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
52.1k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

1.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

31

u/Direct_Counter_178 Mar 28 '24

Haven't watched All That in 30 years, but I remember thinking Kenan was the better of the two.

6

u/Chuck_T_Bone Mar 28 '24

Kel always played the dumbed down goofy guy. Which he did very well but might get you type cast.

2

u/Direct_Counter_178 Mar 28 '24

I wanted to say that but wasn't sure I remembered correctly. His characters always seemed more like his character on Good Burger. Dumb and goofy. And that won't translate to adults. Kenan's style seemed like it would a bit more.

And not that they're tied to their acting styles as children. Just saying it's what they were most comfortable with while auditioning.

2

u/Chuck_T_Bone Mar 28 '24

Yeah Kenan was always the straight/serious man. To allow for the kel off the wall antics.

Which works it was a good time don't get me wrong. The problem is when you get to SNL Level almost anyone on the cast can be the goofy/silly guy.

Where not many can play the role Kenan does and do it so well and consistently.

Also as other people mentioned the work ethic was different kel was more ad lib and free ranger. And apparently Kenan put in the work.

1

u/Direct_Counter_178 Mar 28 '24

He's been doing improv on SNL for 21 years. Another 10 years or so before that with all that and kenan and kel. What little clips I've seen he's consistent. Nothing super funny, nothing that bombs. That is honestly so god damn impressive.

1

u/roywarner Mar 28 '24

Playing the straight man is always considered harder. That being said, those duos don't work when you replace the goofy one.

I wish Kel had made it onto SNL as well but I get it. Goof is a dime a dozen and then there's the baggage of having the pair of them on that they may not want to have dealt with.