Travis Kelce‘s character was finally introduced on Grotesquerie — but who does he play?
During the third episode, which aired on Wednesday, October 2, Lois (Niecy Nash) is leaving the hospital when she runs into an orderly.
“Ed Lachlan. But you can call me Eddie,” Kelce, 34, says as he introduces himself on the hit FX series. “Something tells me when you are done with your cigarette break, you will want to get out of here. But I don’t blame you.”
Kelce’s character continues to flirt with Lois while warning her that she shouldn’t drive while drunk, adding, “You are oddly beautiful or beautifully odd. I can’t figure it out but I sure want to. [That pick-up line works] only when it is true.”
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Ed warns Lois that he is “not allowed out there” before she leaves the hospital on her own. She later ends up in an accident while behind the wheel, which quickly reunites her with Ed. In a scene straight out of a rom-com, Ed then helps bust Lois out of the hospital and the pair drive away in a red convertible.
It remains to be seen whether Ed is real — or just a figment of Lois’ imagination — as she continued to drink more and more in this week’s episodes of Grotesquerie. He reappears in the fourth episode to take Lois to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting before sharing his own experience with substance abuse — and how he hit rock bottom. Lois subsequently asks him to look after her daughter later in the episode.
Grotesquerie marks Kelce’s acting debut after he rose to stardom as a tight end for The Kansas City Chiefs. Kelce is also set to host Prime Video’s upcoming game show Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity? and has a role in Happy Gilmore 2.
Fans were initially given minimal information about Kelce’s involvement in the show.
“Right now, I’m just taking it scene by scene and trying to make sure that I remember my lines. Like I said, I’m very amaetur at this,” Travis said on his and brother Jason Kelce’s “New Heights” podcast about the opportunity in May. “Hopefully I don’t bomb this for [Ryan]. It sounds like everything is going as planned, and I can’t thank him enough for just this opportunity because I’m sure there’s actors out there who have been in the acting world that would die for an opportunity to work with Ryan, and I’m getting it in, really, my first gig ever. So it’s pretty unique and pretty cool.”
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Travis teased that he has a “big role” in the show.
“The biggest difference from being outside of the acting world and starting to get into it, is you’re very much in tune with scenes. You don’t want to get so much caught up with the lines, you want to be in the scene with whoever you’re acting with, right?” he added. “I started off thinking, ‘Man, just memorize your lines. Memorize your lines.’ But [the] reality of things is you want to be able to take that scene from one point to the next and portray exactly what the scene’s meaning is.”
Travis’ Grotesquerie costars had nothing but praise after working with him. Micaela Diamond recalled the athlete coming in “so game” to work on the show, exclusively telling Us Weekly in September, “We all were just like, ‘Let’s make a TV show.’ That’s something Niecy [Nash] said all the time. There’s part of this that’s just play. We’re just playing and [Travis] can do that.”
Diamond called Travis a committed “team player” on set. “This was my first big TV show and also his,” she added. “So we were in it together trying to soak up as much as we could and be inspired by the veteran actors around us and listen and respond.”
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Raven Goodwin, meanwhile, referred to Travis as a “great guy.”
“Everybody [on set] was FaceTiming their kids like, ‘Look who I’m with,’” she recalled to Us. “But he was gracious and sweet and kind and very tall.”
Grotesquerie airs on FX Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET. New episodes stream on Hulu the next day.
