“I’m going to concrete!” Surprised Kenan Thompson exclaimed, reflecting on the fact that his three-decade career in entertainment is about to celebrate a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and that honor will always be taken. “I don’t know of any other example of a backflip being actually installed in the ground like that.”
Longevity became a hallmark of Thompson’s career: he began performing as a kid on stage before landing in films like “D2: The Mighty Ducks”; She was catapulted to hugely popular teen stardom with Nickelodeon’s “All That” graphic series, which led to the Spinoff series “Kenan & Kel”, which in turn gave birth to 1997’s Good Burger, which Jill loves.
He’s had success as an adult on “Saturday Night Live,” where his running stint has spanned several eras of actors and over 1,500 sketches to date – heading into his 20th season with the esteemed weekend star, Thompson as the longest-running performer on the show. floors history. In 2018, he won an Emmy for writing the music video for “Come Back Barack,” an impassioned plea for the former president. After this story was printed, Thompson was chosen as the host of the upcoming Emmy Awards.
Even with all this accumulating history, Thompson still finds himself surprised when he was named to the Walk of Fame category for 2022. The surprising result, he admits, was a semi-serious campaign launched by the production team of You Already Know, the podcast he co-hosted with Tani Marol.
“I didn’t think this would turn out to be true, and then I ended up voting for my name and then getting the green light to actually get it,” he says. “I was like, ‘What?’ This is madness!’ It’s crazy to think of me being a chapter in a book, because when I started, I just wanted to be an actor. I didn’t know what came with fame or anything like that, or even what business was. For me, it was all just about doing everything. And I thought if you did well enough, the rest would figure out itself. I don’t think I was necessarily wrong.”
Kel Mitchell and Kenan Thompson
© Nickelodeon Network / Courtesy Everett Collection
It feels like he’s been haunted from the start performing on stage at the age of five.
“I enjoyed running and noticing people were smiling at what I was doing,” he says. “I enjoyed entertaining people and playing. So, it’s easy for me to still feel young, even though I look back and there are, say, 30 years working there.”
Although he didn’t start out dreaming of becoming a comedian, it was during his breakout era with Nickelodeon that he discovered Thompson and embraced his facility for joy-making comedy.
“At first it was like, ‘Yeah, I have two voices or whatever, I have some references to things I heard in an Eddie Murphy movie or an old movie from the ’70s, or just the zeitgeist of old black men,” he laughs. Over several seasons, you really start to see what your potential could be.”
His future comedian partner and old friend Kel Mitchell vividly remembers the moment he laid eyes on Thompson during his “All That” auditions, hitting the blades of the Mighty Ducks drum.
“He was really a star,” laughs Mitchell. “I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to hang out with this kid. “
Their chemistry, both in graphics and off screen, was electric.
“We were swapping and tearing at each other and all the jokes were just working,” he chuckles. “It’s great to see so many of the things we talked about as kids – going through the drive after filming on the show or just having conversations in the dressing room, about where we want our careers to go and where our lives have to go.”
Ultimately, Thompson set out to find individual success.
“We were like, ‘We know we work well together, but I think if we have longevity or opportunity to have longevity, people should know us as individual artists as well,’ he says of the transformation.” at the hip during our lives and to be vulnerable to the people we both love at all times.”
By the time he hit “SNL” at 25, he had given up the nerves of being in front of the camera. But he says adapting to the highly competitive environment in which the lightning travels was difficult at first. ‘SNL’ is a machine that no one has time to hold in your hand and guide you through, necessarily. He sure learns quickly.”
Thompson was “much younger” than the kinds of performers and executive producers Lorne Michaels usually seen on the show. However, he has put his children Thompson on Lorne’s creative radar.
“He was immediately impressive. … There is something so fundamental with Keenan, that he just radiates goodness,” Michaels says. “Whatever he’s doing, even if he’s playing OJ [Simpson]He is charming. He knows you have to make your characters likable. Because if the character is unlikable, the audience will not pay attention to it. You have to trust that the writing will say everything that needs to be said, but you have to have the magic. He clearly has that more than anyone else.”
Kenan Thompson during the sketch for “Trivia Game Show” on “Saturday Night Live.”
Will Heath/NBC
Soon, even among the deep bench of heavy hitters, his versatility and charisma were noted and popularized by writers including Tina Fey, Seth Meyers and Colin Jost. Then, after several seasons of reading other people’s material, he honed his ability to create his own moment and moments for spot-discovered comic pieces.
“It’s definitely one of my most accurate tools, always being kind of on the radar for something that might strike me funny that I haven’t necessarily done before,” he says. “I don’t necessarily like to stress, ‘I have to come up with something new that’s going to go viral,’ like every month. That’s just way too stressful. But I try to stay sharp.”
Michaels was pleasantly surprised by the way Thompson took on a leading role: “He doesn’t seem to be particularly taught, but he’ll make it clear: ‘This is why this camera is there’, or ‘This is the best way to make that entrance.’ He doesn’t have an official role. He has become, Over time, that person is the most helpful, most supportive and makes you better.”
Now, even as Thompson’s “SNL” play grows increasingly popular, he’s applying those lessons to new projects through his production company Artists for Artists.
“This company is the culmination of my dreams,” he says of the entity, which has already chosen off-duty properties like the My Therapist Says Instagram account to develop TV, and has a foundation of podcast properties and talent to build upon. “The possibility of what this company can really do is my desire to be Steven Spielberg one day.”
Even as he enters the empire-building phase of his career, Thompson says, “It’s not the typical model, like, ‘Oh, you explode in SNL, and then you explode in real life, and then you’re the mansion of Hollywood Hills all the time and Ferraris and all that.'” I’m still in business. I’m definitely still following the lead of the earth, and I’m still the blue collar mentality.”
But this legendary palace in the hills? “I definitely expect to get it. I just haven’t gone there yet.”
He even sees this new star on the Walk of Fame as a future deal-making site.
“I’ll say, ‘Meet me in this corner and let me show you something real quick so you know exactly who to talk to. And I’d sit there next to my star with a candle, like, ‘That’s me. do this. I think you can trust my opinion about everything we’re about to build together.”
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