Posted in: NBC, TV | Tagged: nbc, Peyton Manning, saturday night live, Seth Meyers, snl, Tom Brady

SNL: Peyton Manning Wanted Tom Brady Joke In Monologue: Seth Meyers

Seth Meyers recalled when NFL Hall of Famer Peyton Manning pitched an idea to add a Tom Brady joke he wanted to his 2007 SNL monologue.

It would be difficult to top the NFL quarterback rivalry in the 2000s between Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. Both built the bulk of their legacies for the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots, respectively. It's even more amazing considering they won Super Bowl rings with their second and what ended up being their final teams in the Denver Broncos and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Their most famous exploits outside of the NFL field, respectively, were Manning's hosting stint on Saturday Night Live in 2007 and the more recent 2024 Roast of Tom Brady on Netflix. Seth Meyers, who hosts Late Night on NBC, reflected on when Manning approached him during his days as an SNL writer and cast member about slipping a joke about Brady into his monologue in the episode that followed his first championship when the Colts defeated the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI.

SNL: Seth Meyers on Peyton Manning's Uncertainty on Tom Brady Joke

"So, Jenna, the stage manager, was like, 'Peyton wants to talk to you backstage before the monologue,'" Meyers recalled on The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast. "I went backstage and Peyton had a suggestion, he had a joke he wanted to add at the last minute about Tom Brady. He was like, 'Do you think I should do this? I was like, 'Oh, I don't know.' It was really, I was like, 'I don't process ideas this fast!'"

The Hall of Fame QB didn't end up using his original joke for his SNL monologue. Instead, he shared what appeared to be an anecdote but still dropped his rival's name. "I was recently visiting a veteran's hospital in Boston and I sat with Joe O'Malley, 85 years old," he began. "He said to me, 'Peyton, what do Tom Brady and the circus have in common?' I said, 'What's that, Joe?' He said, 'They have two more rings than you do.' You know, I said thanks, because of that comment, I'm gonna go back and work hard to make sure to kick y'all's ass again next year."

Meyers couldn't recall what Manning's "soft burn" would have been but declared it would have been the "200th-hottest burn at the Brady roast." The theme of the episode of the podcast was the United Way commercial short, satirizing the NFL's charitable work. Manning mentored youths that parodied his clean image, sharing more stories you're more likely to hear in prison, tips on breaking into cars, and berating his much younger teammates playing a game of touch football, even chucking the ball to a kid's back. You can check out the episode below, the short, and the monologue above.

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