Hill: ‘SNL’ has provided athletes a platform, for better or worse

There wasn’t much in life that could put a dent in my sports obsession until the discovery of comedy.

Nowhere did those two passions intersect better than on “Saturday Night Live,” which has played a big role in bringing sports and athletes into the mainstream.

The often brilliant and sometimes culture-shaping program is celebrating its 50th anniversary this weekend. It provides a perfect opportunity to reflect on some of the best, and unfortunately cringey, times when athletes shed the jerseys in favor of uncomfortably reading cue cards on live TV.

But Lorne Michaels and NBC need to be given credit for providing athletes a platform to show they can do more than dribble, throw or tackle. And, in some cases, show that some of the most elite and confident athletes could be humbled and overmatched by the daunting task of trying to be funny.

Madden’s prank

One of the best sports-related moments involved legendary Raiders coach and broadcaster John Madden, whom producer Dick Ebersol said in his book nearly gave him a heart attack on the day Madden hosted in 1982.

As Madden was taking the stage for the full dress rehearsal hours before going live on TV, he told Ebersol in front of a full studio audience that he hated the show and wasn’t going to participate.

Just as Ebersol started to freak out, Madden let him off the hook. It turned out to be a decent episode, one in which Madden shared Raiders stories.

It might have been one of the better pranks by a sports host, but it wasn’t the best performance.

Best of the best

Most notably, the show helped launch a second career for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, a member of the five-timers club as a repeat host, who proved to Hollywood he could be more than a wrestler and is now one of the biggest stars on the planet.

The world learned Peyton Manning was funny when he hosted nearly 20 years ago and killed it on a show that included the legendary “United Way” sketch. Eli Manning wasn’t terrible, either. Of course, Travis Kelce had a solid episode in 2023 and returned a year later to do twin cameos with Taylor Swift.

NBA stars have a good history. Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan were great, but LeBron James might have taken his turn too early in his career and wasn’t quite ready for prime time.

Ironically, neither was “Prime Time.” The Deion Sanders episode is a rough watch.

Worst of the worst

So it hasn’t been all good. Far from it. The more fun memories are the sports-related episodes that went horribly wrong, and those are far more fun to talk about.

Yankees owner George Steinbrenner was one of the worst hosts the show has seen, and it wasn’t just because of a lack of camera presence. Stories from behind the scenes indicate Steinbrenner nixed many of the best ideas because they might not have been the most flattering representations of him.

That’s probably why the Sanders episode sputtered despite him being such a big personality. Ego is the enemy of comedy, a truism that has shown up time and time again throughout the years. The sports figures who have been willing to be embarrassed tend to put forth far better performances.

Go back and watch the Lance Armstrong episode again. Actually, don’t do that to yourself. It’s awful.

But, to be fair to Armstrong even if he doesn’t deserve it, he might not be the worst athlete host.

The finalists include Alex Karras, Andy Roddick and Olympians Michael Phelps and Jonny Moseley.

Asterisks for Kerrigan, Rousey

Two notable bad athlete episodes were intentionally excluded here: Those of Nancy Kerrigan and Ronda Rousey.

Kerrigan’s episode included an unbelievable sketch featuring her skating with Chris Farley that saved the night.

Rousey’s episode also gets a pass, but for a different reason. It took place during one of the most crippling winter storms New York has experienced. The entire city was shut down. Cast and crew were unsure if they could get to Studio 8H, much less an audience with cars and public transit shut down.

The accounts of that night are not exaggerated. I was there. It’s the one time I had the good fortune of attending the show. The laughs were few and far between, but there was an excuse.

It has been quite a ride for “SNL,” which has done its part to make sports a part of pop culture. Let’s hope that’s part of the anniversary episode Sunday.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.