Watchdog

LeBron James can be a tad, um, dry in interviews, as he was during a conference call to promote his appearance on "Saturday Night Live'' this weekend.

But he previously has shown decent comedic acting chops and probably will pull it off.

It won't be easy to be as good as Peyton Manning was last season. WatchDog asked James Thursday what he thought of Peyton's outing.

James said he found Manning quite funny, especially the skit in which he was being comically mean to a group of children playing a mock pickup game with him.

SNL boss Lorne Michaels said in seeking athletes to host he usually "can tell when someone has a sense of humor or at least enough perspective about themselves to be able to laugh about themselves.''

Michaels said athletes tend to do well because they are used to facing large audiences uncertain about the outcome, they are generally fearless and they must have some sense of humor simply to endure the ups and downs of long seasons.