How Peyton Manning leveraged NFL popularity into one of the most bizarre SNL skits of all time: “Get your head out of your a**”

Peyton Manning can deliver jokes almost as well as throwing touchdowns. The Manningcast reminds fans of the former in modern times but the superstar quarterback was splitting sides long before. Every so often, fans get a look back at the infamous skit he delivered in which he was going too tough on kids in a backyard football game.

In the short video aired on SNL, the quarterback is seen yelling at kids, throwing a football at the back of a child's head, and sending them to timeout in a nearby porta-potty.

Many would agree that the clip likely wouldn't survive in 2023, but when it originally aired, it was deemed hilarious by NFL fans across the country seemingly almost ubiquitously. At the time of writing, the top-liked comment on the post is a fan mourning the loss of sense of humor in the world today.

Here's the clip and some of what Manning said in it, courtesy of Snapback Sports on Instagram:

"Get your head out of your a**. You suck... I can't even look at you. You know what, go sit in the porta-potty for 20 minutes. That's right. You stay in there. Why is the door open? Close the door. Stay in there. I'm sorry, do you want to lose? I throw, you catch. It's not that hard. Okay. Alright... Get the f*** out of here."

Of course, it being Peyton Manning, there was no public blowback at the time and there hasn't really been any since. However, even back then, an unknown actor running through these lines might have left fans of the show scarred and it might have gotten slammed on news programs the following Monday morning.

Instead, because it was Peyton Manning, one of the top faces of the NFL not named Tom Brady, he got a pass and even applauded for throwing a ball at the back of a kid's head. Put simply, times have changed and seemingly not even the greatest stars could get away with making fun of harsh behavior with children in 2023, but they appeared to in the mid-2000s for the select few at the top of the pecking order.

Peyton Manning's career revisited

Peyton Manning at Washington Football Team v Denver Broncos

The skit aired in 2007, according to Colts Wire and landed smack-dab in the middle of his career. Drafted in 1998, the quarterback played through the end of the 2015 season. After the skit aired, Peyton Manning would go on to play three more complete seasons before suffering a catastophic neck injury that kept him out of football for the entire 2011 season.

The Indianapolis Colts decided it was time to move in a new direction and Manning joined the Denver Broncos. With the Broncos, he went to two Super Bowls, and won the game once in what would be his final game in the NFL.

In total, he went 186-79-0 in his career, throwing for 539 touchdowns and 251 interceptions. To this day, he is the record holder for throwing the highest number of touchdowns in a season in NFL history with 55 touchdowns.