, after all — and tried to make the relationship as real in the studio as it is at home, where the couple is raising three daughters, a fourth of whom is expected this year.
“We really wanted the language to be real and authentic to me,” Kelce said after the show. “We overdid it a little bit today to prepare the crowd for what to expect. I think the F-bombs are the one thing where I’ve been told that we might want to be a little careful there, but look, we want to give you the opportunity to be who you are.
The first hour-long “Late Night” episode was taped Friday in front of a live audience at Philadelphia’s Union Transfer concert hall. The show aired at 1 a.m. ET on ESPN and will be taped the next four Friday nights. The schedule coincides with the final week of the NFL regular season and the playoffs.
Comedian Seth Herzog warmed up the crowd and joked that the event had a no-phone policy, so Kelce wouldn’t crush them like he did during a viral moment at Penn State.
Philly’s tilt couldn’t be missed – they filmed a bit where a female fan spit mouthfuls of hoagie into the mouth of, well, Jason Kelce of the future, and Barkley played to the crowd when he singled the Eagles to win the Super. Bowl – but the real Kelce said he wanted a show that would please fans across the country.
Smash hit or not, ESPN isn’t promising anything beyond the limited broadcast.
“We really wanted to try something fun and I think everyone was on board with experimenting and seeing what happens,” Kelce said. “I think there’s room for that, especially during football season.”
After Kelce participated in a skit with his parents Ed and Donna, celebrated with a fastest beer-drinking winner, and shared a cold drink at the bar with Eagles great Harold Carmichael, he split the show the same way that he would do it as an Eagles player in the post-game locker room.
“It’s game day,” Kelce said. “Lots of mistakes, just like a game. Lots of things to clean up.” But I’m so happy with how it turned out.