Los Angeles Times - 01.08.2019

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PRESENTEDBY

Manning wasn’t kidding.
He takes his comedy seri-
ously.
That was abundantly
clear this summer when
Manning spent a jam-
packed day in Chicago
shooting multiple segments
of his new 30-episode docu-
mentary series, “Peyton’s
Places.” It was one of his
many stops around the
country for the ESPN+
show, a mostly irreverent
look at the history of the
NFL through conversations
with players, coaches and
other key figures as the
league heads into its 100th
season.
Produced by NFL Films
in collaboration with
ESPN+, the network’s di-
rect-to-consumer streaming
service, “Peyton’s Places”
debuted this week and will
be presented in five chap-
ters, each consisting of six
episodes.
It’s also a resurfacing of
one of the most popular ath-
letes of this era, someone
who largely had flown under
the radar during the last
three-plus years since his re-
tirement. Manning had his
pick of opportunities. He
could have gone to the
broadcast booth or been a
studio analyst, but those
doors will always be un-
locked for him. He wanted to
do something different, and
that meant telling some of
the hidden, curious, and co-
medic stories in his own
style.
“It’s everything that I
thought it was going to be,
and just the little things that
I’ve gotten to be a part of,” he
said. “I just knew that I was
never going to get to do this
again. It’s been worth the
travel and the time.”
Manning has been all
over. He was at Kezar Sta-
dium in San Francisco, one-
time home of the 49ers. He
went to Dallas to better
understand Sammy Baugh
and what it meant to be a
two-way player, with Deion
Sanders putting him
through defensive back
drills. He checked out the
field in Pittsburgh where
Johnny Unitas played for $6
a game.
At the Rose Bowl, Man-
ning tried to re-create the
“Immaculate Reception” —
even though it happened in
Pittsburgh — but also sat
with legendary Steelers
quarterback Terry Brad-
shaw and discussed his Su-
per Bowl victory over the
Rams on that field.
“He’s basically telling us,
‘Yeah, I hit [Lynn] Swann
here on the post,’ ” Manning
said. “He remembered
where his parents were sit-
ting. We’ve got this great clip
of him kind of pointing to his
family sitting right where
they were.”
In Los Angeles, he met
with Eric Dickerson and
they chatted about the Hall
of Fame running back’s sea-
son rushing record. Man-
ning met with Jim Brown
too.
“Talking about Cleve-
land, I asked Jim Brown,
‘Jim, what was better, win-
ning the championship in ’64
with the Browns or doing a
love scene with Raquel
Welch?’ ” he said. “He said,
‘Hey, Peyton, I thought you

were a smart quarterback.’ ”

Even in retirement, Man-

ning runs his life the way he

ran a two-minute offense.

There’s always a plan, and

he seldom stops moving. It

can drive his wife crazy.

“I kind of have my next

year planned, more so than

Ashley would like,” he said.

“I asked her the other day,

‘On Feb.3, what are we do-

ing?’ She’s like, ‘I’m just

dealing with today.’ I have a

planner; I’m a year out.

“I may have missed my

calling. Maybe I should for-

get this staying-close-to-

football thing and just be-

come what I was meant to

be: an event planner.”

The spin through Chi-

cago was frenetic. First stop,

Wrigley Field. Everyone

knows it as the iconic home

of the Chicago Cubs, but

that’s where the Bears

played for nearly 50 years,

from 1921 to 1970.

Manning had a sit-down

interview with 96-year-old

Bears owner Virginia Halas

McCaskey — she clearly

found him polite and charm-

ing — then a walk around the

park with Cubs manager Joe

Maddon and third baseman

Kris Bryant. They talked

about the challenge of wedg-

ing a football field into the

ballpark, which was nothing

compared to cramming a

football team into the ven-

ue’s musty and microscopic

football locker room.

Manning might have

loved to stay and chat, but

he was off to Navy Pier to

meet legendary Bears coach

Mike Ditka for a boat ride on

the Chicago River to the site

of the SS Eastland disaster,

where in 1915 the ship rolled

on its side while tied to a

dock, and 844 passengers

and crew drowned. A young

George Halas was supposed

to be aboard but showed up

late. Halas would go on to

found the Decatur Staleys,

then move them to Chicago

and change their name to

the Bears. He was among

the NFL’s founding fathers.

Ditka, for one, wasn’t de-

lighted to be on a boat. “He

hates them,” confided his

wife, Diana, who was along

for the ride. “He would only

do this for Peyton.”

The sight of Manning and

Ditka at the I’m-the-king-of-

the-world bow of the boat

caused quite a stir among

the people on shore and the

passengers of passing boats.

Suddenly, Second City was

Doubletake City.

Manning, meanwhile,

was nailing his lines on the

first take. He doesn’t like to

waste time, not his own or

that of the production crew.

It’s clear he has done his

homework. To a large ex-

tent, he treats this assign-

ment in the same serious

way he approached football

“You’ve seen examples of

other people take on some-

thing in that role, and they

go, ‘Whoa, I didn’t know it

was going to be this,’ ” he

said. “I guess it’s because of

my respect for the profes-

sion and the game, because I

know what it is. It’s not two

feet in, it’s your whole body

in. It’s a full plunge.”

The final stop of the day

was Soldier Field, where

Manning donned a Walter

Payton jersey and shot a “Da

Bears” skit with George

Wendt and Robert Smigel,

the superfans from “Sat-

urday Night Live.”

“Peyton’s just naturally

funny,” said Smigel, known

for his “TV Funhouse” car-

toon shorts on “SNL” and for

being the puppeteer and

voice behind Triumph the

Insult Comic Dog. “I know a

good commercial director

can get a lot out of even a

non-pro — I’ve seen athletes

from Marv Throneberry to

Hakeem Olajuwon seem to

exhibit perfect timing and

comic takes. But Peyton’s

done it so many times.”

Manning’s older brother,

Cooper, who does his own ir-

reverent football segments

on Fox, said he doesn’t think

of Peyton as a born comedi-

an as much as an observer

who appreciates and takes

keen note of the craft.

“I would say his comedy

skills are similar to his sing-

ing skills,” Cooper said. “He

appreciates other people’s

talent, but I wouldn’t say

that Peyton’s a really funny

person. But he does appreci-

ate comedy, and he under-

stands what’s funny and

what’s not, and the timing of

it.

“He can tell stories, and

he likes the uncomfortable

things that happen and can

translate it to a crowd of 10 or

an audience of thousands.

But he’s not a comedian by

any stretch.”

But there are those clas-

sic comedies that all three of

the Manning brothers regu-

larly quote. When Eli left for

college, Peyton gave him

VHS tapes to study — the

same one he later assigned

to his Colts teammates.

“Peyton and I come from

the same era, and my dad

loves the movie ‘Vacation,’ ”

Cooper said of Archie.

“This is probably the

worst decision my parents

ever made, but they moved a

pretty nice-sized TV and a

VCR into my room at a very

young age. That altered my

acceptance letters in college.

Too much useless informa-

tion. The fact that I know

Lumpy from ‘Leave It to

Beaver’ is Frank Bank is not

something I’m proud of. I

watched too much televi-

sion.”

Peyton is clear about

this: He’s not looking to be-

come a full-time comedian.

“I’ve always kind of kept

the, ‘Hey, I’m a football guy

doing these commercials,’ ”

he said. “Don’t insult the

word acting by saying I’m

good at acting.

“I’ve always tried to stay

in my lane.”

Manning tells league’s story in own style

[NFL,from D1]

PEYTON MANNING TALKS to Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon and third baseman Kris Bryant at

Wrigley Field, the longtime home of the Cubs, but also to the NFL’s Bears for nearly 50 years.

Photographs by Sam FarmerLos Angeles Times

MANNINGtakes a walk at Soldier Field. He also spent some “Peyton’s Places”

time in Chicago with former Bears coach Mike Ditka on a boat at Navy Pier.

‘It’s everything that I thought it was going to be, and just the little things that

I’ve gotten to be a part of. I just knew that I was never going to get to do this again.’

—PEYTONMANNING,on his 30-episode documentary series

REMEMBER DA BEARS?Manning talks to Robert Smigel, one of the superfans

on “Saturday Night Live” who lived and died with their favorite team.