SNL’s Punkie Johnson Once Got Travis Kelce Into Show’s Afterparty When He Wasn’t ‘On the List’

Travis Kelce has graced the Saturday Night Live stage more than once, but that doesn’t give him a guaranteed invite to the show’s afterparty.

“The crazy thing was he came to the show [and] we saw him at the show and then he goes to the afterparty, and he’s just looking,” Punkie Johnson recalled during the Tuesday, January 23, episode of Late Night With Seth Meyers. “And I was like, ‘Oh, that’s Travis Kelce.’ And [security was] sitting up there like, ‘You can’t get in, bro. You’re not on the list.’”

Johnson, who has been a featured player on SNL since 2020, was surprised that Kelce, 34, didn’t “[list] his résumé” of accomplishments to help his cause.

“[Because] I’m on SNL [and] I’m, like, a D-list celebrity,” Johnson, 38, quipped. “I would have been like, ‘I’m on SNL! I know [executive producer] Lorne Michaels!’ But he was just sitting up there, just being so innocent, like, ‘Oh, my God, should I call someone?’”

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Johnson decided to give Kelce a hand, explaining to the bouncers that he is a “Super Bowl champion” and “the greatest tight end in the daggone NFL.”

“I was like, ‘He’s on my list! Come on, Travis,’” she joked. “And then, I guess we became, like, friends. I made him take pictures. Well, forceful friends. I’m like, ‘You’re gonna take pictures with me every time you see me, I’m gonna be heavily a part of your life, we’re having children together. Like, you owe me for this party forever, bro.’”

While Johnson didn’t reveal when the party in question took place, Kelce previously hosted the show in February 2023 shortly after winning his second Super Bowl with the Kansas City Chiefs. (His team beat the Philadelphia Eagles, including his brother, Jason Kelce, during the championship.)

“The coolest thing about this Super Bowl was that my whole family was there. I got to play against my brother Jason, who is an Eagle, and my mom was on TV more than both of us,” Travis joked in his SNL monologue. “My mom, dad and brother are all here tonight.”

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Several months later, Travis returned to the SNL stage for a surprise cameo. He appeared in a sketch poking fun at the NFL’s overarching coverage of his girlfriend, Taylor Swift, attending his football games. (Swift, 34, has been dating Kelce since summer 2023 and went to her first game that September.)

“I don’t even remember what I said, I blacked out,” Travis quipped of his second SNL experience during an October 2023 episode of his “New Heights” podcast. “As soon as they cued to me, the entire place erupted, which was very overwhelming and I’m not even sure if I said anything. … Everyone was like, ‘No, you killed it.’ I watched it over and I still don’t really know if I said what I was supposed to.”

Travis was joined by Swift, who gave a surprise introduction to musical guest Ice Spice that night. The couple were later spotted holding hands after they left the show.