TV & Movies
Peyton Manning’s Emily In Paris Analysis On SNL Was A Hilarious Fan Moment
He has THOUGHTS.
On the heels of some allegedly very exciting football the weekend prior, former Colts and Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning paid a surprise visit to Saturday Night Live on Jan. 29. Though Weekend Update co-host Colin Jost tried to get Manning to share his insights on the NFL playoffs, the Hall-of-Famer wasn’t quite caught up on the games. “I heard they were incredible,” he said. “It sounds like all the teams did a great job, lots of passing, and all the touchdowns were in the end zone.”
Don’t worry, Manning had a good reason for missing the playoffs — relatably, he started watching Emily in Paris Season 2 “just for fun,” and couldn’t stop. “Oh my god, Colin,” he said. “This show has everything: romance, adventure, sensuality, culture, a fresh take on feminism — finally! — not to mention a culinary tapestry so rich, I can only describe it as food porn.”
On the rumors of Tom Brady’s retirement from the NFL, Manning was similarly sidetracked. “I think it’s probably just speculation,” he said. “But if it were me, I probably would retire if it gave me more time to watch Emily in Paris.” (Good news: More Emily is on the way in Season 3. And 4, actually!)
Manning came prepared with a play diagram breaking down Emily’s complicated love life and career, football-style. “And don’t even get me started on the coaching, OK?” he said. “Her friend Mindy seriously told Emily to break her pinky promise, to forget about Gabriel, and to stay true to Alfie? Sacré bleu, man.”
The two-time Super Bowl champ even busted out a red beret before opining on what Emily means to him. “Sure, watching football was the safe thing to do. That’s what everyone expected me to do,” he said. “But if I’ve learned anything from Emily, it’s to follow my passions and always be true to myself. The French have a saying, ‘Parlez-vous français,’ which means, ‘You do you, girl!’” (Aw... Manning has the same command of the language as his new favorite rom-com character.)
Speaking of Emily, Lily Collins herself loved the sketch, writing on Instagram that she was “still dying” over the homage. “Peyton Manning in a beret is everything I didn’t know I needed,” she said, in addition to sharing the sketch on her story.
Oh, yeah — at the end of the sketch, Manning revealed that he didn’t even know there was a Season 1 of Emily in Paris. Oops! If he doesn’t end up watching the Super Bowl on Feb. 13, well, you can safely guess he’ll be catching up on Emily’s first days in Paris instead and drawing up new plays.
In the meantime, Manning’s fan moment was not his only SNL contribution. Before leaving 30 Rock for the night, he took part in the “Yoncé/Partition” Drop Challenge for the show’s official TikTok.
What a night for Manning and his fellow Emily in Paris stans.
