Three Super Bowl Titles, Two Podcasts and One Explosive Interview

Shannon Sharpe won three Super Bowls in a Hall of Fame career and once recorded 214 receiving yards in a game, the most ever by a National Football League tight end. Another crowning achievement came long after he was outmuscling bulky defenders, when he convinced a 5-foot-5 comedian to open up while sipping cognac on a brown leather sofa.

When that comedian and actor, Katt Williams, aired his grievances against prominent Black celebrities, including Sean Combs and Kevin Hart, it instantly turned Sharpe’s podcast “Club Shay Shay” into a must-stop destination in Hollywood and beyond. In the months after the episode aired in January 2024, Sharpe secured interviews with the rapper Megan Thee Stallion and the Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

“‘Club Shay Shay’ has become the modern-day talk show,” said Lillian Xu, a top podcast executive for Vox Media, which produces a handful of rival series.

Sharpe has cut through in a saturated podcast ecosystem where Alex Cooper and the Kelce brothers command nine-figure contracts. In addition to “Club Shay Shay,” Sharpe makes twice-weekly appearances on “First Take,” ESPN’s popular morning debate show, and hosts a secondary podcast, “Nightcap,” with the former N.F.L. receiver Chad Johnson.

Before a live taping of a “Nightcap” episode in New Orleans this week ahead of the Super Bowl, Sharpe exercised his vocal cords in a backstage greenroom as a makeup artist prepared to pat his face. Moments later, his voice, laced with a country-twang accent, soared throughout an auditorium. The friends debated N.F.L. award winners, Johnson’s relationship issues and other topics.

The explosive episode with Williams on “Club Shay Shay” has been viewed more than 88 million times, setting a YouTube interview record. But Sharpe said he wanted to be recognized beyond his role as Williams’s questioner.

“Michael Jackson is more than ‘Thriller,’ and that’s what I told the team: ‘This was our “Thriller” album,’” Sharpe said in an interview. “Let’s just continue to have these conversations. Hopefully people want to come and tell their story and it will speak for itself.”

It is common for retired athletes to enter the news media, where they can share strategic insights and amusing stories gathered on practice fields and team flights. Ed McCaffrey, who played with Sharpe on the Denver Broncos, said that Sharpe would tactfully tease teammates for their wardrobe choices and that his jokes would keep the mood light.

“The same guy that was in the locker room, the same guy that was on the bus, the same guy that was engaging in conversation with his teammates is just doing that now publicly,” said McCaffrey, who is now a SiriusXM radio host.

Sharpe began his entertainment career in the television world but has developed a fondness for podcasting because of the freedom it affords. He is not bound by time constraints and can dictate his show’s direction. Interviews on “Club Shay Shay” often last more than an hour, and before the cameras roll he asks his guests if there are any subject areas he should avoid.

“I’m not trying to do investigative reporting,” Sharpe said. “If I get them comfortable enough and they see that I’m not there to judge them, they’ll open up.”

He added: “If you want hard hitting, you need to go to ‘60 Minutes,’ go to ‘Dateline.’”

In 14 seasons with the Broncos and the Baltimore Ravens, Sharpe bullied defenders for contested catches and outran them in the open field. He retired after the 2003 season and spent about a decade as a football analyst at CBS Sports before helping to start a Fox Sports debate show, “Undisputed,” with Skip Bayless, who courted Sharpe to be his banter partner.

One Monday morning in 2017, Sharpe arrived at the show’s Los Angeles studio with a celebratory cigar in his mouth. The Broncos had won the day before, and the Dallas Cowboys, Bayless’s favorite team, had lost.

The moment was celebrated online, where people began calling Sharpe “Unc” (short for uncle) and Photoshopped his face into various memes. C.J. Dear, a former Fox producer, helped Sharpe lean into the joke on his social media accounts. The “Unc” character would also pop up on air sporadically — sometimes drinking liquor at 4 a.m. Pacific time, other times wearing a goat mask.

“Whenever an audience naturally gravitates to something, you have to continue to capitalize on it, and I think he always did it in a playful way,” Dear said. “We built up this persona he developed on television and it gave him a solid foundation.”

Fox had negotiated podcast responsibilities into Sharpe’s contract but did not enforce them until 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic. Unfamiliar with the medium or its power players beyond Joe Rogan, Sharpe turned to Dear, who said Sharpe should reach into his personal contacts to book guests.

Sharpe’s first interviewee on “Club Shay Shay” was his brother, the former N.F.L. receiver Sterling Sharpe. The boxer Floyd Mayweather and the rapper Ice Cube soon followed.

When Sharpe departed Fox in June 2023 amid a fractured relationship with Bayless and the network, he retained the rights to “Club Shay Shay,” which he owned. Stephen A. Smith, the brash ESPN commentator, recruited him for a trial run on “First Take,” and Sharpe went on to sign a long-term contract last year.

Although the spotlight on ESPN shows is large, “Club Shay Shay” is the place where Sharpe can fully be himself. His on-camera rapport with high-profile entertainers has produced wide-ranging tell-alls from people like the actor Mo’Nique (who said Tyler Perry started rumors about her), the singer John Legend and the comedian Steve Harvey. Sharpe normally allows the guests to pontificate during lengthy answers without interrupting them. Many episodes exceed one million views.

“You get the most eyes on the conversation for whatever you want to talk about,” said Fat Joe, the New York rapper, who appeared on “Club Shay Shay” in October. “It’s all about what message you’re trying to get across, and he lets you do that.”

Some recent “Club Shay Shay” guests, including the actor Keke Palmer and the streamer Kai Cenat, have teased him about an incident in September when Sharpe accidentally broadcast an intimate moment on his Instagram. After first claiming he was hacked, Sharpe acknowledged the gaffe on “Nightcap” and said he had embarrassingly called Robert A. Iger, the chief executive of Disney, and ESPN brass to apologize.

Sharpe’s breakthrough interview with Williams required a chance encounter with the comedian’s new executive assistant. Williams had been elusive for more than a year, but the wait was well worth it.

Before divulging personal grudges about Black Hollywood, Williams said he had agreed to come on “Club Shay Shay” because Sharpe “made a safe space for the truth to be told.” During the episode, Williams outlined his hesitations toward partying with Combs, who now faces federal sex trafficking charges. He questioned Hart’s comedic pedigree. And he joked about the circumstances of the arrest of the actor Jonathan Majors.

As it does with every episode, the podcast’s social media staff sliced Williams’s juiciest responses into clips to post on Instagram and other platforms. Dear said he wanted to produce at least 30 clips from each interview.

“The consistency and volume is what’s going to bring people back to watch the full episode,” Dear said. “We truly are students of the numbers.”

Sharpe said more advertisers approached the show after Williams’s episode. YouTube officially partnered with Sharpe and allotted support staff to grow his podcast business.

“It spoke to his ability to deliver a big audience,” said Angela Courtin, a vice president at YouTube overseeing its sports marketing division. She said the blitz of engagement outpaced the reach of most linear television. “If you know how the platform works and you’re already connecting with audiences, it’s a no-brainer.”

Those who noticed included presidential candidates. In the closing weeks of her failed campaign, Harris appeared on “Club Shay Shay” as part of her outreach to Black voters.

Sharpe said that he “would have loved” to host Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, as well, but that possibility did not move beyond exploratory conversations with his campaign. If Sharpe enters the political fray in 2028, he said, he wants to interview the candidates from both major parties.

“Unless you have both, people will assume that that’s the candidate you want to win and that’s the party that you’re affiliated with,” Sharpe said. “When you interview an athlete, people don’t automatically assume that I’m rooting for them.”