Saturday Night Live alum Taran Killam sounds a bit different in his role on NBC‘s cheerleading mockumentary Stumble than fans are used to hearing.
The 43-year-old perfected an authentic-sounding Southern drawl for his role in the Texas- and Oklahoma-set sitcom. On the series, Killam stars as Boon E. Potter, a football coach at a junior college in Texas, and husband to cheerleading coach Courteney Potter (Jenn Lyon).
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How did Taran Killam craft his Southern accent for Stumble?
Killam’s inspiration for Boon’s Southern accent on Stumble comes from a number of sources, including his North Carolina-born co-star Jenn Lyon, the series Friday Night Lights, Dallas Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones, and Brad Pitt in the film Kalifornia.
“Jenn is from the Carolinas and so, following her lead really helps,” Killam told NBC Insider in a November 2025 interview. “There’s a Friday Night Lights twang.”
Killam — who was born in Culver City, California, and raised in Big Bear Lake — added, “It’s pretty funny that even in Southern California, you don’t have to drive far to get a little bit of a Southern twang. As soon as you leave the 310, 818 area code and enter into the 909, you’ll find salt-of-the-earth folk with a nice little country swing to them. Fortunately, [the Southern accent] was just something in my bag of tricks and when we started shooting the [Stumble] pilot, I really went all Texas.”
Taran Killam had to “soften” the Southern accent he first went with
Killam got so carried away with his faux Southern accent when he first started shooting the mockumenary, that he had to tone it down a bit.
“I went like Jerry Jones, all the way up,” Killam told NBC Insider. “And [Stumble executive producer and director] Jeff Blitz was like, ‘Let’s soften it a little bit.’ So, I think you have Jeff Blitz to thank for the believability of Boon’s twang.”
Jones is the owner of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, and his famous accent has become synonymous with the billionaire over the years.
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So there you have it. Killam settled into the Texas accent effortlessly from that point forward — all he needed was a little help from his colleagues.
He admits, “I sounded a little bit more, from the outset… Brad Pitt in Kalifornia.”
When does Stumble come back on NBC?
Stumble is currently in the middle of a short winter break — but thankfully, new episodes are right around the corner. The show returns with its seventh episode on Friday, January 16, at 8:30 p.m. ET on NBC, with the episode available for streaming the next day on Peacock, as always. The new episode, “Lorraine,” will air immediately after a new episode of Reba McEntire’s comedy Happy’s Place premieres at 8 p.m. ET.
— Reporting by Stephanie Gomulka