Eli Manning and Lorne Michaels on Saturday Night Live: "I Said I'd Do It After My Next Championship — and Here We Are"

On May 2, 2012, NBC held a press call with New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning and Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels ahead of Eli's hosting debut on May 5th, with musical guest Rihanna. Manning — fresh off Super Bowl XLVI — spoke about why he turned down the show after Super Bowl XLII, the advice he got from Peyton and John Madden, and what Lorne Michaels said about why athletes make surprisingly good hosts.

I said I'd do it after my next championship. When this opportunity came up again and we won the championship this year, I definitely wanted to do it — if they asked, I would definitely want to jump at the opportunity if the timing worked out.

Why he turned it down after Super Bowl XLII — and said yes after XLVI

Manning explained the four-year gap between the invitation and his acceptance: "After Peyton did the show in 2007, and in the following year we won the Super Bowl, a request came from Saturday Night Live. One of the main reasons I did not do it was because Peyton had done so well the previous year — I thought I might be a little fresh in everyone's mind and I didn't want to have to go up against a great job that he performed." He also felt the timing wasn't right personally: "I kind of wanted to keep working on my football. I knew I had some more work to do during the off-season." His message back to Lorne at the time: "I do want to do this show at one point. I just want to do it maybe after my next championship." Lorne Michaels, on the call, added dryly: "Eli was good enough to wait another Super Bowl, which helped us a lot."

Peyton's advice — and a call from John Madden

Manning described the guidance he received before the call even started: "From Peyton, the main thing he said was just enjoy the week. He said the one thing you are used to doing is live — that's something you do every week during the football season. But he said just enjoy being with the writers, stay around as much as you can, work with them, and follow guidance. They're the ones that are funny and know how to do this." Then, fifteen minutes before the press call: "John Madden called me — he hosted the show back in the day — and he gave me the exact same piece of advice. He was asking if they did things the same way, the same schedule and routine, and it is. It's really similar to what he did many, many years ago. Both of them said the same thing: enjoy every moment during the week, work with the cast, stay up with them, and have a blast."

Why athletes make surprisingly good hosts, according to Lorne Michaels

Michaels was asked whether the process differs when the host is an athlete rather than a performer: "Surprisingly not that much. The good part about athletes is that they're used to being in front of large groups of people and not knowing how it's going to turn out. That's kind of the only real preparation for us — because we won't really know until dress rehearsal what's beginning to work and what's not working, and then there's a lot of course correction." On Manning specifically: "He radiates a certain kind of intelligence, and there's a sort of essential modesty to him. If the host is spending a lot of time protecting an image, it's exhausting — particularly for us." On the read-through process: "We'll read 40 to 45 pieces looking for 12 to 13. We won't really know what we're going to be choosing until after that, because no matter what we thought of it, if it isn't playing we don't move forward. By the time we leave on Friday around midnight or 1 a.m. we will have done everything a couple times in its rewritten form."

His favorite SNL sketch of all time

Asked for his all-time favorite sketch, Manning didn't hesitate: "Chris Farley and Patrick Swayze doing the dancing — the Chippendales. That's always a classic." He added that he owns a collection of SNL best-of compilations: "I've been a fan and watch the show and that style of humor. I appreciate it and it's what I enjoy to watch." Eli Manning hosted Saturday Night Live on May 5, 2012, with musical guest Rihanna.

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