Peyton Manning went right to his favorite pastime while hosting the CMA Awards this week — roasting his younger brother.
Eli Manning was even keeping score at home while Peyton delivered one zinger after another in his direction.
The former New York Giants star was not surprised at the jokes at his expense when reacting to his brother's performance on the 3rd hour of TODAY Friday.
"Oh, my gosh, he was just killing me," Eli Manning said.
The retired superstar quarterbacks are usually busting each other's chops together on their "ManningCast" show on ESPN2 during "Monday Night Football," but Peyton Manning had the mic all to himself when he co-hosted the CMA Awards with country music star Luke Bryan on Nov. 9.
"I’m just kind of a wing-it kind of host," Bryan said during the show.
"So what you’re saying is this is my worst nightmare," Peyton Manning responded. "But it’s actually OK because I do a show with my brother Eli. I am used to this lack of professionalism."
At another juncture of the ceremony, Peyton Manning joked to a member of Brothers Osborne, "Let me guess, your mom makes you work with your brother, too."
Peyton Manning had one more for his younger brother as he threw it back to Bryan during the broadcast.
"I keep telling him he’s like a brother to me. He doesn’t understand that’s not a compliment," Peyton Manning said. "Give it up for Luke Bryan."
"If my math is correct, that is the 3rd shot Peyton has taken at me on the CMA's," Eli Manning tweeted during the show.
Eli Manning figures that he was an easy crutch for his Hall of Fame brother to work out any jitters in hosting the show.
"I think he was a little nervous and he didn’t know. That’s his safe spot, 'I’ll just make fun of my brother,'" Eli Manning said on the 3rd hour of TODAY. "It’s easy, people will laugh, and I’m not going to get mad at him about it, so it was all good."
Plus, Eli Manning has shown he can dish it out as much as he takes it when the two are watching games together during the "ManningCast."
"It’s really me sitting on my couch watching football, making fun of my brother," he said.
He also may soon have another source of trash talk with his brother. Eli Manning shared that he has taken up pickleball, a sport that is booming in popularity right now. He played a quick game on the 3rd hour of TODAY with fellow guest Kelsey Grammer as well as Sheinelle Jones, Vicky Nguyen and Dylan Dreyer.