‘I don’t think Peyton and I talked for a few weeks after that’ – Memorable ESPN commercial wasn’t a fun experience for Eli Manning
One of the most memorable sports commercials in TV history is easily ESPN’s “This is SportsCenter” commercial from over 15 years ago that featured Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Archie Manning, and Cooper Manning. The commercial shows the Mannings taking a tour around the ESPN facilities. While Archie and Cooper (who is dressed hilariously bad) pay […]
One of the most memorable sports commercials in TV history is easily ESPN’s “This is SportsCenter” commercial from over 15 years ago that featured Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Archie Manning, and Cooper Manning.
The commercial shows the Mannings taking a tour around the ESPN facilities. While Archie and Cooper (who is dressed hilariously bad) pay attention to the tour, Peyton and Eli get involved in some brotherly hijinks.
Here’s the famous commercial.
Things got dicey between Tennessee Vols legend and Pro Football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning and his little brother Eli
Eli joined the We Need a Fourth podcast this week (which is co-hosted by Cooper) and he shared some behind-the-scenes stories about that famous ESPN commercial.
“I’m giving Peyton a wet willie, of course, and after the fifth wet willie he’s getting, it’s like, alright, I think we got it,” explained Eli. “I’m like, no, no, I need to go one more. I gotta really lube this one up. He definitely had an ear infection after that commercial.
“After that, they’re like, alright, we’ll move into him (Peyton) punching you in the shoulder. I’m like, I wish we would have done the punching first, because now I know he’s just going to wail away and just rip into my right shoulder. And at some point — I want to get the outtakes — at some point, I was like hey, don’t hit me so hard. Like, you’ve hit me in my right shoulder — I got practice tomorrow. Please don’t hit me. Of course, the next one is the hardest one, and we just went at it. I’m like, tackling him, running into the walls. The pictures on the walls are moving. They had to separate us.”
“It was not a whole lot of acting,” added Eli. “It wasn’t a whole lot of fun. I don’t think Peyton and I talked for a few weeks after that commercial.”
Classic brother stuff.
As for Cooper’s bad fashion choices in the commercial (Hawaiian shirt and loafers), he explained how that came about during the conversation with Eli.
“We had driven up to Bristol to film that,” said Cooper. “And I’m looking at the lines, and I have, of course, no lines. They have kind of a costume area, or whatever, you know, wardrobe area. And [Eli] has on Giants stuff and [Peyton] has Colts stuff. And I’m looking, and there’s the ugliest Hawaiian shirt I’ve ever seen. I go, ‘I’m wearing this’. And Peyton goes, ‘No way’. I go, ‘I think I am’. And Peyton goes, ‘I dare you’. Oh, he dares me, okay. So if you ever notice, I’m wearing like a see through Hawaiian shirt, some cargo shorts and some loafers. I look like I was trying out for the ugliest tourist at Disneyland, and I nailed it.”
I guess the Mannings didn’t need acting lessons for that commercial. It sounds like they were completely themselves, and they nailed it.
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