Chiefs’ Travis Kelce shares details from week of working on ‘Saturday Night Live’

Since the “New Heights” podcast debuted in September, the co-hosts usually spend time breaking down how NFL games went.

That’s because Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and Eagles center Jason Kelce would offer insights on the podcast about their respective contests.

It’s been nearly a month since the brothers faced off in Super Bowl LVII, so there was no game to discuss in the newest episode, which was released Wednesday.

But they did have something to talk about: Travis Kelce’s appearance on “Saturday Night Live.”

“I had an absolute blast, man,” Kelce said of his experience. “The cast and the writers and everybody involved made it everything that I was ever expecting and hoping it could be. I can’t say enough about Heidi Gardner and who she is, how she really pushed the envelope of getting a Kansas City football guy in that building to host or just to be a part of the show. And then she absolutely kills it, as always.”

Kelce broke down how the week went, which started Monday when he arrived at 30 Rockefeller Plaza and met the cast and writers. They all pitched him initial ideas for skits.

When he was picked as host, Kelce said he had written down a few ideas for the show but realized quickly he’d be in good hands with the writers.

On Tuesday, the writers spent time fleshing out the skits and they met with Kelce individually to bounce ideas off him. Kelce estimates he heard 40 or more pitches from the writers.

That’s a lot, but Kelce heeded advice from Hall of Famer quarterback Peyton Manning, another NFL player who served as host of “Saturday Night Live.”

“He basically ... said just be open,” Kelce said. “The show is meant to be absolutely hysterical. It’s kinda like the people that don’t have great shows are probably the ones that go up guarded.”

On Wednesday, there is a table read with the writers, crew and producers. Kelce said he read more than three dozen of the skits.

“My eyes hurt,” Kelce said. “I haven’t read or looked at a piece of paper that long ever in my life. I sat down for essentially, two or three or four hours (and read).”

First skit

On Thursday night, Kelce recorded the “Straight Male Friend” mock commercial with cast member Bowen Yang.

“Man,” Kelce said, “that guy is an all-star.”

Kelce was up working until 2 a.m. on Friday morning, then was awake by 7 a.m. to get back to the show.

Kelce took pride on his promptness. Well, by his standards.

“But that’s what Peyton was saying,’ He was like, dude, just do it. Know what I mean? Just be on time be prompt. Don’t feel bad,” Kelce said.

“I was so on time and I was only like 15 minutes late every time. Like, dude, that is the most on time I’ve ever been.”

Beginning Friday, the episode began to take shape.

“Friday is when they start finding the sets for everything,” Kelce said. “They start finding the costumes, wardrobe, what you’re going to look like and start kind of narrowing down how long the skits are going to be, what the camera angles are, stuff like that. So now you’re actually on set with the entire cast who’s going to be in it.

“And you can still see the writers and the cast members creating everything. Which is fun. It’s a crazy experience and to finally see it all come together, like that Friday I was like through the roof. It felt so cool just being in the madness. Friday was the longest day.”

On Saturday, the cast performs a dress rehearsal in the afternoon. That includes skits that eventually were cut for time.

Jason Kelce, who appeared in “Abby the ex-girlfriend,” with his brother and Gardner, said things changed on the fly in the show.

“I was watching a lot of it on the TV in the dressing room I was in, and they’re changing scripts, they are changing people, like different people are in different areas, cast members that is,” Jason Kelce said. “That is evolving up until the last possible second when the show’s going on, which is crazy to me. There are things that people did in the live performance that they didn’t do that week.”

His brother agreed and added that made it difficult at times when it was time to go on the air.

“The craziest part is that even if they put a skit in, a part of like an entire conversation, a back-and-forth conversation could be snipped from it,” Travis Kelce said. “So you’re looking at the (cue) card like that is not what it says. So you like pause and you like stare at it for a second like where are we in this thing?”

Meeting Spielberg (maybe)

Kelce admitted he had a beer or two earlier on Saturday to calm his nerves, and then enjoyed the afterparty and after-afterparty, which didn’t end until the sun came up Sunday.

Two of the bigger names in Hollywood were at the show, including one of the Chiefs’ most high-profile fans.

“I was sitting down having a beer with Paul Rudd in that little (studio) bar afterwards,” Travis said to his brother. “I think I shook Steven Spielberg’s hand when I saw you guys sprint through. ...

“I only heard word of mouth. I believe I shook his hand. It was a dark room.”

Whether or not Spielberg was at the show, Kelce had a memorable time.

“SNL, baby,” Kelce said. “It’s so wild man. That is such a well-oiled machine, man. And it’s so fun.”