Stephen A. Smith, John McEnroe reportedly in talks to revive Andy Rooney segment on ’60 Minutes’

Update [8/20/2026, 1:00 p.m. ET]: Awful Announcing has learned that Stephen A. Smith is unlikely to join 60 Minutes. Our post has been updated.

It’s been 15 years since CBS’s heralded news magazine 60 Minutes signed off with a short segment from Andy Rooney. Now, under the leadership of new editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and executive producer Nick Bilton, CBS News is looking to revive the segment, albeit with some potential candidates that don’t exactly have the same sensibilities as Rooney.

According to a report by Lachlan Cartwright in his Breaker Media newsletter, ESPN star Stephen A. Smith has held discussions with CBS about potentially hosting a new version of Rooney’s “A Few Good Minutes” segment that would appear at the end of each episode of 60 Minutes. Per Cartwright, CBS has also held discussions with comedian Jerry Seinfeld (who has already declined the role) and British actor John Cleese. Awful Announcing has subsequently learned that Smith is unlikely to join 60 Minutes.

In a separate report by Charlotte Klein in New York Magazine, former tennis star and ESPN analyst John McEnroe has also been approached about the position.

The revived segment would seemingly feature a rotating panel of hosts, so it’s not as if Stephen A. or McEnroe would be closing out the show every single week.

The news comes as Weiss and Bilton have completely overhauled the cast of 60 Minutes after a summer of turmoil. Longtime correspondents Anderson Cooper, Scott Pelley, Sharyn Alfonsi, and Cecilia Vega have all departed the show; the latter three not having a choice in the matter. Cooper opted not to renew his contract which expired after last season. Behind the scenes, executive producers Tanya Simon and Draggan Mihailovich were both let go in a move by Weiss to further clean house.

Reviving the Andy Rooney segment for the new season of 60 has reportedly been in the works for months. NYU professor Scott Galloway said that Weiss approached him about a contributor role back in June before conversations turned to reprising “A Few Good Minutes.”

For what it’s worth, Rooney’s segment never intended to be hard news like many of the stories 60 Minutes chooses to cover. Rather, it’d often be lighthearted and satirical commentary; a palette cleanser after watching an hour of coverage from inside a war zone or a hard-hitting interview with a key politician.

Whether Stephen A. Smith has the levity to succeed in such a position is unclear. But if we do see Smith signing off 60 Minutes this season, we might get a much different version than we’re used to seeing on First Take. John McEnroe, on the other hand, might have the levity that Smith lacks. But would he have the breadth to do the Rooney segment justice? That much is up for debate.