How Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce Pulled Off Their Last-Minute ‘SNL’ Surprise: ‘No One Knew They Were Coming’
16.10.2023 - 20:19
/ variety.com
Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Minutes before “Saturday Night Live” was set to kick off Season 49 inside Studio 8H at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the show’s production team — led, of course, by executive producer Lorne Michaels — received word that two special guests were on their way. According to a source, that was when they learned that Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, who were in New York City, wanted to drop by the show.
“No one knew they were coming, and they contacted a few minutes before arrival at air time,” said one source. Coincidentally, the very first sketch of the night — after host Pete Davidson’s cold open, which addressed Israel and Gaza, and monologue — was a parody of the NFL’s current obsession with all things Taylor Swift.
In the sketch, “Fox NFL Sunday” anchor Curt Menefee, played by Kenan Thompson, grows increasingly frustrated as his co-anchors Terry Bradshaw (Molly Kearney), Howie Long (Mikey Day), Michael Strahan (Devon Walker) and Jimmy Johnson (James Austin Johnson) reveal their love of the pop icon. In the sketch Menefee refers to “Bad Blood,” and then his co-anchors break into the Swift song, but Thompson-as-Menefee has had enough: “You know what, I’m done.
When we get back, we’re going to speak to someone who actually wants to talk football,” he says. That’s when the camera flipped to Kelce.
“The second [Kelce] walked in, they mentioned the sketch and he said he was happy to join,” the insider said. (That last-minute add probably explains why Kelce didn’t actually say anything in his cameo — there was likely no time to script anything out.) “They were happy to jump into some parts of the show when asked.” That also included Swift’s on-camera appearance to
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