Memorable Athlete Appearances on ‘Saturday Night Live’
Jeter, Manning and Jordan all had memorable
hosting gigs on 'Saturday Night Live.' / NBC
Many athletes have impressed audiences while hosting SNL over the past 50 years.
Jimmy Traina | Feb 14, 2025
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Before we get to today’s topic, let me just remind you that two SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcasts dropped this week.
One episode featured a conversation with Puck’s John Ourand about Fox’s broadcast of Super Bowl LIX.
The other episode features an interview with golf journalist Dan Rapaport and my weekly Traina Thoughts segment with Sal Licata. So make sure you check those out.
We’re breaking our traditional format today to acknowledge Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary, which will be celebrated with a three-hour special Sunday night on NBC.
Over the past 50 years, many, many sports figures have hosted the show and more times than not, have blown away the audience with their performances.
The list of sports figures who have hosted in ecletic. The very first athlete to host was NFL quarterback Fran Tarkenton in 1977. O.J. Simpson hosted in '78. Joe Montana and Walter Payton co-hosted in '87. Yankees owner George Steinbrenner hosted in '90. Charles Barkley has hosted four times. In recent years, J.J. Watt and Travis Kelce turned in extremely impressive performances.
So without further ado, here is a compilation of some of the best sketches involving athletes over the course of SNL’s history.
John Madden, 1982:
Joe Montana and Walter Payton, 1987:
Wayne Gretzky, 1989:
Michael Jordan, 1991:
Derek Jeter, 2001:
Tom Brady, 2005:
Peyton Manning, 2007:
LeBron James, 2007:
Charles Barkley, 2012:
The Rock, 2017:
J.J. Watt, 2020:
Travis Kelce, 2023:
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.
Published Feb 14, 2025 | Modified Feb 14, 2025
Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina...
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