How ESPN pulled off that Packers-Rams 'MNF' opener with Bret Michaels, Brian Baumgartner and a surprise guest

ESPN’s Creative Content Unit didn’t have to do any arm twisting to get actor Brian Baumgartner to star in that "it-don't-get-any-better-than-this" intro for the Los Angeles Rams-Green Bay Packers game on "Monday Night Football."

All they had to do was ask.

The actor best known for playing Kevin Malone on “The Office” was all about humorously portraying himself as a Hollywood celebrity who is also a massive Packers fan. Maybe because it wasn’t much of a stretch.

“(He) is, I kid you not, the kindest soul and then the absolute biggest, I think, sports fan that we have worked with in all of the seasons we have done,” said Amanda Paschal, managing producer for ESPN’s Creative Content Unit, which comes up with the opening for each "MNF” game.

“He is obsessed with the Packers and just brought his heart and soul to this and was just willing to do anything.”

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Viewers first see him in the 2-minute intro luxuriously lounging in his pool as he bemoans how hard it is to live in sunny Los Angeles as a Packers fan when all he really wants is frozen tundra, Lambeau Leaps and "80,000 cheeseheads losing their minds" at Lambeau Field.

Enter Bret Michaels.

Just in time for the Rams-Packers “MNF” game, the Poison frontman shows up at Baumgartner’s house with a bunch of whipped-up Packers and Rams fans in tow for an epic watch party complete with a snow machine.

“We thought there is no better party anthem than ‘Nothin’ But a Good Time' (by Poison)," Paschal said. “Bret Michaels, known for his concerts, known for the energy he brings, the passion, we were like, ‘Well, what if he brings the party to Brian Baumgartner?’”

Getting Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers to show up in the spot on a video call was a bonus.

The Creative Content Unit tries to incorporate players when possible, but it can be tricky given their schedules during the season, Paschal said. They were inspired to see if they could get No. 12 in on the action after scrolling Baumgartner’s Instagram feed and seeing a photo of him with Rodgers, she said.

The two are good friends in real life. Baumgartner first met Rodgers at the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament in 2008 in South Lake Tahoe, Nevada, when he was sitting at a blackjack table and the guy next to him told him he was a big fan.

“It turned out he was Aaron Rodgers. I had no idea who he was. No clue. This is the summer before he became a starter," Baumgartner told People Now in 2020. "I was like, ‘Oh, you’re the Cal guy who's never going to play because of Brett Favre, right?’ And we became very, very good friends since that time.”

The Packers fans who party with Baumgartner and Michaels in the spot are the real deal, not actors. ESPN tapped LA Cheeseheads Hollywood, a group of Packers fans who gather at a bar for every Packers game, and they showed up in their Packers finest and with energy to spare.

“That is true, authentic Green Bay Packers fandom,” Paschal said.

Rampage, the Rams’ mascot, also made time in his schedule for the shoot.

The entire intro was filmed one Monday ago in Los Angeles. That's a quick turnaround for ESPN’s Creative Content Unit, Paschal said, but it was a fun project − more fun than they ever could have guessed in all their discussions about it.

“Then as it actually unfolded on camera, we couldn’t even envision this," she said. "This is a thousand times better than it possibly could be, and that’s all thanks to Bret and Brian just giving it their complete and absolute all to make this what it is.”

Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KendraMeinert. 

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: How ESPN pulled off 'MNF' open with Brian Baumgartner, Bret Michaels