Shannon Sharpe accidentally calls Stephen A. Smith ‘Skip’ just minutes into his hugely anticipated First Take debut after leaving Undisputed

Shannon Sharpe returned to morning debate television on the ESPN broadcasts – and it was amusing for several reasons.

Join Stephen A. Smith First shotSharpe started off with his typical levels of enthusiasm and charisma in a humorous skit with ESPN’s main man.

During the opening segment, Sharpe accidentally addressed Smith as “Skip,” referring to his former debating partner, Skip Bayless.

In the second segment, Sharpe jokingly repeated it one more time, but Smith was more than accommodating on both occasions.

Sharpe joined First shot for an hour during the Labor Day abbreviated footage. He will return to the show tomorrow ahead of Thursday’s NFL opener between the Chiefs and Lions.

Shannon Sharpe was always going to make a big impact in his post-FS1 career and he certainly did

The Pro Football Hall of Famer recently completed a nearly seven-year stint at FS1 where he went from sidekick to Bayless and became the pair’s more popular personality.

Sharpe and Bayless had a rocky start to 2023, culminating in his official departure on June 13.

Tension was felt throughout the final months of the Bayless-Sharpe era, due to Bayless’ comments following Damar Hamlin’s collapse in a January 2 Bills vs. Bengals game.

Sharpe didn’t show up for work the next day, and when he returned, the ex-Bronco was visibly annoyed that Bayless interrupted his opening monologue.

I talked to Smith about his popular Club Shay Shay last week’s podcast, Sharpe refused to let the hard times dull the overall positivity of their partnership.

“It’s not often that someone can give you that chance. And I’ve said this multiple times, for me I can’t let six months ruin six and a half good years,” Sharpe said on his “Club Shay Shay Podcast with Smith as guest.

“Because sometimes people are willing to throw everything away because of one mistake, one bad comment or something. And even if that was all we had to get.’

Smith did not feel good about the way Sharpe’s departure was handled by the executives at FS1.

“Listen, I have a lot of friends there, okay, we all know that,” Smith continued Club Shay Shay.

Sharpe (L) and Bayless (R) appeared together on ‘Undisputed’ for seven years, starting in 2016

“I know a lot of people, but that doesn’t mean what happened to you is fair. Simply.

That’s not the end of the world, but it is what it is. To me, it was just important for us in this industry to stand up and say, He’s one of us, you can’t let him go out like that.”

Bayless has since replaced Sharpe with a “dream team” made up of ex-NFL stars Richard Sherman, Keyshawn Johnson and Michael Irvin.

His new look Undisputed was dominated in the ratings in its first week by ‘First Take’.