Travis Kelce was close with the Saturday Night Live stars before hosting the hit show, Heidi Gardner has revealed.
The Kansas City tight end, who is now pursuing a career behind the camera, made his debut as an SNL host in March 2023.
Gardner is a Chiefs fan and recently talked about working with Kelce before he went public with his romance with Taylor Swift.
The NFL star joined Gardner’s friends and family for a meal before the show, and Kelce’s older brother Jason also made an appearance.
“I know for a fact that he’s the only host in SNL history who has ever backed away from hosting,” he told The Associated Press. ‘Not skinny but not fat’ podcast.
‘I thought, “I’m going to have a tailgate in my room” because Arrowhead Stadium is famous for this activity.
Travis Kelce ‘sticks close’ with Saturday Night Live’s Heidi Gardner (R) before hosting the show
Kelce fulfilled his life’s ambition when he appeared as a guest host on SNL in March 2023.
Seven months later, the NFL star and his girlfriend Taylor Swift made brief cameos on the show.
‘That’s what we do at the Kansas City stadium. People arrive early and are stuck. They smoke barbecue all morning, share their food and you just follow closely.
Gardner added, “I had a barbecue, we went backstage before the show and he came back with his brother, Jason, and they had a barbecue before he hosted SNL.”
Gardner, who joined SNL in 2017, claims he had invited Kelce’s younger brother to the tailgate earlier in the week, but didn’t think the 35-year-old would show up.
‘That morning, he was very kind. Jeff, one of our guys in the talent department, called my dressing room, and I opened it up and he had these tequila soda cans… he said, “These are Travis’s for the tailgate,” Gardner explained.
He then appeared in a sketch alongside the two Kelce brothers and said it was “really fun” to work with them.
It took Gardner ‘a couple of years’ to convince SNL bosses to invite Kelce, and Lorne Michaels said Kelce had to win a second Super Bowl before he could host the show.
The Chiefs captured the Vince Lombardi Trophy in February 2023, and Kelce appeared on SNL a few weeks later. He and Swift then made brief cameos in October 2023.