Kenan Thompson Talks All That, Good Burger, and SNL at SU's Goldstein Auditorium
Photo by Adham Elsharkawi
On Friday night, Kenan Thompson graced Syracuse University students and families with his presence, arguably making the coolest and most collected appearance at Goldstein Auditorium to date.
It was a nostalgic week for Thompson, who just reunited with childhood pal Kel Mitchell on the Good Burger set during The Tonight Show on Wednesday, Sept. 23, with help from Jimmy Fallon. When he hit Goldstein's stage two nights later, Thompson was more than prepared to give us all the juicy details of his journey from "a young boy from Atlanta" and a "kid with a dream" to a primetime face of comedy and Saturday Night Live superstar.
Thompson stumbled into comedy as a child and since has learned to embrace his role as a comedian in Hollywood. In an interview with Jerk, the 37-year-old comedian spoke about his admiration for standup comedians, who tell joke after joke, night after night, week after week at comedy clubs. While Thompson claims those are the big time players in comedy, he took a slower approach to wow-ing the crowd on Friday night, walking us through the story of his career from his hometown gig as a child movie critic on CNN's "Real News For Kids" to a regular on one of America's longest-running TV series'.
If you were lucky enough to snag a ticket to the show, you had the pleasure of hearing Thompson joke about Miley Cyrus' obsession with "sex stuff" and "sweet little Amanda [Bynes']" drastic (and relatively terrifying) transition into absolute psychopath. Seriously, we agree with him… tweet that girl ASAP and tell her you love her because she needs it. I can't even watch What A Girl Wants anymore without feeling like I'm lying to myself, which is not exactly fair considering it plays on MTV at least three times a month, maybe even four if she's recently tweeted about wanting a celebrity to "murder her vagina." *Insert winky-face emoji and Drake reference here.*
In the event that you did not catch the show live, here's our never before seen or heard interview with the one and only, Kenan Thompson.
Q: If you could design your very own "Good Burger," what would it look like?
K: "Well, it would be a double, probably. I never think the single goes far enough. But it'd be doubly cheesy and bacony, and you know… sauce on the side for those who can give and take with their sauces."
Q: What's the biggest difference between being on All That, and being on SNL?
K: "You can't really compare anything to SNL… [when] we were kids, they'd give us stuff, we'd throw a voice on it and a sassy little walk and that would be that. But now a days, we have computers and I have an office and stuff like that, so it's like, the grown up version I guess."
Q: Who would you say is the weirdest person you've ever met on the set of SNL?
K: "He's not weird, he's just awesome. He's this guy named Speedy and he's like, the ultimate Brody. He's one of maybe five people that's worked on the crew of SNL since the very beginning. He has long, gray hair, kind of like Ben Stiller's character in Tenacious D… He's just like, a mystery. Nobody knows where he lives. He's a cool dude, Speedy."
Q: What are your thoughts on the Bill Cosby controversy, and how it's impacted the way people view his comedy?
K: "It's not really for me to say, it's his business. But to me, speaking as a fan, I think it's a real shame. A real, American shame."
A shame it really is. But for comedians like Thompson, it's now their responsibility to do their jobs as the funny guys and keep a positive attitude. Thompson told SU students (who he says are currently peaking in the "doing sex to each other" phase) to approach college with a similar go-getting mindset.
He said one last goodbye to SU with, "No means no, and yes means twice."