From reality TV bachelor to burgeoning comedic actor: Travis Kelce’s manager opens up about his Hollywood evolution

(CNN) — Travis Kelce really didn’t want to participate in “Catching Kelce,” the 2016 E! reality show in which 50 women – one from each state – vied for the affection of the Kansas City Chiefs tight end, who was then not a household name.

“Sign me up,” he says in the promo. But it was far from that easy, Aaron Eanes, his manager, told CNN recently.

“People didn’t really look at tight ends as ‘talent’ and so it was more of a situation where it’s like, ‘If you want to be in entertainment, you kind of need to do something that’s unexpected but it’s also going to allow you to learn,” Eanes recalled telling Kelce.

We know now Kelce didn’t find lasting love, but he did get the experience he needed to begin breaking into Hollywood.

Eanes and his twin brother Andre, who also manages Kelce, have known the three-time Super Bowl champ since he was a student at the University of Cincinnati and have helped take Kelce’s commercial career and Hollywood pursuits from reality TV to actual reality. While it has always been an ambitious fear, Eanes said it’s easy to root for Kelce, who hasn’t changed all that much since the early days of their partnership.

“(He) still is the same kind of happy-go-lucky person that just enjoys life… He’s just very grounded in who he is,” Eanes said.

It has been nearly eight years since Kelce appeared on E!, but Eanes said the football star is finally in a place where his Hollywood pursuits are guided by his innate interests.

“Travis is going to do what Travis wants to do,” Eanes said, with a laugh.

As Kelce continues to cement his status as one of the buzziest stars in the NFL, the most-watched show on television, his agents are hard at work setting him up for Hollywood success in the offseason – and his post-football future, whenever that may be.

“We have a lot of other opportunities that keep him excited. So I think ultimately, whenever he decides to stop playing, he’s going to still be plenty busy if he wants to be,” Eanes said.

In the meantime, here’s what Eanes is saying about where Kelce’s been, what he’s up to now and where he’s going in Tinseltown.

‘Moonbase 8’ (2020)

After “Catching Kelce,” Kelce didn’t take on any work off the football field until 2020.

According to Eanes, they wanted to take a beat to recalibrate.

“We wanted to wait for a project that actually was more in the line of what he would want to do, which was scripted comedy and comedy,” Eanes said.

Enter “Moonbase 8,” Showtime and A24’s space comedy that starred Tim Heidecker, Fred Armisen and John C. Reilly. Kelce’s cameo in the pilot episode was short lived, literally, because his character – a satirical version of himself – got killed off about halfway through the episode.

Nonetheless, it was an indispensable experience for Kelce.

Being able to work with Armisen, Heidecker, and Rielly and learn from them on set “gave him another idea of what it would take to be in the business,” Eanes said.

‘New Heights’ podcast (2022)

Kelce has co-hosted the “New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce” podcast with his brother, former Philadelphia Eagles star Jason Kelce, since 2022. Now in it’s third season, the brothers recently inked a multi-million-dollar agreement to bring the podcast to Amazon’s Wondery, a deal that Eanes helped broker.

“We want to make sure we’re great partners,” Eanes said. “We want to make sure we’re doing a good job in delivering value to Wondery and then growing that property.”

Delivering value is just as much of a priority to Kelce as is delivering authenticity, which is easy when you co-host a show with your brother.

The podcast, said Eanes, has “allowed him to be closer with his brother than he’s ever been.”

‘Saturday Night Live’ (2023 and 2024)

Just one month after the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl last year, Kelce braved the Studio 8H stage to make his hosting debut on “Saturday Night Live.”

It was an emotional moment for Kelce, who said during his monologue that he grew up watching the long-running sketch comedy show with his mother, Donna Kelce.

“And to be standing on this stage, whew,” Kelce said, getting choked up. “Pretty surreal.”

Kelce’s dream of hosting “SNL” harkens back to his love for comedy, according to Eanes.

“He’s a big fan of comedy, he’s a big fan of movies. He’s a big fan of just entertainment and bringing joy to people,” he said. “So whether it’s when you watch him play on the field, or whether you watch him on ‘SNL’ or if you watch him on his podcast, at the end of the day, it’s just a way for him to kind of show off his personality.”

The next time Kelce appeared on “SNL” was in October, appearing in a short cameo alongside his then-new girlfriend Swift.

‘Grotesquerie’ (2024)

Kelce has previously spoken about his love for comedy and how he’s most interested in pursuing roles in the scripted comedy space. So when it was announced that he was cast in “Grotesquerie,” a creepy new thriller from producer Ryan Murphy, it came to some as a bit of a surprise.

“He was excited by the challenge of a drama that he’d never done,” Eanes said of Kelce’s choice to sign on for Murphy’s next nightmare-inducing offering.

The draw was also working with a Hollywood producer like Murphy, who Eanes felt like Kelce was in good hands with because he is “very understanding of new talent and able to kind of have a vision for that person.”

“Because of how involved he is in the process, you can just have an understanding that you’re protected,” he added. “And so you can truly be, I would say, free in a weird way to just experience and do what you need to do.”

‘Are You Smarter than a Celebrity?’ (2024)

In October, viewers will get to see Kelce in his next big hosting gig when “Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity” debuts on Prime Video.

Taking on this opportunity was much more sentimental to Kelce than the other gigs.

“He loved game shows growing up,” Eanes said. “So I think that’s more of just being able to live out something that as a child you can see and be like, ‘Oh, I could be a game show host.’ But then fast forward and it actually comes true.”

Kelce has, indeed, spoken about his love for game shows, saying on an episode of “New Heights” that his favorite game shows to watch growing up were “The Price is Right” and “Family Feud.”

“I always wanted to be a part of it, whether I was a contestant, someone helping out or hosting one,” Kelce added.

‘Happy Gilmore 2’

With his podcast, Kelce knows he has a powerful platform. So when he spent time talking about wanting to be in Adam Sandler’s upcoming “Happy Gilmore” sequel, Sandler heard Kelce loud and clear.

In fact, Kelce and Sandler are the ones who initiated his cameo in “Happy Gilmore 2.”

“He talked to Sandler,” Eanes said, with a laugh, adding that Kelce called him after he’d agreed to be in the movie.

Like many, Eanes said that Kelce has always been a fan of Sandler’s films growing up so he was “extremely humbled” to connect with Sandler about being in the sequel, something Eanes said that Kelce considers to be a “dream come true.”

Sandler is returning to star in and co-write the long-awaited sequel to the 1996 golf comedy, which is set to stream on Netflix. A premiere date has not yet been announced.

“We’re gonna have fun because the scene you’re doing is with so many great golfers. It’s going to be amazing,” Sandler told Kelce while appearing on a recent episode of “New Heights.” “You’re going to be funny as hell.”

Turned out, reality TV was the running start Kelce needed after all. But, Eanes joked, he has no plans to return to it.

“You don’t really need a show to see what he’s doing all the time.”

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