Kevin Bacon's six degrees of separation theory just got a little tighter now that the actor and musician is appearing in a new Super Bowl LIX ad alongside a star-studded cast of characters.
Uber Eats revealed its full Big Game spot that will air during the Super Bowl on Sunday, sharing the commercial first with "Good Morning America."
The commercial, which was released Tuesday morning, highlights how food has long been intertwined with football. Matthew McConaughey unravels the similarities to the sport's seemingly savory history, which he says could all be "a conspiracy to make us hungry" in the new Century of Cravings ad.
The food delivery platform has been teasing its new star-powered spot over the last few weeks but saved some big secrets, including the cameo from none other than Kevin Bacon.
"This is what happens when your last name is a food," Bacon said in an exclusive interview with "GMA" of his inclusion and the opening scene that recaps the birth of football, such as calling a football a pigskin because "everybody loves bacon."
"People have actually asked me in the past if I changed my name to Bacon, that I decided that would be a good stage name, which to me is the craziest notion, because the idea that I would want to suffer a lifetime of people making fun of my last name – but eventually I've just got to embrace it."
All food puns aside, the 66-year-old actor told "GMA" that the Super Bowl spot ticked off a first for his already illustrious career, sharing the screen with McConaughey.
"Matthew and I have never worked together before, so this is not how I expected our paths would cross," he said. "But it was really fun, it was very easy on set – and [we] had a great time."
"I think the whole idea of it is so clever," Bacon explained about the ad. "The campaign has been out and it's been building and building and building – you go, 'What? That's a connection between food and football? OK, who came up with that?' And then, just one after another, you go, 'Yeah, that's kind of true, there is such a thing called a scramble.'"
"It's such a funny idea and the commercial is really funny and just continues it just doubles down and doubles down," he added. "I think people are really going to like it."
After Bacon sports his old-timey football look in the ad, complete with a leather helmet dating back to 1876, McConaughey ponders how Buffalo got a team as he and "Hot Ones" host Sean Evans enjoys a plate of wings with their buddy Bill.
From there, McConaughey's long-awaited transformation into famed Chicago Bears former head coach Mike Ditka includes a cameo from former player William Perry, asking "Do I have to be called 'The Refrigerator?'
McConaughey as Ditka simply replies "yes" as they pass each other in the tunnel.
After noting a connection between steak and famed quarterback Peyton Manning's trademark "Omaha" play calling, McConaughey moves onto a board room where Martha Stewart has a Caesar salad and Charli XCX eats her signature green apple, like the hit song "Apple" from her album "Brat," both of which are related to the upcoming Super Bowl halftime show.
Once the scenes and McConaughey's retelling unfolds, he's shown standing in front of acclaimed director Greta Gerwig, who asks him, "You want me to make a movie about a football conspiracy?"
McConaughey retorts, "Come on Greta, Bacon's in," pointing to the conference call with Kevin Bacon, who repeats, "everybody loves bacon."
"No one believes that football was invented to sell..." Gerwig replies before the ad finishes with "food" as a graphic to order Uber Eats.
Bacon told "GMA" that his wife, Kyra Sedgwick, "will probably forget that it's super bowl Sunday, but I will remind her, especially since I am an Eagles fan." Because he plans to sit down and watch, rooting on his hometown team, he added "she'll probably be there for halftime."
Although Bacon didn't drop a score prediction for the birds, he said, "I would like to believe that the Eagles have a great chance," especially after their NFC Championship win against the Washington Commanders.
"I thought they looked fantastic – almost the best they've looked all year, but we'll see," Bacon said.
"Gosh, I love Chappell Roan," he said of the newly minted best new artist Grammy winner and the fresh industry talent, who's inspiring his own music career. "I think that her stuff this year has been fantastic – I'm thinking of all these songs that I've covered with the GOATs."
Bacon, Sedgwick and their daughter, Sosie Bacon, regularly record acoustic sets, playing guitar and performing covers of chart-toppers to their farm animals, which has become a viral sensation on Kevin's social media pages.
"I love it when you look inside the world of pop music and then you see someone that is doing something that is a little bit left of center," he added, referencing the likes of Sabrina Carpenter, Billie Eilish and his Uber Eats co-star, Charlie XCX. "But still presenting it in a really great kind of pop package."
The actor and musician, who makes up one half of The Bacon Brothers duo, said the pair are set to "drop some live music" while on their upcoming tour, which includes an East Coast swing as well as stops like the Stagecoach festival in California.
"Getting places is always a challenge – and has kind of lost its appeal," he said. "But the shows are always fun, they're great and we try to have a good time, our band is super, super solid."
In addition to his role in the hilarious new Uber Eats Super Bowl ad, Bacon confirmed he's a regular user of the app when he's on the road and shared his perfect ordering strategy.
"If I'm traveling and on my way to a hotel, but I don't know what the food options are – a lot of times we're in the middle of nowhere or I don't necessarily want to go out – when I'm within a half-an-hour of the venue I use Uber Eats and I'll check in and come to the front desk, get my key and go, 'See that bag? That's mine.'"
The self-described healthy eater typically prefers to find a good "chopped salad or grain bowl if possible," but "when in Rome, I'll say, 'give me a cheeseburger.'"
Bacon also regularly plays motivational music on social media, sharing songs in a series he dubbed "Monday Blues" to help lift peoples' spirits out of the first-day-of-the-week doldrums.
"Now we have people submitting tunes, which is really fun 'cause it's not just me saying, 'this is a song that makes me feel good,' or I learn about a new one," he said, adding that he "would love to have other artists" join him for a possible upcoming live session he's considering.
"I continue to just love music," Bacon said.
"It was funny, in the Uber Eats [shoot] there's some, you know, they just kind of handed me the guitar and said just make something up, so there's a whole bunch of outtakes of other just goofy, different song ideas," he noted. "But it was a little bit thinking on my feet and that's part of the social media [teases] thing."
While Bacon said "it's a secret" how he finds the latest social media trends to jump on, he admitted, "It is sometimes my family, sometimes it's friends – I'm not a scroller that much."
"I was really kind of resistant of the whole thing initially, but then I reframed it as, if I'm not working, just have fun," he said of hopping online to share his own music and inside glimpses of family life.
"Long before there was social media I used to create all kinds of content just to share with my family," he continued. "I would make movies and video and video and edit them. And goofy stuff and song parodies that only they would see – so that's been a part of something that I've done for a long time."
While his wife is "pretty OK" about participating, Bacon will "set it up and get the whole thing like dialed in, if it's my idea – she'll sort of be the performer, and just kind of show up and hits her marks."
"The funny thing about that stuff is that it just ends up being multiple takes, especially if there's a musical component," he said, which many creators can relate to. "It has the look that you just ran out there with a camera and made it look good, but there's multiple takes, and there's a lot of good outtakes."
