Anyone who watched Saturday Night Live’s season opener realized almost instantly that Michael Phelps, the guest host, simply isn’t cut out for this sort of thing.
As brilliant as he was in the pool in Beijing, he was just as awkward onstage in front of a live audience and television cameras. He stumbled across his lines and at times looked downright uncomfortable.
This isn’t surprising, and is always a risk tuning in when the show’s guest host is a non-actor. You never know what you’ll get.
Michael Jordan was pretty awkward, too, but his skit with Al Franken’s Stuart Smalley was so brilliant that that’s what most people remember.
Peyton Manning was pretty good, but he’s much older than Phelps (32 vs. 23), and has appeared in more commercials than the Budweiser Clydesdales.
So cut Phelps some slack, just don’t feel sorry for him. After all, he’s got eight gold medals from Beijing, he’s rich and keeping some pretty interesting company.
Now, let’s poke fun, along with Time Magazine, and see where Phelps ranks among the worst all-time SNL hosts. Interestingly, the only other athlete mentioned is Nancy Kerrigan. Not counting Carl Weathers, the man also known as Apollo Creed who played college (and pro, briefly) football.
