CMA Awards Host Peyton Manning Shares Insight Into Show’s Jimmy Buffett Tribute

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CMA Awards Hosts Luke Bryan & Peyton Manning Share How They Prepared For The Ceremony

The 2023 CMA Awards will be held tonight (November 8) at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning will host the ceremony for the second year in a row.

Bryan and Manning spoke with All Country News and other outlets at a press conference the day before the event (November 7). They shared how they’ve prepared, what jokes they have planned, and what they’re looking forward to seeing.

 

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Bryan said with this being their second time hosting, they’re a bit more comfortable with things. He said they, “know a little bit better about comedic timing and how that’s going to roll.”

The “But I Got a Beer In My Hand” singer also said he and Manning plan to bring some fresh jokes to the ceremony this year:

“[The jokes are a] little more creative and not the standard jokes that you would expect us to do to one another, you know, between football references and country music ones….I mean at the end of the day we want people having fun and smiling about what we’re up there doing.“

 

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There’s A Plan To Honor Jimmy Buffett – Peyton Manning Shares His Thoughts About The Tribute After Rehearsals

Manning said one of his favorite parts about hosting the CMA Awards is the fact that he gets to watch some of the artists rehearse. He tries to sneak away whenever he can to watch their performances:

“…actually just got to go watch a couple of the artists perform in these rehearsals,” Manning said. “I love today and even tomorrow, hearing every artist perform. I try to sneak out from kind of the things Luke and I are supposed to be doing and go watch Chris Stapleton sing.”

Manning also offered some insight into the show’s planned tribute to Jimmy Buffett, who passed away on September 1. His good friends Alan Jackson, Kenny Chesney, Zac Brown Band, and Mac McAnally will perform the tribute.

Manning is close with Chesney, so he got the chance to talk to him about the tribute:

“But I think the Jimmy Buffett tribute tomorrow will be special,” Manning said. “I remember the Loretta Lynn tribute last year. Talked to my buddy Kenny who’s a very fitting person to have perform part of the Jimmy Buffett tribute.”

We can’t wait to see how the tribute to Buffett turns out. In the meantime, watch the CMA’s tribute to Loretta Lynn last year by tuning in to the video below.