“[I] know all the characters,” the NBA MVP told PEOPLE shortly after hosting the 2022 ESPY Awards
Live from New York, it’s Stephen Curry?
The Golden State Warriors MVP had such a good time hosting the 2022 ESPY Awards that he’s already ready to take on another emcee role.
“Oh absolutely,” Curry tells PEOPLE Wednesday when asked if he’d ever host Saturday Night Live, while chatting at his Unanimous Media and Talent Resources ESPY afterparty, presented by FTX. “I watch it every week [and] know all the characters.”
The father of three even collaborated with a few of the cast members for his ESPYs hosting gig.
“I got to work with Jay Pharroh who’s a cast member there,” Curry explains. “Heidi Gardner was here. Ego Nwodim was here. I did a skit with her, so I know all about it. I’ve been to [SNL’s famed home] Studio 8H.”
The 34-year-old is only the second NBA player to host the awards show, and he started out in good humor by poking fun at fellow basketball legend, LeBron James.
“LeBron James, he hosted this award show back in 2007, after losing in the NBA Finals,” Curry told the ESPYs audience Wednesday. “So yes, you guessed it, this feels better, this feels better.”
Poking fun at the Los Angeles Lakers star happened to be Curry’s favorite moment of the night.
“Because I got a laugh and you never know,” he said, referring to the anxiety of hosting. “You practice against people that have some vested interest in the jokes or the process, and so they’ll give you the laughs and all that, but you never really know until you get to the full audience, how they respond. And the first joke landed pretty well. I got a reaction and then I got to settle in. It was pretty nice.”
Preparing to take the mic wasn’t easy, and Steph had a lot of practice at home with his wife of a decade, Ayesha Curry.
“I ran things by everybody,” Steph shares. “Some things I wanted to keep just for her to be surprised, but some of the jokes, some of the bits that we had, they had some cameos, all that stuff was collaboration. That’s the only way it really works.”
Ayesha said she was “extremely proud” of her husband for tackling the ESPYs stage.
“He’s used to trying something out of his comfort zone and then conquering it and I think he proved that tonight,” she tells PEOPLE. “So we’re very, very proud of him.”
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