Do Not Insult ‘Acting’ With My Commercials: Peyton Manning

Peyton Manning’s transition from a two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback to a well-known face in commercials was all about leveraging his celebrity status after retiring at the top of his game. Now, eight years after his retirement, his recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live is giving fans a peek into his post-NFL life, which consists of several ventures, such as his recently-produced ‘Receiver’ docu-series on Netflix.

During the interview with guest host Kathryn Hahn, Manning opened up about his recently released Netflix series following last year’s highly successful ‘Quarterback’ series, which featured the likes of Patrick Mahomes and Kirk Cousins. Kathryn was quite impressed by his ventures and even mentioned that she often sees him in commercials, seemingly more often than a typical actor.

Manning, however, humbly dismissed any notions of being an actor by remarking, “Do not insult acting with my commercials.” Instead, he credited his ability to read teleprompters and deliver scripted lines to his 18-year-long tenure in the NFL, where he memorized football playbooks for a living.

Notably, the legendary QB has appeared in commercials for the Mastercard Priceless series, Subway, Gatorade, and even a few Super Bowl ads. That said, as the conversation continued on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Manning also shared a story about his experience as an amateur ‘musician’ at a Kenny Chesney concert.

Manning’s Hilarious Concert Cameo With Kenny Chesney

When the guest host asked the former Colts QB about his music interests, Manning shared an anecdote about his friendship with country music star Kenny Chesney. 

Firstly, Manning talked about their bond mentioning Chesney’s Tennessee roots and their college connection, including the singer performing at Manning’s wedding to Ashley Thompson.

Next, recalling a funny moment, Peyton narrated that once Chesney proposed a deal: he wanted Manning to set up a practice session for the singer with his former NFL team, the Colts. In exchange, Manning would join Chesney’s band on tour. However, Manning couldn’t fulfill Chesney’s request to practice on the Colts’ field due to basic ground rules.

Despite this setback, Chesney followed through on his end of the bargain and invited Manning to play with the band during a concert. Although Manning had no guitar skills, he was handed a cowboy hat and a guitar set in the key of G. Manning jokingly recounted how he pretended to play by ‘holding G’ for two and a half hours. Surprisingly, the crowd had no clue and enjoyed Chesney’s performance.

“He put me in the band, put a cowboy hat on me, put me in a strap guitar, put me in G. I kind of held G for two and a half hours. I can’t play the guitar, but I know where G is.”

Adding to the hilarity, Chesney introduced Manning with a fake name as a local (Bill Smith) from that concert town (Atlanta). Looking back, it still thrills Manning to have been part of such a lively concert atmosphere despite his lack of musical talent.