Philly band Snacktime is now ‘Jason Kelce on ESPN’ famous

When Jason Kelce took the stage at Union Transfer last Friday for the taping of his new ESPN talk show, his first shout-out went to his wife, Kylie, seated in “Kylie’s Korner” in the balcony to his left.

Then the ubiquitous ex-Eagle turned to introduce America to the house band for They Call It Late Night with Jason Kelce, whose seven members were squeezed into the balcony on the opposite side.

“A staple of the Philly music scene,” the All-Pro center-turned-media personality bellowed: “SNACKTIME!”

With that, the Philly band that started out playing for tips in Rittenhouse Square in 2020 ascended to a new height, taking its place in the late-night tradition, sharing cultural space with David Letterman’s World’s Most Dangerous Band and Philly’s The Roots, now in their 16th year with Jimmy Fallon at NBC.

Dressed in their trademark faux Sixers jerseys, Snacktime kept the crowd hyped through the taping of the first show, which will run at 1 a.m. Saturday (following filming on Friday) for the next four weeks, throughout the NFL playoffs.

The septet, led by singer-rapper-saxophonist Yesseh Furaha-Ali and tuba player Sam Gellerstein, pumped out Parliament’s “Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)” as the crowd filed in dressed in Eagles green with a dash of Kansas City red.

Charles Barkley entered to the band’s bombastic arrangement of “The Final Battle,” penned by NFL Films composer Sam Spence. (Snacktime didn’t get to meet Barkley, but members overheard him tell Kelce, “Man, this band sounds good.”)

Stevie Wonder’s “Sir Duke” and Snacktime’s “Together” and “I Don’t Give a Damn,” from their 2024 EP This is Dance Music, kept the crowd on its toes during breaks, and Gellerstein’s whistle signaled when it was time to chug during a beer-drinking contest.

The Snacktime-Kelce connection goes back to a Bok Bar rooftop event in 2022 when Kelce was still at the center of the Eagles offensive line. The band played a fashion show for Kelce’s Underdog clothing line benefiting his (Be) Philly nonprofit that supports city public schools.

They Call It Late Night is an homage to They Call It Pro Football, a 1967 documentary produced by the now-Mount Laurel-based NFL Films. The show was narrated by Philadelphia news anchor John Facenda, known as the “Voice of God” who imbued gridiron exploits with the power of myth.

Kelce was on the lookout for a brass-heavy Philly band to bring to life the dramatic music of NFL Films composer Spence. Gellerstein first got the word of the ex-Eagle’s interest via guitarist Kevin Hanson, who’s teamed with Kelce on Philly Specials Christmas albums.

The sousaphonist took Kelce’s call last summer when he and Snacktime sax player Ben Stocker — both South Florida natives who moved to Philly to study at University of the Arts — were at dinner with their girlfriends at Triangle Tavern in South Philly.

“It was awesome,” said Gellerstein, of the funk-soul band getting the nod from Kelce. He gathered at Middle Child Clubhouse in Fishtown this week with bandmates Furaha-Ali and Stocker, plus guitarist Larry Monroe Jr., trumpet player and keyboardist Michael Spearman, and drummer Austin Marlow. (Trumpeter Eric Sherman was absent and missed out on the fluffy pancakes.)

“It was one of those moments where you feel recognized,” said Gellerstein, one of whose many tattoos is the word “Relentless” written in cursive on the side of his shaved head. “It was like, ‘Damn, people see what we do.’ We’re not just spinning our wheels here.”

“When I think of NFL music, I think of brass,” Kelce said in an interview at Union Transfer after the show. “I was familiar with Snacktime from my benefit in 2022. They have the kind of talent where they can do everything. They’re all excellent musicians.

“And it was important to me for this to be a Philadelphia band. A piece of the Philadelphia scene. We tried to do that with the whole show. It’s filmed here. The venue is here. I thought it was important to pay respect to the city that gave me my career, and make this as Philly as possible.”

That’s exactly how Snacktime has made its name: By being as Philly as possible. In fact, for its first two years, when the group had a rotating cast of as many as 25 members, the band was known as Snacktime Philly.

» READ MORE: What time is it? Party band Snacktime is playing the Firefly Festival — and all over Philly.

They seemed to be everywhere. In Rittenhouse Square, — or “Littenhouse” in Snacktime-speak — at the Philadelphia Flower Show, and, quite possibly, your wedding or office party.

But with their debut album, Sounds From the Street: Live, in 2022, the group started to aim for a national audience.

“We had to make this conscious decision,” said Stocker. “Do we want to stay here at this level? Which is cool. It’s awesome. It’s an accomplishment itself. Or do we want to get to the next level?”

They shortened their sobriquet. “We literally cut ‘Philly’ out of our name,” Stocker said. “We have bigger aspirations to be a touring band. And when we play in Philly, we want everybody who knows us to be there.”

Snacktime played one such show on New Year’s Eve, headlining Brooklyn Bowl on a bill that included Philly ska band Catbite. The event was billed as “2025: A SpaceLuv Odyssey.”

The group’s growth from a streetwise party band to a concert attraction with newfound songwriting chops was readily apparent at the show. The silver spacesuits they wore while covering Elton John’s “Rocket Man” and Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name” added a touch of P-Funk meets Sun Ra.

The band’s confidence grew doing 2024 amphitheater dates with Portland, Ore.’s Portugal. The Man.

“We’re such a versatile band,” said Spearman. “Because we’re all professional musicians who grew up making money by playing. That was our 9 to 5.”

Snacktime still plays private events and will curate after-parties at this year’s Flower Show. But nowadays, no Snacktime member has jobs outside of the band. Furaha-Ali even turned down touring with the Jonas Brothers.

The band has become a festival attraction, despite having only 27,000 Instagram followers, a modest count in a music industry obsessed with social media numbers. They’re booked for Boston Calling in May, with more fests later in the year.

“We punch above our weight,” said Gellerstein. “This band’s superpower is the word of mouth spread by the people who love us.”

“Sunshine,” a single with Delco soul man Devon Gilfillian, is due this month, with more new music releasing throughout 2025. “Gotta feed the algorithm,” Furaha-Ali said.

As for Kelce, he is “exactly as he portrays himself in the media,” Gellerstein said. “Supercool, super friendly. He is one of the dudes. We’re grateful he gives us the respect and trust to do our thing.”

So far, Snacktime’s screen time has been limited, with energy focused on amping the crowd.

That’s fine by the band, who went to L.A. to observe Jimmy Kimmel’s band Cleto & the Cletones, and New York to check out The Roots on The Tonight Show.

“Hyping the crowd is really important,” said Stocker. “Sometimes the role will just be to walk a guest on stage, and sometimes more than that.”

“Still, if you asked our Moms,” Gellerstein admitted, “they would say there should be more Snacktime.”

The band doesn’t expect They Call It Late Night to catapult them to stardom, but hopes it’s an important step in a lasting career.

“Everything leads to everything,” said Gellerstein. “It’s about critical mass. The Kelce show is as important as the festival, which is as important as the wedding we played that the Kelce show producer was at. It’s a big pile of wet sand we’re building up to the mountain that — if we keep working hard — will lead us where we want to go.”