HABOOB
‘I will knock your kid out’ Peyton Manning tells story of classic SNL skit
Aug 30, 2018, 12:50 PM | Updated: 1:06 pm
“I throw, you catch — it’s not that hard.”
It’s been 11 years since Saturday Night live aired former NFL star Peyton Manning’s short spoofing United Way. In the skit, he repeatedly hurled footballs at children and berated them in the process.
Although the skit has since been regarded as a classic, Manning told reporters he was skeptical at first.
“I want him to hit my kid in the face.” 😂
Peyton Manning shares how that United Way SNL skit almost didn’t happen: pic.twitter.com/gdI6SB6Ybw
— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) August 30, 2018
In the above video posted on Twitter, Manning said he originally told the directors that he couldn’t be in the skit.
“These kids were all child actors, and their parents were out there watching the whole time, and it was all very awkward and uncomfortable,” Manning said. “So I finally told the director, ‘I can’t do it, I can’t do it. I’ll go up to the edge, but this feels over the edge. I’m not comfortable.'”
According to Manning, it was actually one of the kids’ mothers who helped convince him to be in the skit.
“I cannot make this up, one of the parents of the child actors runs out onto the set and tells the director, ‘I want him to hit my kid in the face,’” Manning said.
After receiving permission from a kid’s mother, Manning had a clear choice.
“I said I will do it. I will knock your kid out,” Manning said.
Manning did reveal that the footballs used to hit the kids were actually Nerf footballs with the Nerf logo cut out. Even so, it doesn’t make the skit any less hilarious.
