Henry Winkler Praises Travis Kelce for His ‘Grotesquerie’ Performance: ‘He’s a Natural’

Henry Winkler is a fan of Travis Kelce’s work on and off the field.

The Emmy winner, 78, appeared on SiriusXM’s The Spotlight with Jessica Shaw on Tuesday, Oct. 15, and revealed his unexpected friendly interactions with the Kansas City Chiefs tight end, 35. 

The Happy Days alum explained that he previously mentioned that he liked Chiefs quarterback, Patrick Mahomes. After Mahomes, 29, heard about Winkler’s complimentary remarks, he called the actor, invited him to a game, and gifted him a jersey. 

“Travis came on the field wearing a Fonzie t-shirt,” he recalled, noting that he and Kelce didn’t get to meet.

As Winkler continued, he pointed out that his son, Max, directed Kelce in his first-ever scripted role in the new Ryan Murphy’s new series, Grotesquerie. “I got an autographed picture and I made him a video of, I said, ‘Max, I want to tell him how great he is.’ ”

“’Cause you really think he’s just a football player,” the Barry actor continued. “He’s really good. He’s a natural and he talked to me about it on his podcast with his brother.”

Winkler first praised Kelce’s acting skills on X (formerly Twitter), on Oct. 5. He replied to a hilarious throwback video of Kelce asking his assistant to call his mom to get mac and cheese.

“AND Mr. K is doing an amazing job as an Actor on ‘GROTESQUERIE’ on FX,” Winkler wrote.

Travis and his brother, retired NFL star Jason Kelce, spoke about Winkler’s tweet on their New Heights podcast on Wednesday, Oct. 16.

Jason, 36, told Travis, “I will agree with Mr. Winkler, though, dude. You’re killing it. Travis, I wouldn’t, I would not tell you this. But acting in front of a camera that’s right up in your face, nailing all this stuff, you’re actually a good actor.” 

“Honestly, though, I’m along the ride with everyone else,” replied Travis. “I’m enjoying watching everything unfold. I was so in and out of LA over the off-season filming this and that.” 

“I didn’t see any other scenes or anything like that,” Travis revealed. “So it’s fun to kind of get caught up on everybody’s performance, how they’re portraying people and things.”

At the show’s premiere last month, Niecy Nash-Betts, 54, told PEOPLE that Travis was “lovely to have on set, adding that he was “very professional” and “always came prepared” to set.

“Travis was very open. He was very open on if there was a note given or a suggestion given. So amenable. ‘Tell me what I don’t know. Tell me what your thought is on this,'” she recalls. “I love that he didn’t come in trying to act like, ‘I know everything and I know it all.'”

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Grotesquerie premieres Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on FX and streams the next day on Hulu.