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Big Slick hosts David Koechner, Eric Stonestreet, Paul Rudd, Rob Riggle, Jason Sudeikis and Heidi Gardner answer questions ahead of the 2026 Big Slick charity event in Kansas City on Friday, May 29, 2026.<\/p>\n
emily.harter@kcstar.com<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n 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 \u2014 something Jason Sudeikis and his celebrity co-hosts talked about as they opened the two-day event Friday.<\/p>\n After last year\u2019s Big Slick, Sudeikis returned to Kansas City to film an episode for the upcoming fourth season of his hit series \u201cTed Lasso,\u201d which premieres Aug. 5 on Apple TV+.<\/p>\n Since the last Big Slick, Paul Rudd has walked red carpets with his \u201cAnaconda\u201d co-star Jack Black and is currently starring in a movie with Nick Jonas, \u201cPower Ballad,\u201d debuting in limited release Friday and everywhere June 5.<\/p>\n Retired Marine Rob Riggle released a memoir, visited troops at Fort Riley, Kansas, and worked on \u201cJimmy,\u201d a biographical film about actor Jimmy Stewart scheduled to debut Nov. 6.<\/p>\n Eric Stonestreet played a serial killer in the new \u201cDexter\u201d series<\/a>, married pediatric nurse Lindsay Schweitzer at their KC-area home in September and made a guest appearance on Reba McEntire\u2019s NBC comedy, \u201cHappy\u2019s Place.\u201d One of the show\u2019s stars, Melissa Peterman, makes her debut as a Big Slick guest this weekend.<\/p>\n And Heidi Gardner made her Broadway debut in January<\/a> and is preparing to film an indie dramedy, \u201cThe Swimming Lesson,\u201d in Kansas City this summer.<\/a> William H. Macy will play her father.<\/p>\n Gardner said she\u2019s been wanting to make a film in Kansas City for a long time.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll be shooting towards the end of summer. It\u2019s all Kansas City,\u201d Gardner said. \u201cI truly couldn\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n One of this year\u2019s Big Slick auction items is the chance to spend a day on the set and be an extra in the film.<\/a><\/p>\n Actor Will Forte, a Big Slick celebrity guest, is said to be spending August in Kansas City making a movie.<\/p>\n Missouri has seen an uptick in movie-making business thanks to new tax credits and other incentives \u2014 perks the state of Kansas does not currently offer.<\/p>\n Sudeikis referenced his time shooting \u201cTed Lasso\u201d in Kansas City last July. Those crews worked on the Country Club Plaza, in a home in Lee\u2019s Summit and around local soccer fields \u2014 all on the Missouri side, even though the fictional Coach Lasso hails from Kansas.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d love to see Kansas step up … with the tax credit,\u201d said Sudeikis, who grew up in Overland Park. \u201cJust so when you try to film Kansas, which we did for \u2018Ted Lasso,\u2019 but we had to it in Missouri, which is fine.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIs that true?\u201d Stonestreet asked.<\/p>\n \u201cWe did, absolutely,\u201d said Sudeikis, who added that Kansas could bring more jobs to the state if it offered similar incentives.<\/p>\n Sudeikis used his Big Slick platform to make another pitch: bring pro basketball to Kansas City.<\/p>\n The former \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d 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.<\/p>\n He said one of the \u201cgreat things about coming back\u201d to Kansas City, where he still has family, is \u201chow the city keeps reinventing itself and expanding itself and deepening itself.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is always something new, whether it\u2019s the arts, whether there\u2019s food, there\u2019s a new sports team every year … hopefully by Big Slick 20 there\u2019s an NBA or WNBA team here. That would be lovely.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy don\u2019t you work on that, Jason,\u201d Stonestreet told him.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why I just said it,\u201d Sudeikis said.<\/p>\n Riggle said Kansas City is \u201cascending right now in every way possible. It\u2019s really fantastic to witness … I see opportunity coming, I see growth, I see pride. When something you love is ascending, it\u2019s pretty fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n Stonestreet, the only co-host who lives full-time in the Kansas City area, said his new wife and his family brought him back.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t 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,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the people and the space and the non-traffic.\u201d<\/p>\n Hollywood doesn\u2019t understand that level of hometown pride, Stonestreet said, noting how he and his fellow co-hosts \u201cwork in a business full of cynical, sometimes pessimistic people.<\/p>\n \u201cI actively have been given trouble about how much I love where I\u2019m from. Co-stars, Julie Bowen for example, just can\u2019t get over how much pride I have in the city that I\u2019m from and people are always asking what is it?<\/p>\n \u201cMake 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\u2019t feel that way necessarily about their hometowns.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo one comes close to us in swag either, except maybe New York,\u201d Sudeikis added, referencing the Kansas City goodies Big Slick celebrity guests take home.<\/p>\n \u201cI like to think if John Lennon was still alive he\u2019d wear an I heart KC shirt … he\u2019d love a Charlie Hustle fit.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Tickets are still available at bigslickkc.org<\/a> and T-MobileCenter.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Speaking of circus clowns …<\/p>\n 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 \u201cModern Family\u201d character, Cam Tucker.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m excited to see (Ringling Bros.) because they turned me down twice for clown college,\u201d Stonestreet said. \u201cI\u2019m coming for you Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey.\u201d<\/p>\n Uh, was he just clowning around?<\/p>\n
\n Emily Harter
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