LOS ANGELES \u2014\u00a0Terry Bradshaw spills a cup of coffee, but Curt Menefee doesn\u2019t flinch. Menefee leans toward a tray not visible on television for some tissue to help clean up as Bradshaw continues to make a point about the Cincinnati Bengals<\/a>.<\/p>\n Howie Long helps with the cleanup, and Bradshaw keeps talking. Jimmy Johnson listens intently.<\/p>\n Menefee then ribs Bradshaw about needing another cup of coffee, and Johnson uses coffee as a transition to talk about the Baltimore Ravens<\/a> and Seattle Seahawks<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cSo Terry spills coffee on live TV \u2026 now, how do you react?\u201d Menefee said shortly after while sitting in a dressing room at Fox Studios. \u201cInstead of going into panic mode, we made it part of the show, and we laughed it off and had some fun with it.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s a funny moment in the studio. And Menefee, the longtime sports personality for Fox Sports, would tell you he has one of the most fun jobs in the world as the host of \u201cFox NFL<\/a> Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n It might be coffee one day. The next day, Johnson might get fired up talking about a coaching situation, or Long might have a passionate discussion about the Raiders<\/a>, a franchise he played with for 13 seasons. Michael Strahan is as busy as anyone on the show with his multiple television jobs. He can be funny, or he can be dialed in and serious when discussing football. If the show had a script, it would go off-script most of the time.<\/p>\n But someone has to keep the show flowing. That\u2019s where Menefee steps in.<\/p>\n His colleagues call him a friend, therapist and a point guard of sorts on the show. Menefee, 58, is in his 18th season as host of a show that\u2019s all about football but might be best known for the wacky moments that make viewers laugh.<\/p>\n Menefee is not just the host; he\u2019s the straightforward personality in an NFL comedy troupe.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople never go, \u2018You did a great job of breaking on the Cover 2.\u2019 It\u2019s, \u2018I love it when you guys bust each other\u2019s chops,\u2019\u201d Menefee said. \u201cThat\u2019s something that people will remember from the show more than anything else: (Bradshaw) spilled coffee, and you guys laughed it off and talked about it getting on his suit.\u201d<\/p>\n To understand Menefee\u2019s importance, think about the cast. There\u2019s Bradshaw, the four-time Super Bowl champion and Hall of Fame quarterback from the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> dynasty of the 1970s. There\u2019s Long, a Hall of Fame defensive lineman who won a Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Raiders. There\u2019s Strahan, a Hall of Fame defensive end and the NFL record holder for most single-season sacks (22.5, tied with the Steelers\u2019 T.J. Watt<\/a>) who won a Super Bowl with the New York Giants<\/a>. And there\u2019s Johnson, a Hall of Fame coach who won two Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys<\/a> and also a national college football championship at the University of Miami.<\/p>\n Someone relatively new to the mix is Rob Gronkowski<\/a>, who won four Super Bowls as a tight end with the New England Patriots<\/a> and Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> and likely is headed to the Hall of Fame. Add in the ever-energetic NFL insider Jay Glazer, and that\u2019s a lot of personality on set with the potential for television chaos. Someone might go on a rant with no one knowing the direction.<\/p>\n Menefee has learned how to let everyone have their time while also making sure the show stays on schedule.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople have no idea what he does for us,\u201d Glazer said. \u201cHe\u2019s our leader. He\u2019s our therapist. There are six of us on the show, so there\u2019s 19 personalities \u2014 and Bradshaw and I got 12. For Curt to be able to keep us in check like this \u2026 you know, we\u2019re family.\u201d<\/p>\n The coffee spilling is just a microcosm of what Menefee means to the show. Glazer and Bradshaw both have publicly discussed<\/a> some of their mental health struggles<\/a>. Glazer said Menefee takes the time to check on them and has been a confidant when times are tough. When he\u2019s dealing with a possible anxiety attack, Glazer said it is Menefee who often is the first to stop what he\u2019s doing to help.<\/p>\n That\u2019s because Menefee has built genuine friendships with the crew. There are offseason vacations. Glazer was Menefee\u2019s best man at his wedding 10 years ago. Their spouses know each other, too.<\/p>\n Menefee said he\u2019s one of the \u201crare\u201d guests able to spend two days fishing at Johnson\u2019s home in the offseason because Johnson usually only gives visitors one day. Additionally, Menefee watches college football with Bradshaw and Johnson every Saturday, where there\u2019s bonding and where Menefee picks up insight into how they\u2019re thinking about the NFL that might be useful on the show.<\/p>\n \u201cI get to spend time with my best friends in life. That\u2019s not a job,\u201d Menefee said. \u201cIt\u2019s just fun time. It\u2019s just an extension of the blessings that I\u2019ve been given and the joy that I\u2019m able to have in life to be able to do this and call it my job. I know that not many people get to say that.\u201d<\/p>\n The friendship is the foundation of what makes the show go. It allows Menefee to know when to let someone keep talking and also when to use nonverbal communication to tell someone to wrap up his point. Menefee gauges what\u2019s working on the fly. He does all of this with show producer Bill Richards speaking to him in his earpiece.<\/p>\n What makes the show so much fun is the unpredictability \u2014 but it also can be stressful if someone can\u2019t maintain order.\u00a0The show isn\u2019t rehearsed, so Menefee will react to a Bradshaw rant or a Johnson monologue on the fly. Controlling the room is an important skill to make sure segments don\u2019t run long and sponsor reads aren\u2019t forgotten.<\/p>\n Emphasis on \u201ccontrolling the room.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not ripping the guys, but if this kindergarten class is going crazy, I need a teacher to say, \u2018Now we\u2019re going to commercial,\u2019\u201d Richards said. \u201cWe can just let it go and these guys can go for an hour, we\u2019d never take a commercial, and we\u2019d all get fired. Curt keeping the train on the tracks, I can\u2019t tell you how important that is.\u201d<\/p>\n It also helps that Menefee has been on live television since he was 19 years old, going back to his time as a student at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He\u2019s been trained to stay ready for anything.<\/p>\n Menefee took over as the full-time host of \u201cFox NFL Sunday\u201d in 2007 after James Brown left for CBS. Long said he admired how Menefee handled being the \u201cbullpen guy\u201d as Fox first experimented with using Joe Buck to host and also call games.\u00a0Menefee taking over meant the show didn\u2019t have to travel to where Buck was working.<\/p>\n For nearly two decades, it\u2019s worked. And friendships have formed in the process.<\/p>\n Menefee\u2019s preparation is meticulous. The Santa Barbara, Calif., resident is up by 5:30 a.m. every day for meditation with his wife, Viollette, and to work out. The early start also allows Menefee to call or text various sources around the NFL on the East Coast who want to communicate early in their day.<\/p>\n Menefee likes to keep football to a minimum on Mondays so that Viollette has a day with him without the pressures of work. By Tuesday, he\u2019s communicating with Richards about the vision for Sunday\u2019s show. The rundown for the show is usually set by Thursday, which is when Menefee begins focusing on teams and stats that will be important for Sunday.<\/p>\n Friday is spent with a lot of texts and phone calls to people around the league. On Saturday, he drives from his home in Santa Barbara roughly 100 miles to a hotel room in Los Angeles for his weekly tradition of watching college football with Bradshaw and Johnson at their hotel around noon. Menefee likes to be back in his room by 5 p.m. to work on some of the written parts of the show, and he prefers to be in bed by 8 p.m. He\u2019s then up by 4 a.m. for meditation and to arrive at the Fox studio by 5 a.m. for show preparation.<\/p>\n Menefee jokes that his football career ended in middle school, but he\u2019s not viewed as a football outsider by his friends on set. They recognize the work he does, including visiting multiple training camps in the offseason and maintaining relationships and insight across the league to help the show\u2019s growth.<\/p>\n He knows the sport and can juggle halftime highlights in multiple markets. He also can help someone with a bit of information on the fly.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I was in a pro football game show and I had to phone a friend for some kind of information, Curt would be the guy to call,\u201d Long said. \u201cCurt is so good with a lot of big personalities on the show. We\u2019re not a rehearsal show. To be honest, I think that\u2019s part of the reason why we\u2019re successful, because what you\u2019re seeing is genuine, authentic reactions to a first-time conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n For all of the praise Menefee receives, he\u2019s admittedly his own worst critic. He used to obsess over stumbling over a word or a mispronunciation. He said those things don\u2019t bother him anymore, because, in regular conversation, those things happen.<\/p>\n His focus in after-show conversations with Richards is on the flow of the show. What worked for each segment? What didn\u2019t? For Menefee, it\u2019s more the big picture.<\/p>\n \u201cDid I get Terry in soon enough? Did I wrap him up quick enough?\u201d Menefee said. \u201cDid I transition from this being serious to this being lighthearted or vice versa? I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever done a perfect show. I\u2019m still striving, still trying to get there. I haven\u2019t gotten there yet.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe best point guard is going to take a couple of shots, and those are the ones you might think about on the way out,\u201d Richards said. \u201cBut he\u2019s a great shooter, so he\u2019s making most of them, so nobody cares. Curt\u2019s mistakes aren\u2019t something I spend a lot of time on, because there\u2019s not a lot (of them).\u201d<\/p>\n Glazer\u2019s friendship with Menefee dates back to the 1990s when both were working in New York and Glazer asked Menefee to co-host a show, \u201cUnnecessary Roughness\u201d on the MSG Network.\u00a0He believes Menefee is great to work with as a friend but added that Menefee can be \u201cvery, very, very hard on himself\u201d after a show.<\/p>\n \u201cI always tell him we kind of go as you go,\u201d Glazer said. \u201cSo, you may think something wasn\u2019t good, but the rest of us don\u2019t see it. So, don\u2019t put that in our heads. Our show is imperfect. We\u2019re off the cuff. I\u2019ll just say to him, \u2018Hey, bro, you beat up on yourself, but the rest of us don\u2019t see what you\u2019re upset about. So, don\u2019t bring it out. Let\u2019s you and I just talk it up.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cThen we talk it out, and then he\u2019s like, \u2018You\u2019re right.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Therapist. Point guard. Perfectionist. The adult in the room. There are a lot of ways Menefee is described. His main focus, though, is making sure his friends look good on air.<\/p>\n
\n Curt Menefee (left) with Terry Bradshaw on the \u201cFox NFL Sunday\u201d set. (Courtesy of Lily Ro Photography \/ Fox Sports)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/cdn.theathletic.com\/app\/uploads\/2023\/12\/27111424\/Curt-having-a-moment-with-the-FOX-NFL-SUNDAY-guys-scaled.jpg\")
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\n Curt Menefee (left) with the \u201cFox NFL Sunday\u201d cast: Terry Bradshaw, Jimmy Johnson, Michael Strahan and Howie Long. (Courtesy of Lily Ro Photography \/ Fox Sports)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/cdn.theathletic.com\/app\/uploads\/2023\/12\/27113024\/GettyImages-1808389141-scaled.jpg\")
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\n Curt Menefee (far right) with Jimmy Johnson and Jay Glazer at the Empire State Building in November. (Noam Galai \/ Getty Images for Empire State Realty Trust)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n