When Netflix first picked up its package of Christmas Day NFL games, there was one thing everyone was wondering in Hollywood: Given the streamer’s desire to lean into big events, what would it do to make these games its sports event of the year, something everyone felt they needed to watch live?
Netflix, it turns out, had an answer: Star power, and a lot of it. Beyonce will perform during halftime of the Baltimore Ravens-Houston Texans game, and Mariah Carey will make a special appearance during the pregame programming.
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And it is rolling out a ton of talent for the studio shows and games themselves, including some of the top names from the other networks, like Ian and Noah Eagle, Greg Olsen, JJ Watt, Robert Griffin III, Mina Kimes, Drew Brees, and Nate Burleson.
And it has turned to a pair of its favorite comedians to help “Netflix-ify” the affair: Nate Bargatze will be a special guest, and Bert Kreischer will serve as Netflix’s tailgate correspondent before the Pittsburgh Steelers-Kansas City Chiefs game.
The 2 Bears 1 Cave podcast co-host and Netflix regular (just look a his stable of stand-up specials, his 2023 film The Machineand his set during this year’s Tom Brady Roast to see why) hopes to bring some of his chaos and humor to the Netflix gameday programming.
The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Kreischer over Zoom about his plans for gameday (and yes, he opted to conduct the video interview shirtless).
Walk me through what you’re planning to do as tailgate correspondent, what do you hope to bring to the show?
Bert Kreischer: Honestly, I think it’s gonna be a fun show, but I hope that there’s a lightness and fun-ness, and everyone watching goes, “gosh, I wish I was tailgating right now.”
This is obviously the first time Netflix is going to have NFL games, and one of the things that stuck out to me is, having a comedian like you interacting with people out outside the stadium, that’s a unique thing. You’re not going to get that on on a broadcast network that maybe is a little more traditional. What do you hope happens when you’re out there engaging with people?
In my head I have my shot list of what I’d love to see happen. I would love a bunch of big, shirtless, hairy Steelers fans with their shirts off, chugging beer, eating wings. I’m hoping I get some crazy Pittsburgh sandwich that we get to try on air. I want someone to jump through a table. I want, I want the fun chaos that is Pittsburgh to be represented in a tailgate.
There are cities — I’ve said this always — there’s cities where the people of that city define that city. You know, Boston, Pittsburgh, Philly. Look, I grew up in Tampa. We had no civic pride in Tampa. No one was proud to be from Tampa. It wasn’t until I went to Tallahassee and was part of Florida State, that I understood what it’s like to be a part of a community. The Steelers have been a part of Pittsburgh’s community for so long. It’s ingrained in them. Grandmas have tattoos on their arms. I want to see that. That’s what I want to see.
Is this something you can even prep for? Like, I know you can try to figure out things you’d like to do, but you don’t necessarily know who’s going to be there. You don’t know how drunk they’re going to be. What can you do to prepare?
It’s a lot like stand up I think. It’s gonna be a lot like doing crowd work, you know? I mean, I’ve been doing stand up for a pretty long time, and sometimes you go into crowds like Miami was a type of crowd, Pittsburgh, when I used to do the Pittsburgh Improv, you did not know what was gonna happen that night until you got on stage. So I’m just gonna roll in with an open head and and try not to curse.
I was going to ask about that because, NFL games on Netflix, it’s going to be probably a lot of families, it’s going to be probably a younger audience than the Tom Brady Roast, for example,
This sounds crazy, but all the stuff you do in your whole career adds up to the culmination of where you get. I worked on Travel Channel for nine years, and I did a show where I rode roller coasters. Our main people watching that were kids.
But I will tell you, it was brought to my attention yesterday by [fellow comedians] Mark Normand and Sam Morrill. They were like, “hey man, I heard you’re doing NFL for Netflix.” I was like, “yeah, I can’t wait.” And Sam just wrote, “don’t curse.” And I went, “what?” And he was like, “dude, kids are gonna be watching.”
Honestly, until yesterday, it never crossed my mind. It’s Christmas morning at 8 a.m. on the west coast, 8 a.m. They’re gonna be opening presents with Netflix on the screen. It is global. And it just occurred to me yesterday not to curse. I actually was like, am I taking my shirt off? Like it is family, but it’s also Netflix. It’s going to be loose, it’s going to be fun. Gonna be a little out of control, a little wild, but yeah, it won’t be the Tom Brady Roast.
As you said, one of the things that I’ve heard from folks talking about the Netflix NFL games is that this is a real global event, it’s probably going to be one of the the biggest streaming audiences of all time. We just saw what happened with Jake Paul-Mike Tyson.
This has got to be a situation where you’re going to be seen by people who maybe haven’t seen your your stand up before, maybe who weren’t watching the Tom Brady roast. Is this an opportunity for you to showcase some of what you can do to to an audience that maybe hasn’t seen you before?
I don’t think so. I think you do the job you’re hired for, to be honest with you. I would be doing a disservice to the production if I went in and tried to be like “The Machine,” and went in killing beers, saying wild shit: “Never quit drinking.”
You know, my job is — and this may sound so stupid — but is a conduit to the experience for the people at home. Not everyone realizes this, but when you do stand up on Netflix, when you record a special, you’re not performing for the people in that room. And I know that’s hard to wrap your head around. But you’re making it for the people at home, you’re making a special for people watching it. So certain things that would kill in a room are a disservice to the audience.
I’m a conduit to the experience. It’s a disservice if I go in and rip my shirt off and yell “I’m the machine.” People don’t really get that. I think my job is to show up, be sober, like as sober as I can be, and just translate how much fun that tailgate is and how wild it is, and how much fun it would be to be there and help and share the way that people are sharing their Christmas day with us.
I think it’s so cool that there are people on Christmas Day that go to a football game. I think that’s so cool. I think I’m so lucky that I get to work on Christmas Day. As a kid, I’d watch that. I’d watch the people working, you know the sideline guys and the teams playing on Christmas Day or on Thanksgiving. And I would be jealous. I’d be like, how cool is that, that then they come home and celebrate with their family. That’s wild. So I think that my job, really, is just to kind of be like a connector, like a like an extension cord for fun.
It’s a happy day, everyone’s celebrating, whether you’re at the tailgate, whether you’re at home watching. I feel like it’s a day where everyone’s gonna be happy and kind of eager to just have fun.
I think so. I think it’s gonna be really fun. I kind of know what’s gonna happen. I know some of the beats of where we’re going, and I’m excited. You know, [Nate] Bargatze is going to be on there. His special comes out the day before. He just had his CBS special last night. He’s killing it. He’s hilarious. I can’t tell you everyone that’s going to be joining, but I know some surprise guests, and it’s going to be so much fun, and it’s going to happen so fast.
Yeah, I mean it’s going to be a real day-long event. I think a lot of people are going to be watching all day. Thanks for taking the time, and good luck on Christmas.
Thank you brother.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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