Doyel: The evolution of Pat McAfee continues

The first comedy show, that was Pat McAfee’s idea. This one, the one a few days ago? The one that will be shown on national television in 2½ weeks?

Not his idea.

McAfee is the Indianapolis Colts punter, but he’s a lot more than that right now, and someday his time in the NFL – as perhaps the most perfect kicking specimen ever created – won’t be the most interesting line on his resume. He’s just that guy, you know? What he does, it’s fascinating. Partly because he tries to be fascinating, and partly because he can’t help it.

Like the time he drunkenly dived into the canal in Broad Ripple.

Allegedly.

But I digress.

Back to the comedy show, the one this past week, and the way it came to pass. To skip ahead, understand that tickets went on sale last week and were sold out in 15 seconds. Not minutes. Fifteen seconds. And that, for a show that didn’t exist until NBC called Pat McAfee last week and asked him to perform an entire comedy show just so they could splice four minutes of it and air it Dec. 6 during the pregame build-up to the Colts’ date with the Pittsburgh Steelers on "Sunday Night Football."

See, NBC heard about McAfee’s first show, the one in Carmel this summer. NBC heard McAfee killed it. NBC wanted to air some clips from that show on Dec. 6.

NBC got the DVD of the Carmel show.

NBC realized it couldn’t use any of it.

“Too much cursing,” McAfee was telling me this week.

So here’s what NBC did: It called McAfee last week and asked him to put on another comedy show. Just make one from scratch, NBC was saying. No time to prepare, really. No venue. No date. Just find a time and a place, and find it fast – the Colts’ game at Pittsburgh is coming up quickly, and NBC needs to see the footage ASAP to see if it’s worth using.

McAfee’s people – he has people; he’s a corporation all by himself – called Morty’s Comedy Joint and asked for an evening at the club. Morty’s said yes, doing the show for the outreach and publicity, not for profit, donating ticket proceeds toward the non-profit U.S. military support group Wish For Our Heroes.

McAfee and the club announced on Twitter the sale of 200 tickets.

Gone, in 15 seconds.

“Blew me away,” McAfee says.

All that was left? Creating a comedy show. From scratch. In about four days.

“Ninety minutes, Doyel,” McAfee was telling me about the task he faced. “Ninety minutes on stage.”

It’s not easy, not for anyone, though McAfee made it seem that way this summer in Carmel, when he did two nights of comedy in front of 1,300 fans at the Palladium – his headliner debut – his biggest step yet toward a post-playing career.

McAfee walked off the stage in Carmel asking anyone – asking me – “How was it?” Because he didn’t know. Because he had no frame of reference.

This time, this show at Morty’s, McAfee walked off the stage and he knew.

“Killed it,” he says.

The shows were completely different – Carmel a series of R-rated stories from McAfee’s life, Morty’s a mixture of PG-rated stories and original jokes McAfee wrote with help from a friend, Andy Stayer, during the bye week.

What happened Tuesday was the next step in the evolution of Pat McAfee, whose leg is so enormous that he could punt past age 40 if he wants – Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri is 42 and blasting 55-yarders – but whose personality is so enormous that he could leave the game well before then. It’s difficult to imagine an NFL player earning as much after his career as he earns during it, but the exception does come along. Former New York Giants defensive end Michael Strahan reportedly earns more as a morning television personality than he did in his final year ($4.5 million) with the Giants in 2008.

Next will be McAfee, whether he’s a comedian or a talk-show host or an ESPN anchor or whatever it is he does in the future. He'll do it so well that the next generation will be shocked to learn – as some folks earlier this year were surprised to learn about Frank Gifford – that once upon a time, Pat McAfee was one of the best football players in the world.

And not just one of the funniest.

Find Star columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar or at www.facebook.com/gregg.doyel.