NBC Sports’ Mike Tirico will have some pretty heady company during the opening ceremony at this year’s Summer Olympics in Paris.
On the Tuesday episode of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” Tirico was joined by Kelly Clarkson and Peyton Manning to announce they would host the festivities.
“It’s an honor to be able to announce for the first time anywhere that this year, at the Summer Olympics in Paris, the opening ceremony will be hosted by yours truly, Peyton Manning and Kelly Clarkson,” Tirico said as the crowd erupted in applause.
“I’m so glad we can say it. We’ve been holding this,” Clarkson added.
Manning said the experience would be special because he told his mother in high school that he would take her to Paris one day, and he was finally living up to his promise.
“Thirty years to the time I graduated, I’m taking my mom to Paris for the Olympics,” he said.
When is the Olympic opening ceremony and how to watch
This will mark the fourth time Tirico has hosted the opening ceremony, slated for July 26 on NBC, Peacock and Telemundo, which share a parent company with NBC News. Clarkson and Manning will make their debut as Olympic hosts. The ceremony will be held along the Seine River, marking the first time the opening ceremony for the Summer Olympics will not be held in a stadium.
“The opening ceremony’s going to be so different and unique, down the Seine, down the river, with the athletes on a boat,” Tirico told Fallon. “So, it’s not the stadium where they walk in. It’ll incorporate Paris.”
And while the three of them will oversee the opening ceremony, Tirico did his best to persuade Fallon to host the closing festivities with him.
“Do I have to get on my knee? Will you say yes?” Tirico asked him.
“Are you serious? Is this real? I’m in!” he said, as the audience, along with Tirico, Manning and Clarkson, went wild.
He got up from behind his desk and stood with the other three.
“The dream team right here!” he exclaimed.
Clarkson herself had some fun at the idea of being part of an unlikely trio with Manning and Tirico.
“You will never see these three individuals do anything else together. This is the most random thing that they’ve done, and I am down for the ride, people,” she said before welcoming them on her daytime talk show on March 13.