Rob Riggle explains Tom Brady's secret to success while hosting SNL
Tom Brady - the retired NFL quarterback - needs no introduction. He was always regarded as one of the most competitive athletes in sports.
That mindset translated to a litany of accolades throughout his more than two decades in the sport: seven Super Bowl titles (more than any team), eight Super Bowl and regular-season MVP awards, six All-Pro Bowl selections, 15 Pro Bowls and multiple records - most, if not all of which will likely never be broken during his lifetime.
However, when someone meets Tom Brady outside the field, they will find a near-perpetually smiling man who is willing to bring himself down to ordinary levels. One person who can attest to that is Rob Riggle, who once shared an episode Saturday Night Live with him.
Speaking to Tom Brady's former teammate Julian Edelman on the Games with Names podcast, the comedian said (starts at 27:45):
"He was great. I actually was very proud of him. He was willing to be silly and and look for it.
"It's always interesting athletes being funny. The default mode of athletes is competition. That's where they're comfortable. In order to do comedy, you have to be willing to look foolish and most athletes, their default is I'm not (going to) looking foolish. ... He's willing to look foolish."
Rob Riggle discusses seeing Chiefs' 2018-19 AFCCG clash vs Tom Brady, Patriots in Iceland
It's no secret that Rob Riggle is a massive Kansas City Chiefs fan. He has been watching their games since 1975. Throughout that time, he has seen his fair share of heartbreak, from Mike Livingston to Alex Smith. But his last piece of agony came in the first year of the Patrick Mahomes era.
It was the 2018-19 postseason. Tom Brady was already past 40, but his New England Patriots were still the AFC's foremost team. Meanwhile, the Chiefs were experiencing a massive resurgence with their young, fast-rising quarterback and a very prolific receiving tandem of Tyreek Hill and tight end Travis Kelce.
In the same episode, Riggle described keeping tabs on this generational clash while shooting Running Wild with Bear Grylls, as follows (from 08:09):
"I'm lying there, freezing my ass off; but I have my phone. I couldn't watch it, but I could get updates. I'm sitting there in my tent. The game starts; it's, like, 1 AM.
"I'm tired (from filming); I gotta get a big sleep. But it's the Chiefs in the AFC Championship! We got a chance to be in the Super Bowl in my lifetime. I'm getting feeds every five minutes, and it's slow, and I can't figure out, like "What the (expletive) does that mean?"
The Chiefs wound up losing 37-31 in overtime. The Patriots would go on to win their sixth Super Bowl by beating the Los Angeles Rams 13-3. Mahomes and Co. finally got their Lombardi the following year, beating the San Francisco 49ers.