Travis Kelce Reveals the “Hardest Part” of His ‘SNL’ Hosting Debut Was Actually the Table Read

· Cosmopolitan

When Taylor Swift said, “[He knows] how to ball, I know Aristotle” about her relationship with Travis Kelce, she may have made some points. The Kansas City tight end echoed her sentiment during an interview on the Bussin’ With the Boys podcast, where he reflected on his Saturday Night Live hosting debut in March 2023.

While he said being in the famous writers’ room was “fun because you’re just getting pitched ideas,” the star athlete also admitted that the table read was the most challenging part of the gig.

“For a guy that can’t really read that well, it was kind of a fucking situation,” he said on the July 1 episode. “I felt like I was just trying to get through the reading instead of actually acting it out and giving it a voice and giving it a character and things like that. Like, I was just focused on, ‘Don’t fucking skip this line.’”

Travis also shared that he feels “much more comfortable” in the comedy realm than he does working on scripted gigs, like Ryan Murphy’s Grotesquerie with Niecy Nash-Betts. Still, he kept things “professional” in Studio 8H, as he didn’t want the SNL cast and crew to think he was “taking advantage” of hosting.

NBC//Getty ImagesTravis Kelce performing in a March 2023 SNL sketch.

“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.”

Thankfully, Travis is headed back to comedy territory with his upcoming cameo in Adam Sandler’s Happy Gilmore 2, which hits Netflix on July 25.

Christopher McDonald, who played Shooter in the original 1996 film and stars alongside Travis in the highly anticipated sequel, recently praised the athlete’s “surprisingly good” performance.

“Travis Kelce has been out there, and I just really liked him as a person. He is really funny. Way too handsome, by the way, but really a good actor actually,” he told People.

Good to know he’s found his groove!