Kenan Thompson Tells Us Why He Loves It When ‘SNL’ Goes Off The Rails, And When ‘Black Jeopardy’ Might Dig Deeper Into That Hosting Fiasco

Every SNL fan adores Kenan Thompson. He’s the longest-running cast member on the show, and he’s a comedy legend who finally gained leading man status NBC sitcom (Kenan, obviously) this year with a second season to come. He’s been making us laugh since D2: The Mighty Ducks and Kenan and Kal, and he’ll probably be the best part of the upcoming Home Alone follow-up on Disney+. He’s held countless SNL sketches together (he’s the greatest fake game show host of all time — sorry, Will Farrell) and earned the highest level of respect from his fellow cast members. No one ever has a bad word to say about Kenan Thompson’s character as a person. I dare you to go google that. You won’t find a thing.

Nope, the guy is simply committed to making you laugh, and he inherently knows what works, and what doesn’t, and when to just roll with it. And as Kenan told us, he absolutely loves it when sketches don’t turn out as planned, when the cast can’t hold it together and starts laughing, and when the energy flow from the live audience is palpable. That’s part of why SNL is an institution, and part of why Kenan’s been a ready, steady presence there for nearly two decades. He’s slightly less funny in a new ad campaign from Autotrader, which aims to make the car-buying process easier and, yes, fun. We chatted with Kenan about his career and why he’s so grateful for everything that he’s got going on these days, at work and in life.

I think that I’m obliged to pester you about how long you’re planning on staying at SNL, so let’s get that out of the way first.

Oh yeah, that’s a main topic of discussion. It’s a staple in my life and in America’s life, but yeah, I have my number that I would like to get to, and then after that, it’s up in the air-ish, you know what I mean It’s just such a special place, and I don’t know that I ever have to leave, but at the same time, I would like to make room for others, so if I can get to my 20 [seasons], that would be great. And I’m on 19 right now, so that doesn’t seem too far-fetched.

What do you think it is about SNL that makes people ask that question No one asks Law and Order: SVU people that question.

It’s the greatest comedy show in history. Just the live element and the air, and what the show has achieved. It’s a monument and a staple, and everybody respects it, and everybody protects it. So, when you’re inside of that studio, no matter how famous you are, people come back down to their human selves and have a good time. It’s just a special experience.

Well, one of my favorite things about SNL is when you guys break character when something is just so funny that you can’t keep it together.

Yeah, that’s another thing! That’s another thing that makes it special.

Last season with Keegan-Michael Key, he was beating the hell out of Muppets. You started to break. What goes through your head at a moment like that, when things are going off the rails.

I crave those moments. I want it to go off the rails. That’s what makes it different and exciting and much-watched TV and all of that. And when anybody like Keegan comes on, it’s hard for me to keep a straight face at all. But the fact that the audience gets to see the fun that we’re having as well, you know, that’s a whole different experience for everybody.

I got carried away last night rewatching “Black Jeopardy” sketches, and I was thinking of the major hosting mess with actual Jeopardy. Will SNL truly give its view on the host-changing fiasco, maybe through “Black Jeopardy”

I guess we’re waiting on the official outcome before we harp on what has happened [laughs] so far. That’s usually how it goes. We have to wait for the finished story, so we can actually reflect it, basically. Right now, it’s still fluctuating or something, or did they finally land on a host

For the rest of the year, Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings are sharing things until they really figure it out.

Exactly, so I guess there will be little touches like me doing LeVar Burton in the Cold Open. And little mentions of LeVar, like the week before, I played Levar B. Burton because he’s in the zeitgeist right now, but as far as doing the whole journey of the Jeopardy! host, we’ll just have to wait until the end.

With interviews about commercials, things can get really random. When Ice-T did that Tide commercial, we talked about, you know, Twitter. Speaking of which, I saw that you saw that Dionne Warwick called you out. Did you figure out why