Tom Brady’s astonishing football career shepherded the New England Patriots to nine Super Bowls. Though the quarterback said on his podcast this week that he isn’t nervous on the field, Brady did need a little liquid courage before hosting “Saturday Night Live.”
Brady recalled Monday on the SiriusXM show “Let’s Go!” that “SNL” executive producer Lorne Michaels rejected countless sketches he had rehearsed — mere moments before he took the stage in 2005.
“He was eating his popcorn or whatever the hell he was eating and he was like, ‘No, scratch that,’ and, ‘Not that, and not that,’” said Brady. “And I’m sitting there like, ‘Man, we go on in 10 minutes!’”
While the football star said Michaels was “so poised” and promised they would “get it right,” Brady recalled anxiously muttering: “I need tequila. I’ve got to get down. I’ve got to get changed. I need two shots of tequila before I go on. Like, let’s get this thing going, you know?”
Brady, whose appearance came after the Patriots won three of the previous four Super Bowls, nonetheless performed successfully. With rock star Beck as a musical guest, he joked at the start of “SNL” that he was more than a football player — and proceeded to sing his way through his monologue.
“When you’re in the moment … you’re not nervous because you know what’s coming,” Brady said Monday. “As long as you prepare and you’re ready to go, you know what to expect and second nature takes over. And then you just make it happen.”
Brady added that the pressure of performing live on television was akin to the final few minutes of a football game when victory isn’t certain. He said he doesn’t “really have any nerves” playing the sport and loves when others say, “That’s the guy that I want out there with me” during a championship game.
Brady also commended Michaels and the SNL cast — which at the time included Seth Meyers, Will Forte, Rachel Dratch and Tina Fey — for being “so relaxed” and said it was “amazing” how the show came together.
Brady and fashion model Gisele Bündchen, who was reportedly uneasy about his return to football after briefly retiring, divorced in October following 13 years of marriage. Now a Tampa Bay Buccaneer, Brady led his team to victory Monday — telling the press, “That was fuckin’ awesome.”
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