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During a Thursday night appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” Jason Kelce revealed he and ESPN are bringing a late-night talk show to Philadelphia beginning Jan. 4.
The former Eagles center — who joined ESPN in May after his NFL retirement in March — will host “They Call It Late Night with Jason Kelce,” a live show that will run for five weeks on Friday nights during the latter half of this NFL season, including playoffs.
The hour-long program, beginning at 1 a.m. for the first four episodes and 1:30 for the final one, will be taped at Union Transfer in Philadelphia with a live audience.
Kelce, 37, spent his entire 13-year NFL career with the Philadelphia Eagles, and he still lives there with his wife Kylie and their three daughters.
“When I first approached ESPN with potentially working for them and ‘Monday Night Football’ football was a big part of that and ‘Monday Night Countdown’ I loved late night shows,” he said, adding that he grew up watching Conan O’Brien.
Kelce revealed he’ll have former NFL legends, coaches and celebrities as guests, while Philadelphia-based band, SnackTime, will provide music.
The Super Bowl champ added that he hopes his younger brother, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, can’t make it.
“I don’t know, he’s probably going to be busy,” Kelce said. “Maybe he gets a first-round bye and we sneak him on for an episode. But hopefully he can’t make it.”
The Chiefs are 9-1 and bound for the postseason as they continue their quest to become the first team to win three consecutive Super Bowls.
“[This] new personality-driven one-hour program will take its inspiration from traditional late-night television, emphasizing a comedic approach throughout all five scheduled episodes which run in conjunction with the NFL regular season and playoffs,” ESPN said.
The show is in conjunction with NFL Films and will also be available on ESPN+, ESPN’s YouTube channel and Kelce’s YouTube channel.
Kimmel also joked that the brothers — and co-hosts of the “New Heights” podcast — might have a problem if Travis chooses to be with girlfriend Taylor Swift instead of attending one of his late night shows.
“I think we all know who the priority is,” Kelce said, smiling.
Kimmel then asked Kelce what he’s getting the couple for Christmas.
“It’s tough to shop for people that can have anything that they want,” Jason said. “So you have to go to handmade gifts, maybe something sentimental that’s near and dear to them… I got something up my sleeve this year — a macaroni necklace. It works on me with my kids very well… Friendship macaroni necklaces, we just started a trend.”
After the show, Kelce made headlines due to a bizarre fan encounter while he was leaving Kimmel’s Los Angeles set.
In a video of the incident, a fan was heard berating Kelce for not signing autographs for fans.
