Latest from KC’s Rob Riggle: He chats with Travis Kelce, tries to be a ‘Lego Master’

Rob Riggle had experience building Lego sets with his children and from his own childhood in Overland Park, but he wasn’t exactly a Lego Master when he filmed this week’s “Lego Masters: Celebrity Holiday Bricktacular.”

“The only thing I might have been concerned about was my vision for when they say, ‘I want you to create this,’” Riggle says of the holiday-themed brick building challenges. “I usually go the path of least resistance, so I got lucky I got paired up with someone who had a really good vision on stuff.”

The four episodes air over two nights, 7 to 9 p.m. Dec. 18 and 19 on Fox, and are played to benefit charities (Riggle’s charity is Kansas City’s Big Slick Celebrity Weekend). Celebrities Riggle, “Real Housewives of Atlanta” star NeNe Leakes, singer/TV personality Kelly Osbourne and former Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch each get paired with a former “Lego Masters” contestant. Episodes were filmed in Atlanta in April.

Riggle dubs himself “knife hands” after he makes his first entrance using his hands to slice through paper and exit a large Christmas present on the set.

“Rob was always coming with the funnies,” Lynch says. “He made it hard to do your own builds.”

Riggle says he was lucky to be teamed with season one contestant Krystle Starr.

“She was wonderfully patient. She always had a good attitude,” says Riggle. “She was always upbeat. And I always appreciated that. And she had good vision. I felt like a sous chef. She was definitely the chef. And I was trying my best to help as much as possible.”

In one Lego building challenge, Riggle and Starr construct a “Rob Rulez snowplow” which he notes has his “big, dumb face on the front of the snowplow.”

Riggle was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and his family moved to Kansas City when he was 2. He graduated from Shawnee Mission South High School in 1988, and, as any Jayhawks fan should know, graduated from the University of Kansas in 1992.

He says he was aware of “Lego Masters” because he’s been friends with the show’s host, Will Arnett, since they came up together as comics in New York in the ‘90s.

“I always like to check in and see what my friends are up to,” Riggle says. “The show was receiving a lot of praise so I was very curious. I watched it and loved it, so when they reached out it was an automatic yes.”

Their friendship shows in their chemistry on the show, where they razz each other, as in a build based on the Christmas song “Up on the Rooftop,” which Riggle calls “Up on the Housetop.” Arnett calls him out on the perceived error. (The internet suggests they’re both right.)

Lately, Riggle has been busy with his recently revived podcast, “Riggle’s Picks.”

“It’s kind of a lifestyle-comedy-talking-about-the-issues-of-the-day-hopefully-in-a-joyful-and-comedic-way podcast,” says Riggle. “The first variation of the show didn’t have any interviews. With this version we’re going to be doing more interviews.”

Riggle started the podcast in early 2018 and recorded episodes until the pandemic in 2020. The show, which also posts episodes on YouTube, relaunched last month with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce as Riggle’s guest.

“We do talk about his life a little bit,” Riggle teases.

And what does Riggle think of the hoopla around Kelce dating Taylor Swift?

“Isn’t that the question of the fall?” Riggle says. “I don’t have an opinion about it other than I love Travis and I love Taylor and I hope they’re super-happy. And I love that she’s brought all these fans to the game of football and to the Kansas City Chiefs, which is fantastic.”

In addition to the podcast, Riggle filmed an indie action movie, “Code 3,” alongside Rainn Wilson (“The Office,” “Lessons in Chemistry”) and Lil Rel Howery (“Dashing Through the Snow”) in early 2023 that has yet to be released. In January he’ll act with Sean William Scott in a movie that will film in Alabama. And Riggle says he just filmed a pilot episode for a potential TV series, but all details on that one remain under wraps.

(Riggle isn’t the only Kansas Citian starring in a Christmas-themed series this holiday season: Fellow Big Slick host Eric Stonestreet stars in season two of Disney+’s “The Santa Clauses” as Magnus Antas, aka The Mad Santa.)

For now, Riggle’s focus remains on his podcast and this week’s Christmasy episodes of “Lego Masters.”

“I had nowhere to get up but up — my learning curve was steep,” Riggle says of his Lego building skills. “I learned a lot, I had a blast and (Krystle) was great to work with.”

Freelance writer Rob Owen: RobOwenTV@gmail.com or on Facebook and Twitter as RobOwenTV.