Big Slick celebs push for an NBA or WNBA in KC

Members of the Big Slick crew are together again in Kansas City this week after most spent a busy year in front of TV and movie cameras — something Jason Sudeikis and his celebrity co-hosts talked about as they opened the two-day event Friday.

After last year’s Big Slick, Sudeikis returned to Kansas City to film an episode for the upcoming fourth season of his hit series “Ted Lasso,” which premieres Aug. 5 on Apple TV+.

Since the last Big Slick, Paul Rudd has walked red carpets with his “Anaconda” co-star Jack Black and is currently starring in a movie with Nick Jonas, “Power Ballad,” debuting in limited release Friday and everywhere June 5.

Retired Marine Rob Riggle released a memoir, visited troops at Fort Riley, Kansas, and worked on “Jimmy,” a biographical film about actor Jimmy Stewart scheduled to debut Nov. 6.

Eric Stonestreet played a serial killer in the new “Dexter” series, married pediatric nurse Lindsay Schweitzer at their KC-area home in September and made a guest appearance on Reba McEntire’s NBC comedy, “Happy’s Place.” One of the show’s stars, Melissa Peterman, makes her debut as a Big Slick guest this weekend.

And Heidi Gardner made her Broadway debut in January and is preparing to film an indie dramedy, “The Swimming Lesson,” in Kansas City this summer. William H. Macy will play her father.

Gardner said she’s been wanting to make a film in Kansas City for a long time.

“We’ll be shooting towards the end of summer. It’s all Kansas City,” Gardner said. “I truly couldn’t believe that I got to be part of something that I really wanted to be in, that I thought was an amazing script and then they dropped it on me that they were going to shoot in Kansas City.”

One of this year’s Big Slick auction items is the chance to spend a day on the set and be an extra in the film.

Actor Will Forte, a Big Slick celebrity guest, is said to be spending August in Kansas City making a movie.

Missouri has seen an uptick in movie-making business thanks to new tax credits and other incentives — perks the state of Kansas does not currently offer.

Sudeikis referenced his time shooting “Ted Lasso” in Kansas City last July. Those crews worked on the Country Club Plaza, in a home in Lee’s Summit and around local soccer fields — all on the Missouri side, even though the fictional Coach Lasso hails from Kansas.

“I’d love to see Kansas step up … with the tax credit,” said Sudeikis, who grew up in Overland Park. “Just so when you try to film Kansas, which we did for ‘Ted Lasso,’ but we had to it in Missouri, which is fine.”

“Is that true?” Stonestreet asked.

“We did, absolutely,” said Sudeikis, who added that Kansas could bring more jobs to the state if it offered similar incentives.

Sudeikis used his Big Slick platform to make another pitch: bring pro basketball to Kansas City.

The former “Saturday Night Live” cast member is an avid basketball fan, cheering for the University of Kansas and NBA and WNBA teams. He and his two children have been photographed courtside at games.

He said one of the “great things about coming back” to Kansas City, where he still has family, is “how the city keeps reinventing itself and expanding itself and deepening itself.”

“It is always something new, whether it’s the arts, whether there’s food, there’s a new sports team every year … hopefully by Big Slick 20 there’s an NBA or WNBA team here. That would be lovely.”

“Why don’t you work on that, Jason,” Stonestreet told him.

“That’s why I just said it,” Sudeikis said.

Riggle said Kansas City is “ascending right now in every way possible. It’s really fantastic to witness … I see opportunity coming, I see growth, I see pride. When something you love is ascending, it’s pretty fantastic.”

Stonestreet, the only co-host who lives full-time in the Kansas City area, said his new wife and his family brought him back.

“I didn’t have that on my bingo card, that at 51 years old I would move back to my hometown. But my God I have enjoyed it,” he said. “It’s the people and the space and the non-traffic.”

Hollywood doesn’t understand that level of hometown pride, Stonestreet said, noting how he and his fellow co-hosts “work in a business full of cynical, sometimes pessimistic people.

“I actively have been given trouble about how much I love where I’m from. Co-stars, Julie Bowen for example, just can’t get over how much pride I have in the city that I’m from and people are always asking what is it?

“Make fun of how proud I am of Kansas State, make fun of how much I love my Kansas City Chiefs. It is a unique town and we are reflective of that when we talk about how much we love our city. Other people just don’t feel that way necessarily about their hometowns.”

“No one comes close to us in swag either, except maybe New York,” Sudeikis added, referencing the Kansas City goodies Big Slick celebrity guests take home.

“I like to think if John Lennon was still alive he’d wear an I heart KC shirt … he’d love a Charlie Hustle fit.”

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey partnered with Big Slick for the first time this year, leading to a circus theme. There is chatter about circus performers appearing at the Saturday night party and show at T-Mobile Center.

Tickets are still available at bigslickkc.org and T-MobileCenter.com.

And, when the rebooted circus comes to Kansas City in November, a portion of local ticket sales will be donated to the hospital and 250 patients and staff members will receive tickets to the shows.

Speaking of circus clowns …

When he was a little boy, Stonestreet wanted to be a circus clown. He created a clown that his dad named Fizbo, which became a recurring persona for his “Modern Family” character, Cam Tucker.

“I’m excited to see (Ringling Bros.) because they turned me down twice for clown college,” Stonestreet said. “I’m coming for you Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey.”

Uh, was he just clowning around?

Lisa Gutierrez

The Kansas City Star

Lisa Gutierrez has been a reporter for The Kansas City Star since 2000. She learned journalism at the University of Kansas, her alma mater. She writes about pop culture, local celebrities, trends and life in the metro through its people. Oh, and dogs. You can reach her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter – @LisaGinKC.