Shaquille O’Neal Digs Up Footage of SNL ‘Making Fun’ of Stephen A. Smith’s First Take

One of Shaquille O’Neal’s favorite pastimes has been a friendly series of jabs at ESPN host Stephen A. Smith. A few years back Shaq had prank called Stephen A. live on his show. He pretended to be a Cowboys fan, and got a passionate “Oh hell no! This is Shaq!” response from SAS. And once again he has taken a friendly jab at Stephen A. by digging up an old SNL skit that parodied First Take.

Originally uploaded by BroadcastSports on Instagram, Shaq re-shared the video on his IG Stories. 

The skit originally aired on May 24, 2022, and had Chris Redd bringing SAS’ character to life. Apart from Redd, Kenan Thompson went on to portray Kendrick Perkins, and Natasha Lyonne, who was a guest host, played the role of Michael Rapaport.

Redd and Kenan bring the two giants Stephen A. and Perkins’ characters to life. The two start off arguing over the Western Conference Finals. It was Dallas and Golden State going up against one another. And the actors portrayed the back-and-forth between Perkins and SAS to perfection.

The first question thrown out was a comparison of who was better; Luka Doncic or Stephen Curry. The actors do their best impressions of the NBA analysts and Thompson and Redd also take a few shots at Curry and Doncic during the process.

Lyonne, who played Rapaport, highlighted his love for the New York Knicks hilariously. The host Molly Qerim, portrayed by Chloe Fineman, meanwhile, does her best to take the conversation forward.

Now, the usual episodes of ESPN’s First Take usually have SAS and one other entity arguing on different aspects. Fineman playing Qerim does exactly what a host does: neutralize the tension and take the show forward.

But the actors do a phenomenal job of portraying the characters of First Take. The two main characters, Stephen A. and Perkins are brought to the screen perfectly by Redd and Thompson. And when talking about the accuracy of their depiction, the entire crew does not leave any stone unturned in that matter.

It’s totally understandable why Shaq shared this post on his stories. It encapsulates the more humorous side of sports discussion on TV these days, while also serving as a cheeky little jab at Stephen A. for some of his over the top reactions on TV.