Comedy great Chris Farley was born in Madison and graduated from Marquette University. And although he played Bears superfan Bill Swerski on “Saturday Night Live,” he was a Packers fan through and through. After the Packers won the 1997 Super Bowl, he performed a sketch on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” as Mayor Cheddar McFarley from Stitzer, Wis. Farley died in 1997, but you can still buy a Chris Farley Cheesehead T-shirt from The Chive.
Wladziu Valentino Liberace was born in West Allis in 1919. The famed entertainer died in 1987. We don’t know for sure if he wore green and gold, but there are rumors that Liberace had a relationship with a Packers player in the late 1930s. The relationship is referenced in a biography and in the 2013 HBO movie “Behind the Candelabra.”
Larry the Cable Guy (aka Dan Whitney) certainly fits the demographic — a camouflage-wearing simple guy who has done his share of tailgating at Lambeau Field. Originally from Nebraska, the popular comedian has a lot of Wisconsin connections. His wife, Cara, is from the northern part of the state, and he’s spent a number of summers in Wisconsin with his family — he calls the state his “second home.”
The Canadian star of “Deadpool” attended a game in 2008 thanks to tickets from Rodgers, and he calls Favre one of his all-time heroes.
Joan Jett
The punk rock icon has loved rock ‘n’ roll, and the Packers, dating back to the ’60s.
“I’m pretty sure it was a Sports Illustrated cover from what was then the Mud Bowl (Jan. 2, 1966, at Lambeau Field), and if you know about football, you should know something about the Mud Bowl,” Jett told the Green Bay Press-Gazette in 2014, before she played a concert as part of festivities around the Packers’ home opener. “It was before they did the Super Bowl, except it was the championship game. I believe the Packers played Cleveland.”
Ellen DeGeneres
The talk-show icon and New Orleans native has professed her love for her hometown Saints as well, but she became a big Cheesehead before the Packers’ Super Bowl victory in 2011 , with regular visits to her show from both Rodgers and Matthews.
A video she posted after Super Bowl XLV shows her deep love for the Packers. And even as an invited guest of the Dallas Cowboys for a game against the Packers, DeGeneres still cheered on the Green and Gold. “Everybody in the Cowboys suite was rooting for the Cowboys, and so I had to hide my Cheesehead in (my wife) Portia’s purse,” DeGeneres joked on her show in 2019.
David Ortiz
“Big Papi” was one of the key players in three Red Sox World Series titles this century, but when it comes to football, he’s not an East Coast guy. Ortiz’s wife, Tiffany, is a Wisconsin native (they met when he played for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in the Mariners organization at the time). Sports Illustrated has chronicled his pilgrimage to see Lambeau Field.
Brad Paisley
OK, so he also cheers for the Cleveland Browns, but does that really count? The country singer from West Virginia grew up in a family of Steelers fans, switched his allegiance to the Browns as a kid and then eventually came over the Packers. “Even though I will be a lifetime Browns fan, the game I don’t miss on Sundays is the Packers game,” he told the Green Bay Press-Gazette in 2014. “I wear more Packers paraphernalia than I do Browns paraphernalia.” He’s taken his sons to Lambeau, and he’s friends with Rodgers. Paisley had the Packers quarterback make a surprise appearance during his 2011 Green Bay concert, and four years later, Nelson walked out onstage as his “guitar tech.”
Tony Shalhoub
He was born and raised in Green Bay, so he has to be a Packers fan, right? You betcha. The Emmy-winning actor known for such TV series as “Monk” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” is a Packers season-ticket holder who still tries to get back for a game or two each season. He’s talked about growing up — in a house with nine siblings — during the Lombardi era. “We got so involved that we would cry if the Packers lost,” he said in a 2008 interview with Gannett News Service. In 2010, he promoted his movie “Feed the Fish,” shot in Door County, at Lambeau Field and introduced “Roll Out the Barrel.”
Chuck Todd
The Packers helmet sometimes spotted on the set of “Meet the Press” should be a clue that the moderator of the longest-running show in TV history is a lifelong Packers fan. In a guest column for Sports Illustrated in 2017, he credited his late father for passing along his love of the team. The elder Todd grew up in Waterloo, Iowa, and was attracted to the small-town, Midwestern values of Green Bay and its football team. Todd grew up in Miami in the ’70s and ’80s cheering for Lynn Dickey, James Lofton and David Whitehurst. But he still has not been to Lambeau Field — something about his schedule being a little busy on Sundays.
Why I’m A Fan: Chuck Todd
Steve Miller
The Milwaukee-born rocker, who played to a huge crowd outside Lambeau Field on the eve of the Packers-Bears season opener on Sept. 8, talked about being a fan since the 1960s, when he was a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In a 2018 interview with the Green Bay Press-Gazette , Miller said he didn’t miss a game from 1961 to 1965. “I was a big fan of Paul Hornung, Jim Taylor, Max McGee, Ron Kramer, Jerry Kramer, Ray Nitschke, Herb Adderley. It was just amazing to watch a team coached by Vince Lombardi. I was totally absorbed in that whole time of history for the Packers, and I’ve been a Packers fan ever since.”
Mark Ruffalo
Hulk smash — and like Green and Gold. The actor behind the green muscles in multiple Marvel movies and shows (in addition to being an Emmy winner and activist) naturally roots for the Packers, being a Kenosha native.
Anthony Davis
Arguably the smartest person to ever hail from Chicago, the eight-time NBA All-Star, and who helped the Los Angeles Lakers clinch the championship in 2020, doesn’t waste his time cheering on the hopeless Bears. Instead, he’s on the right side of history, pledging Pack loyalty after befriending some members of the team. Davis even joked that he was motivated to win a Nov. 14, 2021, overtime game against the San Antonio Spurs so he could watch the Packers beat the Seahawks.
Justin Vernon
Death and taxes have been called the two certainties in life. For Justin Vernon, the Eau Claire born-and-raised Grammy winner behind Bon Iver, it’s music and the Packers. He said so himself sitting across from Aaron Rodgers for a video conversation for GQ Sports.
Jane Wiedlin
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer with the Go-Go’s was born in Oconomowoc, moving with her family to Los Angeles when she was a kid. But she still considers herself a “#SconnieForLife,” evident in one of multiple social media posts professing her Packers love over the years.
Willem Dafoe
There are many celebrity Packers fans, but perhaps only one celebrity fan who personally witnessed arguably the most historic Lambeau game of all time, on Dec. 31, 1967. Oscar-nominated actor Dafoe, an Appleton native, shared his memories of the game with NFL Films. By the way, can we get Dafoe to play Lombardi in a biopic, please?
Hailey Clauson
When the model celebrated her eighth anniversary with her partner Julien Herrera on Instagram, she wasn’t merely toasting their lives together. The post included a nod to the Packers, with the couple kissing while wearing Green and Gold apparel inside Lambeau.
Sam Page
The Hallmark channel fave and Whitefish Bay native, with other acting credits like “Mad Men,” “House of Cards” and “The Bold Type,” has been backing the Pack since he was a kid.
Brian Baumgartner
The guy who played Kevin the office screw-up on “The Office” was still qualified to “get” an temp office job with the Packers in 2021, since he fulfilled the primary prerequisite of being a Packers fan. It also helps that he’s been good friends with Aaron Rodgers since 2008. It’s also a good thing Baumgartner didn’t bring his homemade chili to the Packers offices when he was here.
