Your Guide to KC: Star sports columnist Vahe Gregorian is changing uniforms this spring and summer, acting as a tour guide of sorts to some well-known and hidden gems of Kansas City. Send your ideas to [email protected].
When I first heard that the Big Slick Party & Show on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Center was going to revive the old “Saturday Night Live” skit best known as “Da Bears,” I was skeptical about how they’d contour it to modern times and a Kansas City audience.
But at an event that featured the spectacle of Patrick Mahomes standing on stage throwing autographed footballs auctioned for $15,000 each to Travis Kelce to deliver in the crowd, nearly half the current cast of “SNL” and endless entertainment for a wonderful cause, the act formally known as “Bill Swerski’s Super Fans” struck me as the most memorable performance of the night.
While the most significant highlight was the show-stopping “reveal” that this weekend’s efforts had raised $3,973,637 (and now $25,002,638 over 15 years) for Children’s Mercy hospital, “Da Bears” bit was downright “SNL”-worthy but all the more resonant because it was scripted for us.
From left, Paul Rudd, Eric Stonestreet and Rob Riggle thank the crowd after announcing that since it started in 2010, Big Slick has raised over $25 million for Children’s Mercy. This year alone, the event raised almost $4 million, a record. Reed Hoffmann Special to the Star
George Wendt, the “Cheers” star who graduated from Rockhurst College, reprised his old role as Bob Swerski and was joined by nephew Jason Sudeikis in an homage to Chris Farley’s Todd O’Connor. They were joined by Big Slick regular Robert Smigel (the voice of Triumph the Comic Insult Dog).
As they ribbed Kansas City and the Chiefs, Kelce wandered in and apparently offered his version of a Chicago accent as he boasted of the Super Bowl champion Chiefs.
Then it got interesting with what seemed like no subject off-limits, including kicker Harrison Butker’s controversial remarks and the Chiefs’ poor grades on the NFLPA report card.
“Happy Pride Month,” Wendt said. “Or as your kicker calls it, ‘June.’”
Noting the Chiefs’ low ratings on facilities, Sudeikis said, “Real KC fans would pick up a side hustle to help out like that ChiefsAholic guy” — who pleaded guilty to a series of bank robberies,
Added Sudeikis, perhaps best known for “Ted Lasso”: “If you don’t step up as fans, the Chiefs could leave. And then what have you got? That Sporting KC soccer team. Soccer. Soccer. … Is there anything more boring than watching a soccer game?
“Maybe you could say watching that (dumb) TV show about it.”
The Big Slick evening began with a video of “Super Fans” of “Da Bears” with, from left, Jason Sudeikis, Robert Smigel and George Wendt, who were joined by Chiefs Patrick Mahomes, standing, and Travis Kelce, far right. Watching from the T-Mobile Center stage were co-hosts Heidi Gardner, from left, Paul Rudd, Rob Riggle and Eric Stonestreet. Reed Hoffmann Special to the Star
When it was suggested that Taylor Swift could pay for a new stadium herself, her boyfriend, Kelce, smiled and said they should “pipe down” because that isn’t happening.
Then Sudeikis in character said, “When are you going to make an honest woman out of her? Taylor doesn’t need to be working any more. … Your kicker agrees with me.”
After Kelce playfully said, “you’re really pushing it,” Wendt, about on cue, responded, “Look who’s losing it just like he did in the Super Bowl.” The reference was to an enraged Kelce rushing into coach Andy Reid.
Big Slick co-host Paul Rudd, left, and Chiefs star Travis Kelce celebrate a win by their team in the hot wings trivia contest at the Big Slick Party & Show. Reed Hoffmann Special to the Star
Joined by Mahomes moments later, Kelce got the last laugh after Da Bears crew griped that Mahomes gets all the calls from the refs.
“He gets just about every call you can think of,” Kelce said, pausing for effect and adding, “except this one time on draft day there was this team …”
Da Bears, that is, who traded up to draft Mitch Trubisky instead of taking Mahomes.
No wonder Sudeikis, wearing a Bulls’ Scottie Pippen jersey and having to hold on a fake mustache much of the time, started beating on his chest a la the Farley version of the character.
When the skit was over, co-host Heidi Gardner called it “the best thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” She later called joining Sudeikis, Rob Riggle, Paul Rudd, Eric Stonestreet and David Koechner (who was unable to attend on Saturday because of a family commitment) as hosts was “the biggest honor of my life.”
“Saturday Night Live” cast members were out in force for the Big Slick Party & Show on Saturday. Before their team competed in a hot wings trivia contest, they posed for a selfie: from left, Ego Nwodim, Punkie Johnson, Big Slick co-host Heidi Gardner, Devon Walker, James Austin Johnson and Molly Kearney. Reed Hoffmann Special to the Star
She drove some $180,000 to the cause by auctioning off an “SNL” experience — which she joked included spending “the night at my apartment.” Three castmates offered up their own show tickets as well, so four experiences sold at $45,000 apiece.
Sudeikis auctioned off a trip to New York with him the very next day to see WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark play, raising the ante to $35,000 by saying, “I didn’t realize Kansas City was this sexist” when the bidding was slow early.
Travis Kelce had to be helped into a No. 87 jersey by Eric Stonestreet, left, and Paul Rudd as Patrick Mahomes squeezed into his at the Big Slick Party & Show on Saturday. The jerseys were part of an NFL package that sold for $250,000. Reed Hoffmann Special to the Star
Mahomes and Kelce helped drive the score of the night, though, when they lent their signed jerseys to an NFL experience offered by the NFL Network that ended up going for $250,000 to Brian and Katherine Schell.
Travis Kelce tends to Rob Riggle after he “collapsed” because an NFL package sold for $250,000 during the Big Slick Party & Show on Saturday at the T-Mobile Center. To the right of Kelce are quarterback Patrick Mahomes and co-host Eric Stonestreet. Reed Hoffmann Special to the Star
Chiefs Travis Kelce, left, and Patrick Mahomes flanked Brian and Katherine Schell, winners of an NFL package that included the players’ jerseys. Reed Hoffmann Special to the Star
Moments later, the duo was back in action with Mahomes throwing 10 or so passes to Kelce in the crowd — including one Kelce caught precariously near a table and another by boards ringing the floor.
It may be the offseason, but Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce went to work catching passes from quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Each autographed ball sold for $15,000. Reed Hoffmann Special to the Star
The show lasted some 3 hours, 30 minutes with virtually no pause in the action and will be highlighted Monday on “Today,” whose own Al Roker was back as a guest again this year.
Among the other performers were singers Tech N9ne, sporting a Chiefs’ T-shirt, and David Cook, the Blue Springs native, clad in a Royals hat and a Buck O’Neil T-shirt.
Missouri native Sheryl Crow performed her hits at the Big Slick Party & Show. Reed Hoffmann Special to the Star
Missouri’s own Sheryl Crow launched into her hit “All I Wanna Do” by tweaking some of the opening words: “This ain’t no disco, it’s the Big Slick.”
The Impractical Jokers and comedian Fortune Feimster also connected with the crowd.
And Kumail Nanjiani resonated with his riff on the meaning of true rivalries, rendering the “Burrowhead” kerfuffle with the Bengals a triviality compared to Pakistan and India.
“That’s a (expletive) rivalry,” he said. “Arrowhead, Burrowhead; we have warheads pointed at each other.”
After his stand-up act, comedian Kumail Nanjiani asked Patrick Mahomes to join him for a selfie, all to impress Nanjiani’s dad. Reed Hoffmann Special to the Star
He started his stint with a story about how impressed his father was with Chiefs’ quarterback … Peter Malone.
And he ended it by asking “Malone” to pose for a selfie he suggested would make for his proudest moment with his father.
Comedian Jeff Ross, with mic, roasted the Kansas City Chiefs’ George Karlaftis and other members of the audience during the Big Slick Party & Show. Reed Hoffmann Special to the Star
Fresh off his grilling of Tom Brady, so-called Roastmaster General Jeff Ross largely was too crude to quote in a family newspaper or online edition. Wince-inducing at times, hilarious at others and sometimes both at once. Among his targets was Chiefs’ defensive end George Karlaftis, who was one of eight volunteers to take the stage for what Ross called a speed roast. When Karlaftis mentioned he played football, Ross said, “We guessed that just by your face. Have you tried using a face mask on your helmet?”
By the end of his act, he called Karlaftis a hero for his willingness to participate.
The Big Slick hosts, from left: Paul Rudd, Heidi Gardner, Eric Stonestreet, Jason Sudeikis and Rob Riggle. Reed Hoffmann Special to the Star
But the night was all about the real heroes at Children’s Mercy, a cause all involved in Big Slick are so moved to serve.
Star sports columnist Vahe Gregorian is changing uniforms this spring and summer, acting as a tour guide of sorts to some well-known and hidden gems of Kansas City. Send your ideas to [email protected].
This story was originally published June 2, 2024, 3:32 AM.
Vahe Gregorian has been a sports columnist for The Kansas City Star since 2013 after 25 years at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He has covered a wide spectrum of sports, including 10 Olympics. Vahe was an English major at the University of Pennsylvania and earned his master’s degree at Mizzou.
