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Peyton Manning says parents didn't want him coaching their kids after 'SNL' skit

The retired NFL great told Kelly Clarkson that one hilarious “Saturday Night Live” spot from 14 years ago left moms and dads asking, “Are we sure we want our kid to play on your team?”
/ Source: TODAY

It’s hard to imagine anyone more qualified to coach kids in the finer points of football than five-time NFL MVP Peyton Manning. After all, the retired quarterback, who’s also the son and brother of retired QBs, is considered a legend of the game.

But during a visit to “The Kelly Clarkson Show” Monday, Manning admitted there were some parents who weren’t so sure about him coaching their kids when the opportunity came along — due to one funny, but not-so kid friendly, “Saturday Night Live” skit.

When Clarkson asked the father of two if he ever coached his 10-year-old twins’ youth teams, he said he’s done so on son Marshall’s flag football team, and he even stepped up to the plate for daughter Mosley’s softball team.

And while he said the experience “was a lot of fun,” he added an unexpected caveat.

“It’s a great way to spend time with your kids, although I got to tell you, Kelly, some of the parents of the other kids on the team were a little hesitant at first,” he noted. “The last time they really saw me ever doing any coaching was on this ‘Saturday Night Live’ skit where I was pegging 7-year-old kids in the head with footballs, and I think these parents were like, ‘Are we sure we want our kid to play on your team?’”

The 2007 “SNL” spot he referred to saw him doing a lot more than just beaning pee wee players in the head. Coach Manning sent one tyke to wait out practice in a portable toilet, arranged for another to get a Manning tattoo, and he taught the whole team how to break into a car.

The bit, presented as a mock PSA, ended with the message, “Spend time with your kids, so Peyton Manning doesn’t.”

Saturday Night Live
Peyton Manning serves as a questionable coach in this 2007 "Saturday Night Live" skit.Dana Edelson / NBC

Despite all that, the 45-year-old assured Clarkson he put parents’ minds at ease when it came to his real-life coaching skills, telling them, “It was ‘Saturday Night Live.’ It was a spoof skit. Relax. I’m not going to do that to your kids. ... Probably not.”

But the host didn’t see what all the hubbub was about in the first place.

“I got to be honest with you, if you were my kids’ coach, I’d laugh at that,” Clarkson said.