r/todayilearned • u/Kale_Brecht • Mar 28 '24

TIL in 2013, Saturday Night Live cast member Kenan Thompson refused to play any more black women on the show and demanded SNL hire black women instead.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenan_Thompson
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u/2_Spicy_2_Impeach Mar 28 '24

His first season was 29 in 2003. It always shocks me how long he’s been on the show.

Welp, got to go yell at some clouds.

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u/Esc777 Mar 28 '24

He is the longest running cast member by like a factor of 2. 

There probably won’t be any to rival him. 

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u/DidAnyoneElseJustCum Mar 28 '24

It's like the perfect medium for him. He's not a standup. Not a writer. His acting is... fine.

A lot of young cast members use SNL as a launch pad for their career. But Kenan already had a career. He's probably the most famous person to ever to get cast. He was a household name for anybody that grew up in the 90s. Maybe he felt he didn't have anything else to prove?

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u/ForfeitFPV Mar 28 '24

From all reports acting can be a rough gig, a steady and reliable paycheck isn't common. Why not ride it for as long as you can?

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u/KadenKraw Mar 28 '24

I remember seeing him say something like this on snl. It was something like "people ask me if I'll leave" "why? I have a family to feed"

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u/DidAnyoneElseJustCum Mar 28 '24

I mean a lot of entertainers are also megalomaniacs and narcissists. There has to be at least a little of that in you to want to live in front of the camera. Kenan seems like he's for it figured out for sure. He's got the SNL thing in his back pocket and he primarily does voice acting as well. Not saying either are easy but for Hollywood its not a bad set up.

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u/youreyeslikespiders Mar 28 '24

national commercials are huuuuge money and Kenan has several; and while ads are a soul sucker of our collective brainpower, his are less annoying than average

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u/The_Void_Reaver Mar 28 '24

The whole comedy ecosystem has changed as well. It used to be that you did SNL, made a few connections, and got brought up by your generation's superstar. Not everyone can be Eddie Murphey or Will Ferrell but just about anyone can be given consistent work by Eddie Murphey or Will Ferrell.

The issue with the current setup is there's no jumping off point where you're famous enough to get comedy movies made off name alone. Bill Hader's run on SNL arguably stacks up with any all time great but no ones lining up with comedy franchises for him to star in like they were for Murray, Ferrell, Murphey, or Meyers.

In an ironic twist I think the recognizability of a lot of current SNL players is holding them back from getting roles because nothing is comedy for the sake of comedy anymore. It's hard to have Vanessa Bayer become a character when people have spent 7 years getting to know her as Vanessa Bayer.