Jason Kelce will try his hand at late-night television early next year.
Kelce announced during an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” from ABC. Thursday night he will host “They Call It Late Night with Jason Kelce” on ESPN. The one-hour show will be taped on five consecutive Friday nights starting January 3. That coincides with the final week of the NFL regular season and playoffs.
The show will be filmed in front of a live audience from Union Transfer in Philadelphia. The first four episodes will air at 1 a.m. ET starting January 4 and the final episode at 1:30 on February 1.
“I loved late night shows, always have. I remember sleepovers watching Conan O’Brien with my friends,” Kelce said on Kimmel’s show. “We’re going to have a group of guys up there: legends of the game, friends I played with, coaches, celebrities.”
Philadelphia-based band Snacktime will provide the show’s music.
The show’s title is an homage to “They Call it Pro Football,” which was NFL Films’ first feature film in 1967. NFL Films originated in Philadelphia and founders Ed and Steve Sabol are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame . “They Call if Pro Football” also featured the legendary voice of John Facenda, who appeared on the news on Philadelphia television before becoming best known as the voice of NFL Films.
Each episode of Kelce’s show will air on repeat on ESPN2 and will also be available on ESPN+ and the ESPN and Kelce YouTube channels.
Kelce is in the first year of a multi-year deal with ESPN. He appears on the network’s “Monday Night Countdown” and provides halftime and postgame analysis. He played 13 years for the Philadelphia Eagles before retiring at the end of last season and was the most sought-after former player on the networks. He participated in last year’s NFL Broadcasting and Media Workshop.
However, Kelce has been in the news lately for other reasons.
He was involved in a confrontation in State College, Pennsylvania, before the Penn State-Ohio State game on Nov. 2, when a fan interrupted Kelce and appeared to shout an anti-gay slur about his brother, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end. , Travis Kelce. . The video showed Kelce grabbing the fan’s phone and throwing it to the ground. Kelce appeared to use the same anti-gay slur during the exchange.
Kelce apologized for the incident on ESPN on November 4.
On Thursday night, an autograph seeker verbally confronted Kelce as he entered a vehicle outside the El Capitan Entertainment Center in Los Angeles, where “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” It is recorded.
Video obtained by TMZ shows Kelce explaining that he doesn’t sign autographs for people who follow him. After being yelled at for more than two minutes, Kelce finally exits the vehicle, signs autographs and shakes the man’s hand.
