JJ on SNL
Houston Texans star J.J. Watt to host upcoming Saturday Night Live
Houston Texans star J.J. Watt will soon join a rare fraternity among professional athletes. Not the Pro Football Hall of Fame — Canton will have to wait a little longer to award the three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year with one of its signature gold jackets.
Instead, Watt will be hosting the February 1 episode of Saturday Night Live. The football star will be joined by musical guest Luke Combs, the up-and-coming country music star who played last year's RodeoHouston. As HoustonTexans.com notes, Watt is the 27th professional athlete to host the show, and the 11th with NFL ties.
For Watt, who's shown an interest in Hollywood with roles in movies such as Bad Girls and TV shows such as The League, a convincing performance could help propel Watt to a successful post-football career in a variety of roles. The ceiling for these sort of performances probably tops out with Peyton Manning's 2007 appearance in which he showed a surprisingly adept sense of comedic timing and poked fun at his wholesome image.
Watt had an up-and-down season for the AFC South champions Texans. He missed eight games with a torn pectoral muscle but returned to play in both of the team's playoff games. For the season, he recorded 24 tackles, four sacks, and one forced fumble.
Saturday Night Live airs locally on KPRC Channel 2 at 10:30 pm.