During his legendary career with the Los Angeles Lakers, Magic Johnson won five NBA titles, three Most Valuable Player awards, and was selected to play in the All-Star game a total of 12 times. He was eventually enshrined into the Basketball Hall of Fаme.

Many basketball experts agree that Johnson deserves to be considered among the league’s all-time great point guards, with only Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors having a career that can compete with his.

Johnson played in one of the biggest markets in the world and helped the NBA keep lots of fans, so the former Michigan State guard had plenty of commercial prospects after his unexpecteԀ retirement.

He briefly coached the Los Angeles Lakers, bought into the Los Angeles Dodgers, and in 1998 presented a talk show called “The Magic Hour.”

Although Johnson’s chat show only aired for about eight weeks, it featured such stars as Howard Stern and comic Craig Shoemaker.

Recent guests on the ‘Strike Force Five’ podcast, including Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert, stated that they, too, were approached for the co-host position before Shoemaker was hired.

When asked, “Did you ever get asked to be on another talk show before you started doing your show?” determined by Kimmel’s formula.The reason being, “Because I was interviewed and I think I was kind of offered the job to be the announcer on ‘The Magic Hour?'”

According to Colbert, “The Magic Hour” offered him the role of announcer. That guy, Jim Sharp, right? It was then that he created the show ‘The Magic Hour. I got a call from Jim Sharp offering me a position as an announcer, and I accepted.

(Through Task Force Five)

Although Magic’s show did not survive very long, it was exciting to see him pursue other professional paths and make progress away from the basketball floor.