The segment aired the day before the Flyers host the Pittsburgh Penguins at Xfinity Mobile Arena in a season-opening cross-state matchup on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; TNT, truTV, HBO MAX).
In the skit, Gritty takes over Tapper’s wardrobe, replacing all of his suits with Flyers jerseys.
Tapper – sitting at his desk wearing one of the aforementioned jerseys – is then pelted by Gritty with balls of crumpled up paper. Tapper responds by putting on a hockey helmet to protect his head and go along with the jersey.
Gritty’s next prank is to adjust Tapper’s teleprompter, adding some self-promotion into the show.
“Flyers mascot Gritty is on a truly generational run,” Tapper said in the video, reading off his prompter. “Chaotic, iconic, and he is the epitome of peak performance.”
“Who wrote this?” Tapper continued. “Did somebody let Gritty into the control room?”
The prominent news anchor was raised in Philadelphia and has been known to cheer on the local Philadelphia sports teams.
The Flyers-Penguins matchup is the first of two back-to-back games on TNT on Wednesday. It will be followed up by the Colorado Avalanche hosting the Los Angeles Kings. (10 p.m. ET; TNT, truTV, HBO MAX).
