Kenan Thompsonis already the longest-serving cast member inSaturday Night Live’s fifty-year history, and he doesn’t plan on leaving any time soon. Thompson fully intends to be the show’s first “forever cast member.” The comedian discussed his future plans this week withEntertainment Weekly.
Thompson is now in his 22nd season as an SNL cast member; the previous record-holder wasDarrell Hammond, who left the show after fourteen seasons (although he’s now back as the show’s announcer, replacing the lateDon Pardo). Thompson, who recently appeared on the show’s50th anniversary special, stated his intention never to leave the venerable NBC sketch show: “I guess the only other milestone would be just to be the forever cast member. Just never leave the show. I don’t really know.” He discussed the possibility of hitting his thirtieth season on the show, and also of possibly outlasting showrunnerLorne Michaels, who has been with the show for its entire tenure, minus a five-year absence in the 1980s: “I feel like we’ll both just ride until the wheels fall off.”
Who Does Kenan Thompson Play on ‘Saturday Night Live’?
Over his long tenure on the series, Thompson has been part of over 1500 sketches. One of his longest-running recurring sketches is the BET talk showWhat Up With That?, on which he plays the host, Diondre Cole. The sketch’s premise is that the show’s lengthy theme song is repeated several times, meaning that Cole invariably runs out of time before he can talk to any of his guests, including the ever-presentFleetwood MacveteranLindsey Buckingham(Bill Hader). Other notable characters and sketches include Darnell Hayes, the host ofBlack Jeopardy!; Reese De’What, host ofCinema Classics; and Willie,Michael Che’s neighbor onWeekend Update. His celebrity impressions includeSteve Harvey,Charles Barkley,David Ortiz, andAl Sharpton. Thompson is so integral to the series at this point that “Kenan reacts” is frequently written into the show’s scripts.
Thompson began his career as a child actor, and has stayed busy outsideSNL. In 2023, he returned to his Nickelodeon roots inGood Burger 2, and he lent his voice to the Freeform animated seriesPraise Petey. He also had his own sitcom,Kenan, which ran for two seasons on NBC from 2021-2022.
New episodes ofSaturday Night Liveair weekly on NBC: this week’s host isJack Black, with musical guestsElton JohnandBrandi Carlile. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.
Saturday Night Live
Source:Entertainment Weekly
