'SNL' Had No Idea Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce Were Coming, Either - Vanity Fair

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The It couple reportedly told SNL they’d be attending Saturday’s taping minutes before the show was about to air.

October 16, 2023

NEW YORK NEW YORK OCTOBER 15 Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift arrive at SNL Afterparty on October 15 2023 in New York City.

Surprise, surprise. According to Variety, Saturday Night Live fans were not the only ones shocked when Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce made cameo appearances during SNL’s season premiere this past weekend, with host Pete Davidson and musical guest Ice Spice. Apparently, the It couple told the powers that be at SNL, including creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels, that they were on their way to see the show moments before the taping began.

“No one knew they were coming, and they contacted [the show] a few minutes before arrival at air time,” one source told Variety. After Davidson’s appropriately somber cold open addressing Israel and Gaza and a more lighthearted monologue, the first sketch of the night was, coincidentally, about football’s obsession with Swift now that she’s rumored to be dating the Kansas City Chiefs tight end. Per Variety, production at SNL asked Swift and Kelce if they wanted to appear on the show in some capacity upon their arrival.

“The second [Kelce] walked in, they mentioned the sketch and he said he was happy to join,” a source told Variety. “They were happy to jump into some parts of the show when asked.”

Kelce, who hosted the show last season, wound up making a cameo in Sunday’s football-centric sketch, which found Fox NFL Sunday anchor Curt Menefee, played by Kenan Thompson, getting increasingly upset at his coanchors Terry Bradshaw (Molly Kearney), Howie Long (Mikey Day), Michael Strahan (Devon Walker), and Jimmy Johnson (James Austin Johnson) for their obsession with T-Swift. At the very end of the sketch, a frustrated Thompson says, “You know what? I’m done. When we get back, we’re going to speak to someone who actually wants to talk football,” with the camera then revealing Kelce. As for Swift, she introduced musical guest Ice Spice before her second performance of the evening.

Both Kelce and Swift’s appearances were short, sweet, and separate—most likely because of their last-minute arrival, long after the 8 p.m. dress rehearsal when the show is usually set for the night. “The audience was shocked when both appeared separately,” an insider told Variety. The pair didn’t appear during the closing of the show when the credits rolled, as many guest stars do, but they did reportedly attend one of the after-parties. At the event, a source says that Kelce could be seen greeting the SNL cast while Swift sat with Ice Spice taking pictures.