PARIS – Two black vans pull up to the front entrance of the Musée de l’Homme, and the star of the 2024 Paris Olympics gets out of one at almost 11 p.m. on the dot.
“Snoop!” a well-timed bystander yells. “We love you!”
Snoop Dogg has arrived for his NBC prime time hit inside, where the network has taken over the museum and turned it into its on-camera headquarters from these Games.
Martha Stewart is waiting inside. Snoop greeted his friend and he described to her Noah Lyles’ photo finish, which happened an hour beforehand. Snoop saw it in person. He’s been everywhere and anywhere, with everyone and anyone, during his time at these Games as a correspondent extraordinaire. He hasn’t been sleeping as much as he has been relaxing.
“This ain’t the town to sleep in. This ain’t the time to sleep,” Snoop said once his work for the day was done. “It’s the time to be on it like you want it.”
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Bouncing around from different events and being in the thick of the action, watching athletes do their thing, is something Snoop loves, he said.
Snoop and Stewart walked through the space that is usually a five-star restaurant, Cafe de l’homme, which NBC has temporarily turned into a makeshift on-site control room on the first floor of the museum. (Nearly all of the art has been temporarily relocated.)
They listen to instructions from senior director Mike Sheehan, who also runs Amazon’s “Thursday Night Football” studio shows. Production assistants pour champagne, Veuve Clicquot, for a teaser shot of Stewart and Snoop clinking their glasses.
“That’s real champagne,” Snoop remarked.
Snoop and Stewart – Snoop has called her his “homegirl” and the two have been friends for more than 15 years, appearing together on everything from comedy roasts to Skechers commercials – and their entourages traversed the balcony to sit down with NBC Olympics host Mike Tirico on the official prime time set. Tirico was in stitches the entire time thanks to the duo’s antics.
Three years ago, Snoop went viral alongside Kevin Hart for their equestrian dressage commentary. On Sunday, Snoop returned to his “crip walking” bit because he and Stewart attended the dressage competition at Château de Versailles a day earlier.
“This is real and it’s authentic,” Tirico said of the “Snoop experience” in Paris. “It jumps through the screen. He loves the Olympics. He loves America. And he loves these athletes. I think we’re living that every time he goes out and does a piece.”
Snoop could not sit still. If dancing while sitting was an Olympic sport, he’d have a gold medal. At Versailles, he learned to love the connection between rider and horse. He also claimed to have conquered his previous fear of horses.
“This is a celebration of the finest athletes in the world, and he has made it so accessible to everybody,” Stewart said. “That’s his talent. Everybody loves him.”
‘This is what I do every day’
NBCUniversal couldn’t even wait until the Olympic year began to start hyping Snoop, as the corporation announced Snoop’s role on Dec. 31, 2023.
Snoop has developed into a social-media sensation during the Games. Among the highlights are his badminton analysis, swimming under the watchful eye of Michael Phelps (definitely not edited) and carrying the Olympic torch.
Footage of Snoop celebrating alongside Meghan Dressel, the wife of swimmer Caeleb Dressel, while Meghan held their newborn in her arms with giant noise-blockers over the baby’s ears became an early image of the Olympics.
“When you get somebody who’s a star who’s willing to be part of the team … you fit right in,” Tirico said. “That makes it easier to work with them.”
Snoop comes in, does his highlights and acts like anybody else who comes in to do a segment on the show. He always brings energy.
“In the past, it was a serious essay about something,” Tirico said of how guest spots have evolved in Olympic broadcasts. “Now it happens to be one very recognizable, popular celebrity connecting with athletes and parents. So maybe a little bit of the methodology has changed, but the essence of it, the core of it, it’s still the same.” 
From the aftermath of the opening ceremony, Tirico said, the conversation surrounding Snoop went from “What are you doing?” to “Why haven’t you done this before?”
Since May, Tirico was confident Snoop would hold his own on the big stage.
“This good?” the “Sunday Night Football” play-by-play announcer said, “I wouldn’t have known.”
