Stephen A. Smith ‘ain’t gonna rest’ in efforts to bring Shannon Sharpe back to ‘First Take’

As Stephen A. Smith reconfigures First Take after ESPN’s latest wave of layoffs, he is going back to what works.

Last week, Smith revealed that the show’s original host, Skip Bayless, will join the show on a monthly basis. And on Monday, Michael Irvin made his return in what will be a weekly guest role.

The average age of First Take‘s cast may be going up, but Smith is making his mark on the show once again following the exits of Ryan Clark and Cam Newton over the summer. In many ways, Smith is still trying to fill the void left by Shannon Sharpe last year.

If Smith has his way, that void may be filled by Sharpe himself. The ESPN star clearly wants Sharpe — who debated Smith on First Take twice a week in 2023 and 2024 — back on the show despite the ugly, public legal fight the podcast star went through with a former romantic partner last spring.

“During football and all of that stuff, dammit it ain’t the same without you,” Smith told Sharpe on his SiriusXM radio show Monday. “I’mma be straight up and down about it. In my perfect world, I’m getting you back. You know I ain’t gonna rest, I’mma keep trying to get you back. You know how I roll.”

This is the same tune Smith has sung since shortly after Sharpe’s departure. Despite Smith’s critical response to the lawsuit Sharpe was served with last April and initial concerns that the two had fallen out, Smith has repeatedly expressed his desire to reunite with Sharpe.

In May, a source told Awful Announcing’s Drew Lerner that a Sharpe return was “not under consideration.”

The difference here is that Smith has successfully lobbied ESPN management to bring Bayless and Irvin back on air. Both veteran television stars also have faced allegations of sexual misconduct that may have cost them their last TV jobs — Bayless’ on FS1 and Irvin’s on NFL Network.

For his part, Sharpe has largely not addressed the allegations of sexual assault he faced, or the nature of his settlement with the former partner. However, his Nightcap and Club Shay Shay podcasts have surged again in recent months. And Sharpe sounds more at peace with his mistakes and what they cost him.

“I hate that I put a lot of people in situations where they had to answer questions for me,” he told Smith on Monday. “I’m 58 years old; no one should have to answer questions for Shannon Sharpe … I put people in a position, even yourself, I had to have people answering questions for me. And I hate that I put people in that situation.”

We have speculated here at Awful Announcing for a while that Smith is greasing the wheels for Sharpe’s return, and that ESPN has left the door open by welcoming talent like Bayless and Irvin in the door. On Sharpe’s side, Smith is also intensely loyal.

Even a year-and-a-half after Disney cut ties with Sharpe and more than a year since he settled with his accuser, Smith continues to ring the bell for the Hall of Famer’s return to First Take. Each time he does it, a reunion seems more likely.