Jason Kelce may be a late-night talk show host now — but that doesn’t mean he has completely free rein when it comes to his language.
On Saturday, Jan. 4, the former NFL player’s new show They Call It Late Night with Jason Kelce debuted on ESPN. The premiere episode featured a slew of guests including fellow late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, Inside the NBA host Charles Barkley and musician Lil Dicky.
Following the live taping of the episode on Friday, Jan. 3, the former Philadelphia Eagles center, 37, fielded questions from the press, and revealed that ESPN gave him their blessing to push the envelope with his language — but urged him to be “cautious” about dropping F-bombs during his show.
“I’m still waiting to see what the response is, to be honest with you,” Kelce said of the first episode, which was heavy on the salty language. “It is a late-night show. We’ll see how that works the next morning whenever it airs.”
While he admitted that he may have overdone it with the expletives, Kelce told reporters he had a good reason for doing so. In the end, it’s all about being his “authentic” self.
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AP Photo/Chris Szagola
“We really wanted the language to be real and authentic to me,” he explained. “We overdid it a little bit today, to kind of prep the audience on what to expect.”
“I think the F-bombs were the one thing that I was told, you might want to be a little bit cautious there,” Kelce continued. “But we want to give you range to be who you are, so we knew that we were exploring territory where language would be kind of permitted.”
“I think that will probably naturally scale back significantly in the next show,” he added, referring to his language.
A day ahead of They Call It Late Night’s premiere, the former football player opened up to PEOPLE about what audiences can expect from the show. The goal, he said, is to blend sports and comedy.
“It’s a comedy, late-night show,” he explained. “We have a bunch of really funny writers who are going to make the show funny, because I certainly can’t.”
The show, which airs Saturdays at 1 a.m. EST on ESPN, is filmed in front of a live audience in Philadelphia.
AP Photo/Chris Szagola
“We’re going to be utilizing great footage and soundbites from the past and history of the game as well as current weeks,” he added of the show’s football talk. “We’re going to be having panelists on that’ll be able to give perspective from either former players and coaches, to fans, to other high level athletes.”
Kelce also told PEOPLE he wants They Call It Late Night to be “a place where we’re going to be able to come once a week… have some fun and talk about a sport that we all love and a culture that is near and dear to us.”
He added, “So I think I’m really, really looking forward to it.”
