When he appeared as a guest host on Saturday Night Live back in March, Travis Kelce not only fulfilled a lifelong ambition of featuring on the comedy show.
As well as capturing that childhood dream, Kelce also completed a strategic three-year scheme engineered by both the Kansas City star and his agents to get him on SNL. In an interview with twin brothers and managers Aaron and Andre Eanes, who have represented Travis over the past decade, The New York Times revealed the masterplan behind Kelce’s hosting spot earlier this year.
Having ended his reality TV dating show ‘Catching Kelce’ after just one season, Kelce, a lifelong comedy fan, set his managers the challenging task of arranging a guest appearance on SNL. Aaron Eanes is said to have initially reached out to the show’s producers during the 2020 NFL season, only for their response to prove ‘lukewarm at best’. However, it was Kelce himself who set the wheels in motion for his eventual host spot when he crossed paths with SNL creator and producer Lorne Michaels at one of the show’s New York City afterparties in October 2021.
The Chiefs tight end proceeded to ‘chatting up’ Michaels at the party and is understood to have left a lasting impression on the SNL boss, a move which ultimately paid dividends. The day after he clinched a second Super Bowl crown in February of this year, Kelce’s management received a call from SNL inviting him onto the show. Less than a month after lifting the Vince Lombardi trophy, Travis choked up during his opening monologue after inviting his brother Jason and parents Donna and Ed along to the broadcast.
Since that debut hosting appearance, Kelce has reached even loftier levels of fame after striking up a romance with pop sensation Taylor Swift in September. The loved-up couple also made brief cameos on SNL back in October, with Swift introducing American rapper Ice Spice as a musical act and Kelce featuring at the end of a skit on the level of attention given to his girlfriend during NFL broadcasts.
And after his second appearance on the show, the 34-year-old revealed he could barely remember it after blacking out. ‘I don’t even remember what I said, I blacked out,’ he told brother Jason on their New Heights podcast. ‘As soon as they cued to me, the entire place erupted which was very overwhelming and I’m not even sure if I said anything.
