The format of Monday Night Football with Peyton & Eli, aka the ManningCast, is largely the same as it was for its debut in the 2021 NFL season.
Most notably, the ManningCast still flows without a traditional host. The Super Bowl champion quarterbacks use their chemistry as brothers and buddies to talk through the game and interview guests from the worlds of football and entertainment.
According to a new story in The Athletic, that idea came from NFL Network’s Kyle Brandt.
When Brandt auditioned to serve as the host of the alt-cast, he quickly realized the show was in good hands without him.
“The second I stopped talking, Peyton was like Mozart picking up the baton,” Brandt told Zak Keefer and Dan Duggan of The Athletic.
Brandt recalled phoning the lead exec of Peyton’s Omaha Productions, Jamie Horowitz, to relay his discovery.
“Don’t hire me,” Brandt said he told Horowitz. “Don’t hire anyone. They’re incredible at this.”
Brandt believed the brothers had such great instincts for football talk and humor that even the best host in all of showbiz would be rendered useless.
“It could’ve been David Letterman, Ed Sullivan, Johnny Carson, it didn’t matter,” Brandt told Keefer and Duggan. “The show didn’t need a host.”
While ESPN’s Mina Kimes was also in contention to host the ManningCast, ultimately Horowitz and the Mannings took Brandt’s advice and rolled with the two-man weave. In the years since, Eli has slowly become more of a mediator. The two have also learned how to interrupt guests and when to lock into the game, but the blueprint worked.
It worked out for Brandt and Kimes as well. Sure, a starring gig alongside football’s royal family would look good on the resume. But Brandt remains a major voice in NFL media on Good Morning Football, while Kimes is a panelist on NFL Live and First Take in addition to her own popular podcast, produced in partnership with Omaha.
Perhaps in the future, the Mannings may change their mind or ESPN could intervene and insert a host. For now, Brandt’s instincts are working.
