Peyton Manning, Kelly Clarkson Will Help Host Olympic Opening Ceremony
NBC is going to have an interesting lineup of hosts for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics opening ceremony which will include NFL great Peyton Manning and singer/contest-winner/woman whose name Steve Carell yells while getting his chest waxed in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Kelly Clarkson.
Manning and Clarkson will join NBC Sports Mike Tirico — one of the best in the biz in my opinion; the man can call anything — in the booth to kick off the games.
"I’m extremely honored to have a front row seat," Manning told the Associated Press. "Kelly and I are both fans of the athletes and the opening ceremony of years past.
"I think there’ll be a lot of emotions for these athletes. I look forward to finding out those stories between now and July and maybe sharing that with the audience."
Unfortunately, one of those emotions will be boredom. That's because this year's opening ceremony will consist of a boat parade (or as I'm calling it, a "snooze cruise") down the Seine.
Peyton Manning is a funny dude and Kelly Clarkson… well, I know she has a talk show and they don't just hand those out to anyone. This is to say that they should do a pretty decent job on the call alongside Tirico.
Our goal and desire is for Peyton and Kelly to be Peyton and Kelly. Just be who they are," the voice of NBC Sunday Night Football said. "So many people have come to know, love and trust these two. Having them there as part of this really speaks to what this event is. It’s under the umbrella of sports. The gathering is because of sports. But it’s really a cultural celebration."
But how much will they be able to pump up watching people slowly ride down a river on boats?
They say you can't polish a turd. Well, you can't make a boat parade not boring, and that, unfortunately, is Manning, Clarkson, and Tirico's duty come July.
Maybe I'll be wrong and this will end up being the most kick-ass boat parade the world has ever seen, but the competition for that title isn't exactly stiff.