SmartLess - "Kenan Thompson"

Episode Date: August 22, 2022

Kenan Thompson, SNL’s longest-tenured cast member, joins us this week from Atlanta. Everyone has a go at their best Lorne voice, and we quickly realize “we’re just one hat and 40 buttons away from being Steve right now.” Welcome to SmartLess.Please support us by supporting our sponsors!National Disclaimer: 21+ and present in AZ, CT, IA, IL, LA (permitted parishes only), MI, NJ, NY, PA, TN, WV, or WY. First online real money wager only. Refund issued as non-withdrawable free bets that expire 14 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (IA, MI, NJ, PA, IL), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342, 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY), or visit www.1800gambler.net (WV).See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guys, did you know that intro doesn't stand for introduction? What does it stand for? We'll go ahead. You got the first. What does the I stand for? The I stands for definitely international. Oh, I thought it stands for entertainment. I'm not familiar with the word entertainment, but sure.

I'll entertain the idea. Oh, it's entertainment that starts from the inside out. It's different than entertainment. Okay, what's the end? Entertainment enters you. Entertainment starts from the inside. You push it out. Right.

What are you doing? We have all the content inside of us. We're about to share with the audience. What's the other letters? Oh, I don't have that. Welcome to smart list. Smart. Smart.

Smart. Smart. Smart. Smart. Smart. Smart. Smart. Smart.

Smart. Smart. Smart. Smart. Smart. Smart. Smart. Smart.

Smart. Smart. Smart. Smart. Smart. Smart. You cook there. Believe me.

You cook there. Sweet kostume will be on time. We are on time with William &爸. Sweet cent manual. Sweet stomach will be going on. WeOnTime. Sweet sweet William & HUD is now two minutes late. He was one minute late and I just stopped you from texting him.

And you stopped making him Almost rude. You can't text and wait until the guy's three minutes late. He made it. He made it two minutes. It's like, that's totally acceptable. Right. He just has to apologize to your guest and we'll be fine. Okay.

What's not late enough? What I mean is like, what's the appropriate time to text somebody if they're late? Five minutes is a five minute grace period. Okay. You know, before you get, you know, cause otherwise it's just, it's a little kind of old man-ish.

All right. All right. Have you met me? Yes, I'm here. Hi, Will. I will. Did I miss, I mean, I'm not late. Guys, do I have a story for you

that just happened to be about half an hour ago? Oh, God, I'm trying to hate when you're prepared. No, I'm not. This is literally happened to be a half hour ago. This is unbelievable. Well, we'll see. Well, let us decide. So, you know how I'm on the East coast?

I do. Scotty and I haven't vacationed in a long time. We plan this whole thing, blah, blah, blah, blah. Here in New York, gonna go visit Will on Tuesday, gonna drive, go to Virginia to see Scotty's hometown. And then we're gonna go, and then I plan to go to NASA in Florida. You all know this, right?

Yeah. So I've been DMing with Jessica Meir, our friend and guest. It always sounds dirty when I hear somebody say that. DMing? Yeah. So our friend Jessica Meir who's been on the show, the astronaut, she, we've been messaging. I'll just say, I won't say DMing.

Thank you. And back and forth, like a ton organizing this. Like she's like, okay, I'm gonna get meet you guys here. We're gonna take you here. And all of a sudden she was like, who's this? Yeah. So not like twice, like maybe like 50 times we've been messaging, like trying to figure out

the logistics of all of this tour we're gonna get. And by the way, a dream of mine forever. How about a half hour ago, my assistant goes, I was helping, he was helping me book the hotel. Hashtag related. And I said, he goes, I just talked to a person at NASA. They said, the hotel that we booked for you is nowhere near the facility.

And I go, well, how far away is it? And he goes, Texas. Oh, so your assistant thought you were going time. He thinks you're coming to Houston. Yeah, Houston, this entire time I, the idiot, was like, didn't even bother asking her, like, where am I going? I booked the flight. Like everything's booked in Florida.

Why did I think NASA was in Florida? And she just assumed. But Sean, Sean, Sean, did you just go like, tell the guy we want to go to Cape Canaveral? Yeah, I thought that. You didn't go like, hey, before you booked to go. So we're locked. What's the closest airport?

Where should I fly into? I know, I know. I just, I don't know what happened. So wait, what is the name of the facility that's in Texas? The Kennedy Space Center. Oh, I'm sorry, in Texas, that's in Florida. In Texas, it's, I don't know, it's the NASA, whatever. Is that Cape Canaveral in Texas?

No, Cape Canaveral is in Florida. Boy, this is dumb, smart guy. We are smart. This is why we're not rocket science scientists guys. You can't even say that. This is why we're not rocket science, is the quote that we're putting on your grave. So does Jesse Mir, does she end up,

is she going to accommodate your dumbness by meeting you in Florida? No, she's not going to go to Florida. I'm going to Dallas. No, truly? I mean, for you Houston, I'm going to Houston. Good God. Now were you able to rejigger your whole thing

so that you could go there? Yeah, I'm working on it. Wait, wait, wait, so sorry. So you were all set to get a tour of the Florida space area. And now you're going to pivot everything and tour the Texas space area. Because that's where sweet, sweet Jesse Mir is.

Yes, I just, I think I just booked a hotel near the Kennedy Space Center. Anyway, I got to redo the whole thing. Non-refundable. Yeah. Okay, well from what I understand though, the Texas NASA thing is for reentry. That's, so as soon as the rockets take off in Florida,

they shut down, all those guys go to lunch and Houston takes over. Well, Sean's going to be excited about that then. Yeah. Reentry, sorry. I wouldn't get too bummed out about that either. But wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, Sean, Sean, Sean, Sean.

Can you believe that? Wait, I can't believe it. But now, because I'm just thinking, because I know the logistics of your trip and so does Jason, that you're coming out here and then you're going down to Scotty's home and then you're going, you were going to go further south and then go meet JB and those guys in that other place.

Right. So now you got to kind of zigzag over to Texas. I got to go to Texas and then back down. This better not come out of my time with you. I know, it's a lot of extra money that I wasn't prepared to spend. Well, you're spending it. Well, yeah.

By the way guys, can I borrow $800,000? Oh no. Oh no, he's in too deep. I hope you're not underwhelmed with the NASA tour. I know, me too. I don't think I'm going to be. It's like, I've always, always, always wanted to do it. What are you hoping to see there, Sean?

Yeah, I mean, honestly, for me, I'm like, I could read about it in a book and be like, great, thanks. I'm good. Yeah. Are you think you're going to see something take off? You think you're pushing a button? Yeah.

You're going to look at like a launch facility. That's it. No, I'm going to go to the office. Maybe, maybe I'll see how they get in the water and they train in the water. Maybe I could jump down there with them. No guy. You need to go with Will to,

Will went to space camp with Chris Pratt, right? I did. We went to that in Alabama. You did? Yeah. Was that was some sort of a press thing, wasn't it? Yeah. We went and did it.

And then we did it. We made it into a competition. It was me and Pratt against Liz Banks and Corden. Are you better at one? I did. Although the thing where they spun me around. Right round? Yeah.

Like a record baby. You know that one. No, that thing. We get it. Stop doing the thing with your hand. And the gyro thing. And I was all good. And then I got off that.

And then for like 45 minutes. And then Pratt comes up to me and he goes, he goes, I was kind of like bent over. We were going to the next thing to try the G-Force. I'm like, I don't know if I can do this. And I was kind of bent over outside the building and Pratt comes up and he goes, you know, you're going to be okay.

But you know, sometimes they say that that, that feeling you're having can, can last for a couple of weeks. Oh my God. And I go, yeah, but I go, what? And he goes, yeah. And then I look at him and I go, you motherfucker. I want to do that though.

I want to, but look at Jay, Jay and I went to the Dodger's game last week and the Cubs lost Dodgers one. But Jay took a video of me after I ate some food. Yeah. You remember that, Jay? No. I remember I had mustard all over my shirt. Oh yeah.

Are you trying to do like the opposite of weightlessness? What do you do? Yeah, he had, granddad got some mustard on his top. I didn't even know when I was walking around greeting all these people. You know, you weren't walking. You were just sitting heavy. You were sitting heavy in a chair

and your stomach shelf had a big dollop of mustard sitting on the top. And Jason turns this video on and he goes. On the summit of it. Yeah. He goes, oh, granddad's first game. And he just was videotaping my shirt. Oh, he wanted to know when halftime was.

And I said, you know what, Sean? Let's just hang on for another hour and you'll be done. Oh, speaking of hanging on for another hour, ready for our guest? I sure am. Oh, I'm so excited. Are you sure you booked the right one? That's, that's great.

Well, this is so sad and so expected. He's a very, very funny human being. He's been making me laugh since he was a kid and I was still an adult. But fun fact, he's also an excellent ice skater. There may have been a little hockey movie. You got to exercise those skills in. Going from child star on Nickelodeon to Saturday Night Live

is a pretty solid trajectory for a young comedian. And he's since been nominated for four prime time and he's Keenan. As the longest tenured Saturday Night Live cast member ever. He just finished his 19th season. It's Keenan Thompson. It's Keenan. I knew it was Keenan.

I knew it was Keenan. I knew it was Keenan. Very happy. You guys. What hockey movie? Mighty Ducks. Mighty Ducks. Mighty Ducks.

Take that dirty braves hat off immediately. Oh, wow. I can't. I'm actually in Atlanta. So I really have to represent. I'm sorry. You're in Atlanta right now? Yeah.

But you don't live there. Two and three. No, I don't live here. I'm from here. So. Huh. So there's that. Are you visiting or working?

I'm just visiting. Brought the kids home to see grandma and granddad. Oh, that's nice. Now, so then does that make you a braves hand? It does. Or you just like the hat? I am a braves fan. Is that a problem?

I feel like it's turning into an issue. Yeah, I'm sorry. We'll take care of you in the playoffs. Do you miss Freddie Freeman? Were you on board with that whole situation? We'll be right with you guys. Hold on. Yeah, just one sec.

I'll talk to Freeman and talk. I felt like he put in a good amount of time with us. And yeah, he helped us win last year. So you were done with him? Wasn't necessarily done, but he's free to move on if he wants a bigger check. What an answer. What an answer.

He took less with us, I think. He took less. Well, I don't think he had a choice. You guys booed in him. No way. Yes way. Wow. Yes way.

Didn't you see him crying last week? I thought that was because he's a family man or something. I didn't know. I didn't know the family was in his babies. Jason, can you hear it? I just heard our ratings drop. Oh God. Call them back.

Damn. Baseball. I mean, there are a lot of people who love sports and then they're like, but baseball? Are you fucking kidding me? It's the best. Are you fucking kidding me? It's the best.

That's what it is. There are things about that. I'm being a little. You know what though? Going to the games with Jason last week, I said to him, I go, I get it. I get it. It's America's favorite pastime.

I understand it. It's really relaxing. If you look at it as a game instead of a sport, you can deal with the slow pace of it. Yeah. No, I like it. I do enjoy it. I've been with Jason before.

I stole a fly ball once when he was there with him. It's a foul ball. With his own glove. Foul ball with his glove. Going to a game, you can't not like it. You know, you just see those guys and then you see what they do and they're so professional and blah, blah, blah, blah.

Bullshit. But it is a lot of fun. It really is. It's so good to see you guys. How's it going with the granddad and grandma right now? It's going great. That's your mom and dad, your kids' grandparents. Yeah?

That's right. Okay. So the kids are with them so we can have it. No fights yet? They're coming. I can feel it. The little ones getting a little agitated. How long you been there?

Just since last night. Oh, it's already tense. Yeah. And you're living there at the house with them or in a hotel? We're Airbnb-ing. Oh, yeah. Actually, I caught this Airbnb kind of like around the corner

from the church I grew up in. So this is like super stomping grounds I get to share with them. It's nice. Oh, nice. How many kids you got, Kenan? Two girls. Two girls?

Two girls, mm-hmm. Ages, sweet. Eight and four. Best guess on their ages, eight and four. Yeah, I'm gonna go ballpark, eight and four. Yeah, it's always safe. You know what I mean? Good couple of numbers.

Actually, the four-year-old is turning for the end of the month, so she's almost four. Yeah. But yeah. Okay, we'll allow it. It's so fun. Now, do you keep them busy during the summer with camp or doing these family jumps?

Usually I've been working, but now that the show is no more, I have the summer off, so we've been kind of just traveling and catching up with family. You're talking about the Kenan Thompson show? I am. I'm talking about the actual sitcom of mine.

I saw that and I thought it was hysterical and fantastic. I thought you were great. How many seasons did you do on that and how did you do your schedule? Were you doing SNL all year and then doing your show during the summer? No, I mean, when we started, we did two seasons. When we started, we started,

we were like the first show back from the pandemic, so they kind of squeezed it in in the fall, so we were kind of double duty in SNL in that show for... No way. Yeah, a couple months. You were doing it with Chris, right, Chris Redd? Exactly. How did that, sorry, how did that work then?

How did you double, you got to fly across the country? Yeah, we were kind of skipping out on the week and just showing up on Saturday, basically. And then on the hiatus weeks, we would just go back and work. So we didn't take a break for like nine weeks when we first started. And then the second season, we started in this...

more so where it wasn't overlapping. I'm trying to think exactly. I think it was May, but... Can I ask a dumb question? The show's named after you. That would imply you had the juice to dictate where it would be shot. And why wasn't it shot in New York?

Yeah. I'm a fan of L.A. I'm a big fan of L.A. And I felt like I spent a lot of time in New York and it's kind of hard to shoot shows in New York. Everything seems so complicated, especially like Miss Maisel shoots in the West Village all the time

and they just suck up the entire parking around the entire West Village. And it seems like everybody's kind of mad about it. And I didn't want to be that kind of show. I bet the other reason you shot in L.A. was because when you're shooting a multi-cam, you should be on the lot. The best people for multi-cams are in L.A.

And we know this. It just seems this logistically impossible to do it since you were doing it like, why not shoot it at 30 Rock would kind of make a no-brainer sense, right? It would, but I guess I like to complicate things, man. I like to live on the fucking edge. And was Lauren producing it?

Lauren produced it. It was a brand new production. That's why I was doing no, because the reason is... I think we all wanted to travel. We needed vacation. We spent a lot of time in New York, especially in the fall and winter. But I honestly thought I was like,

oh, Keenan's going to bring the multi-cams back to NBC because it's been a while. And I saw that I was like, oh, that's going to be on the air for 12, 15 years. We thought, and we ended up doing a single cam, but we tried to make it look like a multi-fuel. It had a multi-fuel to it. And you had everybody, Don Johnson on there too.

Killed it. Crushed it. Yeah, killed it. Constantly. He's such a good guy. And you make me laugh. Every time, you're one of those people every time I see you, you make me laugh, always.

It's one of the things. Are you sure? Yeah, I did. It's one of the things. Am I doing it now? Yeah, absolutely. It's just you get that nice, warm smile on your face and I feel safe.

You guys, likewise, by the way. And we will be right back. And now back to the show. I read this, I got to find it, where did I put it? I read this off of your own website, which made me laugh out loud. This is your website. Bear with him, Kenan.

This is the guy who spilled mustard on his shirt. It hasn't been updated since 07. Left to right, top to bottom, Sean. This is really funny. Keenan currently stars as a member of the Saturday Night Live crew of which he's been a member since 2003. He is currently the only black member of SNL.

What? I told you, it hasn't been updated since 2007, I think. Mike, he said, what? Oh my God. Isn't that great? Don't worry, I'm gonna get on my IT people. IEV. You should do some lo-fi sort of scratch out on only

and just change it to best. Oh, there you go. There you go. That's a solid thing. That's a champ right there. Congratulations, by the way. Who can make? Keenan's out the wazoo out there.

Also, let me just praise you guys for a quick second. Jason, I'm so proud of you. Take your time, Keenan. Since the last time I saw you, Jason, you were hosting SNL and then you departed and became probably Netflix's greatest treasure. Oh, you're so nice, man. I'm so proud of you for that.

You're very kind. I think y'all shooting Atlanta too. I know the streets. We did some time there, for sure. I love it. I'm so proud. Don't say you did some time. You have the best job in show business.

That place is a temple. It is a special place. I still would trade it all in to be a cast member. That is an absolute true story right there. Come back and host, it's way better. Yeah, well, the hosting gig is way better. I feel like you and I missed each other last time I was there. I remember talking to you on the phone

because now that I'm back to you were in L.A. That's right, you just hosted and I wasn't there because we were shooting that damn show. That's right. But did you make it in to do that, to do SNL at all? And I just wasn't... I did it because we had a COVID shutdown. So I was quarantined for two weeks

and I wasn't able to make it or else I would have. But that sounds nice. That sounds like you got some real good L.A. time there. Way to catch the virus. Yeah, I was walking up those runyon canyons and I saw Lawrence Fishburne twice. It was pretty awesome. Wait, what?

Randomly, he was exercising on the same hills, so... So wait, Keenan, I want to know because you do... I truly, truly mean it. Anytime I see you anywhere, you're one of those people where your face just shows up and you know it's going to be funny. Who in the world makes you laugh that hardest that you either work with or have worked with?

Well, I was getting back to you guys, I wasn't finished. Oh, God. I'm such a... I'm a big fan of the show. I'm so happy that you guys get to do something with your friends, you know what I mean? That like, is it lifting at all for either one of you? You know what I mean?

It's embarrassingly light. It's so light. It's so awesome. I'm so happy. We've crossed paths many, many times. You always brighten my day. I've never known, like I've never stopped and asked you questions that I wanted to ask you,

which is what this podcast is for, right? Oh my God. So I know, and they're going to be dumb questions, but I don't know the answers. So that's why I asked now that. I have you trapped in this. There's going to be a lot of them, Kenan. It's wrapped in fire.

I want to know, was SNL a big deal to you growing up? Like, did you watch it? Because you're the first guest that was ever in the history of SNL cast. How do I get this right? I was the first cast member that was born after the start of the show, yes. After the show, yeah.

Oh, wow. Oh. Yeah, SNL was a huge deal. I mean, I think I caught on to it after my in living color run, but definitely like middle school, I was paying. It was like the Sandler, Chris Farley days. I was paying attention, like pretty strong.

And then I went back and researched, you know, the Eddie Murphy days, because I remember my dad watching like Hot Tub and shit like that. I couldn't really watch at the time. So I had to go back and study Gumby and all that good stuff and, you know, Garrett's years and the original seven

and stuff like that. And, you know, since I've just been watching it for the rest of the duration. So from the Sandler years on, I've been a student and a huge fan, you know? And yeah, it was definitely a dream that I thought would never happen. And did you put yourself on a path to do it?

Like, did you want to take improv classes or stand up and stuff like that to sort of like get yourself ready for that? Was it something you had your eye on? I didn't do the traditionals. No, but unbeknownst to us, I mean, you know, it kind of was the best training I could ever have doing the Nickelodeon shows.

All that show was a sketch comedy show. Yeah, it was awesome. At such a young age. Keenan, I was, because you used to, I remember when you first started SNL, you didn't come in like some kid who was just like doing sketch in Chicago or whatever. You had a career and you had fans

and you had been doing stuff. Like you had some juice and you knew what you were doing. A lot of cast members come on and they're nervous. It's probably, for a lot of them, it's their first time in front of a camera. Yeah. And you had grown up in front of a camera. Yeah, I was, I think I was lucky in that way.

Like I always, still to this day, I wished that I had gone to an improv experience or something like that, just to get better at flushing out what I think is funny and what everybody else might understand to be the same thing, just to connect those dots, you know what I mean? When you're writing a sketch or just, you know,

writing in general. But yeah, the Nickelodeon was great training. You just seemed to have such a great innate sense of where the audience is at in any particular sketch. And whether you kind of want to be in on the joke with them or be separate from them and kind of show them the joke. I mean, I don't know if any of that makes sense, but I don't know.

It does. You never push and you just always seem so relaxed. You put the audience in, in relaxation. Oh, I push. I shoves my ideas, especially if I think it's funny, but a lot of the time it's not, which is fine. It is. But I am in love with your impressions.

You do so many great impressions. Steve Harvey makes me pee in my pants. Bill Cosby makes me pee in my pants. Like the bartender, that character you did, Al Sharpton makes me pee in my pants. Oh man, thank you. I mean, I give it up to those guys because they're easier to do.

They have tomes that I can like register in on, you know? Like Charles Barkley sounds like how he sounds. Steve Harvey sounds like how he sounds. You know, like Sharpton especially, like one of the greatest voices ever. So I guess I have good ears. Has Barkley ever reached out to you and been like, Oh yeah.

Hey man. I just saw him, like calm it down. No, Barkley loves it. Steve Harvey didn't love it in the beginning. He didn't? Did he send you a note? He didn't love it. No, I know him.

So he would definitely like send messages through mutual friends or just through the press and be like, hey, tell a little fat boy to knock it off. And be like, all right, take it easy. Wow. And then did you lean into it a little bit more? I'd never stopped. As soon as he does something that is, you know,

something to reflect, like whenever he steps out of family feud and does something else, I'm on that too. You know what I mean? It's just, if you're on the radar, you're on the radar. That's right. I guess if people are, if they're big stars and they know what the game is

and they're at the top of the game, that they're kind of, when it comes to sort of making fun of them a little bit, they're open. It's open season, right? It should be, you know? I mean, that's what I mean about being on the radar, you know, like you can capitalize off of life and then not have someone comment on that,

you know what I mean? Yeah, of course. And also, I mean, any sort of drawn caricature or acted impersonation sort of by definition is an exaggeration of whatever it is that you do. And so, baked into that, you should know like, they're exaggerating to make a point, that they're trying to get to the comedy

by doing something more than what you do. So, people should temper their feelings about all of that. I definitely agree. I mean, I have to exaggerate because I'm not Steve Harvey. You know what I mean? So, right up there, really try to convince people that I, I don't know, Keenan, you're just a hat away. One hat, 50 buttons away from being Steve right now.

But I feel like the audience would look at me like I'm insane if I was really trying to be like, no, no, no, take me seriously as a person. I do wonder where those five button jackets had gone. They're long. Everybody loves a mid-thigh, longer outer jacket. Belt it and cinch it. Belt it.

Do you know, you know, Keenan, when you meet those people also, I don't even just mean like out on, if you do it publicly on the show on SNL, but, and you guys too, you know that if you take yourself too seriously, and I don't care if you're up or if you're, or if you're below, I don't care where you're at,

you gotta be able to laugh at yourself and allow people. And you can kind of tell who, what somebody is, by whether or not they can take a fucking joke about themselves. Yeah, yeah, for sure. The boy we live with, a lot of people who don't wanna laugh at themselves. The one thing that made me nervous though,

that way back in the day, and we spoke to David about this, when David Spade was on the show, when he used to do Hollywood Minute, that those were sort of like crushing days. Did you remember that Keenan, when Spade used to do that back in the day, like in the 90s, he did that Hollywood minute?

Epic, to the point where Eddie Murphy called, and was like, yo, what's up? You know what I'm saying, like, y'all dissing me? Dude, I'll kick your ass. Yeah, it was a nasty call. But you need that human peak in the window of a person to wanna still be a fan of them, I think. You know what I mean?

Like I don't wanna see somebody, like just stay in the, I'm a tough guy role, you know what I mean? Like the best tough guys, like the real ones, are usually big, giant teddy bears, you know what I mean? Yeah. I remember going to do a hockey,

I know that you like hockey, we brought it before, and when I did the hockey awards once, and I did this, it was a real sweaty bit, I'll admit that. And I was trying, wait, you've hosted the hockey awards before too, I think. And H.L. Awards twice.

H.L. Awards, yeah. That's right, I just did it. So I did it a few years back, and I remember doing this bit where I was like, I was like, I'm gonna go into the crowd, and I'm gonna kind of do some bits based on these, and just fuck with them. Always works.

And guess, yeah, always works, always works. With athletes, especially hockey players, they took themselves so fucking seriously. And to the point that I had, but what was great was the biggest stars, Sidney Crosby, was the one who took it the best, and had a laugh at it about it, and I was like, what a fucking stud.

He's the biggest, he's on the top of the mountain, and he just won it at all. And even Patrick Kana did the same thing, he plays for Chicago, and then I did a thing back in Atlanta for TNT Broadcast, and I made a joke with him on the broadcast, this fall, or this spring,

and then I called him after I got a text, and I said, hey, Pat, you know, I was just goofing around, and he goes, oh yeah, man, I'm totally good. I totally got it. I loved it. And I was like, what a stud. Huge star, what a stud.

I mean, the rest of them are just worried about punching each other, I think. You know, they punch each other for a living, so since they're always kind of somber. I didn't want them to punch me for a living, because it would end my living. Right. Keenan, I want to ask you,

being the longest cast member at Center Night Live, do you- Longest tenured. Longest tenured, yeah, sorry, bro. Just a family hot cast, bro. Jesus, dude. And I'm sorry if you get asked this question a lot, but do you still get thrilled?

Do you still get excited? Where are you, as far as energy, excitement? Because, I mean, for us, I hope you never leave. I mean, you are like- Yeah, Keenan, I think that you've got one of the best, you're one of the people, I say this to people all the time, there are very few people who have the kind of timing

that you do, you have unreal timing. Thank you. Thank you very much. Jesus, that took a second. Oh, yeah, it was both like that up later. I'm out of practice, it's summertime, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, when do you just, do you get nervous at all? Nervous and excited for every show, even dress rehearsal.

You know, almost more excited for dress rehearsal, because it doesn't count, and we can kind of just go as crazy as possible, so. I love that. I try to turn that nerves into, I don't give a Fs, you know what I mean, and then just kind of go crazy or whatever, and then tone it down for the live show or whatever,

but depending on what the audience is doing, yeah. We'll be right back. All right, back to the show. Keenan Thompson, I wanna ask you, you have, you've expanded your kind of life into being a producer and quite prolific. You have a lot going on at your company. And. Trying, yes.

Tell me a couple of things, why you wanted to start it, and, because I think this is fascinating, and I love it, and I'm on board. I'm an ensemble guy, you know? I grew up doing theater, and I, you know, every cast I've been in has been, you know, filled with amazing people. I'm not a stand up, and I'm thankful for that,

because I feel like, you know, the stand up pursuit is such an individual pursuit. You kind of get robbed of the joy of working with people, the ability to work with other people, like all kinds of things. Like I see a lot of stand up struggle when they come to SNL because it is such an ensemble environment. But as far as producing goes,

I'm just a big fan of, you know, knowing the struggles of, you know, us working actors and the audition hustle and this and the other, whatever I can do to help, you know, smooth that out or offer more opportunity or anything. I'm kind of all about it. So I'm beyond proud of our company, Artist for Artist. I've had other production companies with, you know,

friends from Nickelodeon in the days that are still going and a podcast company and like, you know, all kinds of stuff, you know, to kind of just offer opportunities, umbrella opportunities for whoever wants to be creative. I love that. And tell me about Mike Tyson, because I have a story about Mike Tyson.

Mike's the greatest. I mean, he's the champ, you know? He's a tortured soul, unfortunately, but, you know, he's a big, giant sweetheart. Aren't you working with him on something? Yeah, like, you know, he's one of our, you know, partners. So we're kind of, that's our thing. We want to be like a 360 incubator

for artists and creatives. So we, you know, are pretty wrapped around Tyson, pretty tight, like my partner, you know, produced his last fight and, you know, he's doing his podcast hotboxing and, you know, the weed line, Tyson 2.0 and all that stuff is like, all up underneath the umbrella. So those are the kinds of things we want to do

with everybody. Wait, sorry, Jason, wanted to get a pen for the weed. Yeah, can we just double back to the weed company? Yeah, yeah, yeah. How's that going for him? And how do you hear that the product is good? The product is great. They just came out with probably

one of the greatest zeitgeist edibles ever, which is the Tyson bites, where they're selling ears that have a bite missing inside them. That's come on. It's pretty incredible. And that was my partner's idea. So like, I love that guy. You know, we're friends.

And how does Mike feel about that when that's pitched to him as an idea? He was like, oh my God, that's amazing that we should probably get Holy feeling about it. By the way, you know what? You know what? So again, example of a guy who's like able to laugh at himself at this thing.

Oh, forget about it. Mike is a big giant sweetheart. I mean, he's ferocious, you know, so you don't want to get on the wrong side of things, which... Wait. You know what? Sorry, Sean, the ferociousness, you said it, the way that he used to hit people.

Crazy. I don't think anyone, even an MMA or whatever, no one has been that violent inside. That guy just... I mean, God bless Custom Model for seeing that foreseen talent that nobody else could see. He was just like, you could decimate the world. He was telling Mike that.

And Mike was like, looking at him like, this guy's crazy. Like, how could he lose to anybody still to this day? You say he just had a fight? Yeah, he just... Yeah, he had a fight in the pandemic. I heard somebody. Yeah. And it was him and Roy Jones.

Right. I watched that fight. Yeah, it was a good one. How'd that go? It was interesting. Like two old dudes fighting in the backyard, a little bit. But it was definitely interesting because, you know,

when the fight was done, Tyson was kind of just coming alive, you know what I mean? So I was kind of worried for Roy because if he came out like that, you know, he might have put a hurting on that guy. Yeah. So how did it end? It was a draw, I think.

They set like it's just gonna be like a couple of rounds or something like that and it was over? It was like six to eight rounds, something like that. And I think it was... I don't think it was more than six, right? Because they were tired. Something like that. Yeah, yeah, they were pretty tired afterwards.

But yeah, Tyson was starting to come alive. It was crazy. You met him, Sean? I have a survival story from Mike Tyson. Oh, what happened? So I was in New York City. This is like 1999. And I was at Harry Winston Jewelry.

Just working there for the summer or? Or what? Because I had to. Because I had to. I like this way, can I help you? Would you like a pin? Hot outside, isn't it? Can I just show you?

I know you're not here for a tennis bracelet, but let me just show you this. So I had a friend of mine with me, this girl, who was going to be my date at some function thing. So they said, you know what? Take her to Harry Winston, borrow some jewelry that you have to return the next day. Great, so we walk in and I see this gigantic,

massive guy with his shirt off in the back hallway with huge diamonds around his neck. Like, must have been a million bucks worth of diamonds. And I was like, in my head, I'm 29 years old. And in the head, I'm like, who's this douchebag? Like, what? Why are you standing in Harry Winston with your shirt off? Like, who does he think he is?

So I took my shirt off. No. I had no idea who he was. Oh my God. Took my shirt off and he was leaning in on the door jam right up this room. And I was in the next room, right in the door jam next to, I go, give me some jewelry.

And the girl gave me some jewelry. And I mimicked him right next to him. Where is that picture? And I took a picture, but it was before cell phones. And I can't fucking find it. And my friend, Ashley, she goes, fucking put your shirt on right now. Do you know who that is?

I'm like, what? She goes, that's fucking Mike Tyson. What are you, crazy? He's going to beat the shit out of you. And he laughed. And he laughed. And I was like, oh, I didn't know that was Mike Tyson. And we took a photo.

Oh my God. That's my story. He's a big giant. We were both shirtless. That's what I'm saying. Like, the most ferocious guys are usually, you know, teddy bears at heart. You know, they still have, you know, heart and emotion.

And, you know, he's one of those people. Did he explain why he had his top off at? I think he was just being like, if you're in that kind of shape, you would walk around with no shirt on probably too. I'm not going to walk around with a, I'm not going to walk around with my shirt off, but I will wear a life partner beater. Uh-huh.

Like a life partner beater. Yeah. I'll wear a life partner beater. I'm sure everybody, what it really looks like, regardless of that. A life partner beater. Yeah. Kenan.

Stains or no stains? What? I don't care. Kenan, when's the last time a musical guest on SNL had you nervous? Ooh. Nervous? You know, just like, oh my God,

I'm going there for rehearsal. Oh yeah. I'm going to stand out there when they perform. Yeah. There's been several of those. Last one. Most recently, I mean, Kendrick was like that, but that was so long.

That counts. Kendrick tomorrow was like, that was like, oh my God, that came out. But they all blended together. I know that because you've been there a long time and there's so many shows. I don't mean that they're not. I mean, I was also excited for Lizzo.

Like, I'm a big fan of her music, you know? And I'm a fan of her journey because she's cool. She's been in the game a long time, you know what I'm saying? And she's been on that one song that blew up. She said she wrote that shit like six years before it even came out or something and nobody wanted to give it the time of day. And it's just weird about the timing of the universe

because it just blew up and everybody was just like, of course, that's a hit song or whatever. But six years prior, nobody wanted to return her phone calls, you know? So it was nice to watch her have a moment and she destroyed the show. It was great. Yeah, she's very cool.

I like that. Jack White is another one. I'm huge. Jack White fan, he kills every single time. He's just a straight up rock star. Yeah, big time. Forget about like the Beyonce's and the Solanges and the Jay Z's and then, you know,

the Paul McCartney's like, those are obvious, you know? The J-Lo's, you know what I'm saying? Even Kanye, Kanye's done brilliant performances. Yeah, really different. Nobody makes everybody nervous more than Kanye. All right. Wait, now, Kenan, what, you know, cause I love the live theater

and I love when anything can go wrong. What's one sketch that you did where you're like something major happened and you're like, oh, this is not going how I planned? Well, that happens, but it usually doesn't make the show. Whenever it's derailing like that, it's like, all right, we'll just cut this because this is amazing.

We'll try to get next week. There's always another show. But the best, I think live thing that we've had in recent years was 80s dresser got caught on camera changing her jacket and she could not get it back because she was slapping so hard because- Oh, 80 Bryant.

Yes. They had been rehearsing, you know, that little quick change moment and they thought they had it down. But for some reason, like when it's live and like the communication, you can't hear each other or whatever, it's just loud in there because the audience is enjoying it.

And I don't know, she missed it and she got hung out there on camera for a while and then had to like run away. And 80 was in tears and had all the rest of the talk to do. Oh my God, tears laughing or tears laughing? Oh, good. And because her dresser is one of the biggest sweethearts working there, you know?

And like everybody, they're all so humble and, you know, they just wanna do their job and they can't imagine, you know, doing anything that would, you know, be a problem for the show or anything like that, you know what I mean? Like everybody's very like, the show is so important. They're amazing. It's so incredible how that crew is.

Yeah. So when she got caught, she was just like beat red, you know what I mean? Like almost devastated, but the fact that we were all laughing and having fun with her and not knowing what's mad at her, it's just the beauty of live television. That was a great moment. So I would suggest watching that.

What's the sketch that you do with Sudeikis all the time that I'm, that's, I'm... What's up with that? Oh my God. The best. The funniest. The best, I'm so glad we got to do it when he came back and hosted it.

It was, it was fantastic. Oh my God, it's so good. My favorite joke in there is Bill Hader's being Lindsay Buckingham and never gets to talk, but the absolute best. But isn't there like a music cue that happens right away? And then you guys all do that dance and what? Yeah, it comes in usually with like a symbol,

like a t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t. And guests are like, what's that? It's like, I don't know. I love that. Like the piano comes in the bass line or whatever. And then it just goes back into it. It's, it's so much fun. I love that.

It's gotta be fun when, when ex-cast members come back and either host or they, or they do a guest spot or... Free week. It's a free week for us. Right. You don't have to work too hard. Is there anybody that you just really is on your bucket list of people that you'd love to host or just hang out with

or, you know, on the show and have fun? Eddie and Adam were the two kind of prodigal sons, you know, and they both followed each other after so many years of, will they come back? Well, you know, we're begging them like, please, do they know that they can come back? Or is there beef and blah, blah, blah? And then, you know, Adam did it in April

and Eddie did it at Christmas. And that was a hell of a year. Absolutely. But, you know, I'm still on the, you know, get Brad Pitt to come in there for real. Like he did that opening for us in the pandemic. Yeah. Yeah. That was cool.

That was great. He was playing Fauci. He's very funny. He should do it. But yeah, Tom Cruise, Will Smith, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Any of those guys that haven't done it that are on that level, like come on through.

Do you speak, speaking of Keenan, like now that you're around all these like school teachers or whatever your kids have expanded your life, do you use that as inspiration for characters? Are you one that actually physically, actively seeks out kind of ideas for sketches and people to focus on? Or do you wait to work with a writer?

I do definitely pitch to writers because if I write by myself, it will not make any sense by page two and a half. I'm like, damn, that was quick. Like I went off course pretty quick. But you bring in like, oh my God, there's this teacher at my kid's school. I gotta do it.

1000%. Like I saw this, you know, thing or I witnessed my kids kind of, you know, having a conversation with an adult that's trying to help them. But all they want to talk about is what they want to talk about. So watching that conversation

kind of just butt heads with each other is very funny. Now, will you walk around with a little black book in your pocket and write down ideas as they come to you throughout the day? It's the phone. I put notes on the phone. Oh, so you do that. Yeah, that's great.

Yeah, I type them down because I learned, I don't know what I was watching, but it was like some movie about a comedian that was just like wake up in a panic and forget something that made him laugh so hard in his sleep. And he would forget to write it down and then he would like go try to remember it

in a performance setting and it wouldn't come to him or whatever. And I was like, oh shit, just write it down. Even if it's a quick two sentence thing to kind of remind you of that thought or whatever, it's so worth it because if I thought about, you know, the things that tickled me when nobody was looking and, you know, the fact that I can't remember them now,

it makes me sad, you know, because I can't share those things with people. Or you feel like you don't have the ability to kind of self generate those things anyway. So when they do come to you, it's like, let me just write that down. So I don't, you know, leave it behind. I do hate that.

Why can't, why all of a sudden the second you wake up, your mind starts this really fast erasing thing where you cannot remember your dream and the more you try to hold onto it, it like squeezes out of your brain fingers or whatever. And it's, what is that? I don't know. I don't understand that.

But I have. Well, you want to, you want to go ahead and chime in on that? I just, I just, I know I'm so exhausted from explaining like just basic stuff. My eight year old questions. Hey Papa, how's it going? When I'm with Jason, I always feel like Jason and I are like on a beach somewhere and I'm his dad

and the moon is rising and he's like, Papa, exactly just like he said. Question 75 of today. Yes. Yes, young man. What would you like to know? Oh, Keenan, we've taken up too much of your time, where are you going?

You were sweet and kind. And we love you. Lill's got a hard out. I got a very hard out. Yeah, my hard out as well. You are, you're the best. And I, you know what, Keen? I hope it's another 19 or 20 years

plus that you're on the show. Can we make some news right now? Can you just commit to another 19? I've already committed up to 50, up to year 50 for the show. So, you know. Which is what, two years from now? 22.

I thought you said five zero. Yeah, no, 50, to year 50 of the show. Wow, awesome. The anniversary is coming up in a couple years. So, that's all I know as far as what they would like me to do. Me personally, I'll stay there forever. That's awesome. You know what I mean?

I'll turn into Lauren Michaels. Like, I would fucking love it. You know? Wow. You should run it. Yeah, why don't you run it? You're running it already. Yeah, exactly.

I mean, there's much more qualified people that have been there and like really been in the rooms that could do it as well. But I feel like I should be like third on the list for sure. For sure. Yeah, at least. Well, you are now. Yeah.

Official. That's right, that's right. Okay, pal, thank you so much. We love you very, very much. I wish I could hug all of you. Thank you so very much. It's good to see you. Please keep doing what you're doing.

I'm so proud to have you for you. And didn't you guys just get paid? No. No, no, no. It's all for fun. We said no. That's just headlines. We ended up saying no.

Yeah, turn it down. Good job. Thank you. That's smart. Yeah. Amazing. Thank you, Kenan. Say hi to Atlanta.

Thank you, man. I definitely will. I'm sorry, we'll see you in the playoffs there, Jason. Don't worry about it. Oh, there we go. It's okay. Hot dogs for everyone. Thanks for doing this, buddy.

Thanks, Kenan. So do I just leave? I'll just leave. Yes, you slam it. You can slam it shut. You can slam it shut. All right. Love you guys.

Love you too, pal. Bye, buddy. Kenan Thompson is... One of the kindest guys. I love that guy. Yeah, I love him too. So funny. Tip top.

He is that guy when you run in, well, first of all, when you see him in something, but when you run into him in person, he's always got a smile on his face and he's such a warm person. Yeah. And he just makes you feel good to see him. And yeah, and he's always chill.

He's like, he's always like very, doesn't get upset. Like, you know. And he's always funny. Like he's so reliable. Like in every, like he always shows up and it's just like Kenan's gonna be great. Everybody, this thing can fall apart. Kenan's gonna be great.

That's right. What was the name of the show? Was it Kenan and Kel? Yeah. The Nickelodeon show way back when? Yeah. Did you watch it? Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I used to love it. I liked it. Were you on it? Huh? Were you on it? I had three callbacks, but nope. Still waiting here.

I did not go my direction. That was before his time, man. That was before his time. Anyway, I love him. He's the greatest. And I'm so glad he was on. I did hear back from Jessica Meir during that. Sorry, still rolling.

You can say that again. Just a little bit more sincerity and action. I love, I'm still. Your text is still gonna be there when you're done with the line and action. I'm so glad Kenan was on. He's just a really great guy. And I love him very much.

He's fantastic. OK, did you have something else you wanted to talk about? Let's just cut new slate. We'll just, we'll just. It's too long to read everything, but she says, ha, ha, ha, our PR contact just told me your assistant said the same thing. Good thing we clear that up.

And then she explained Florida and you sent to me. The difference is between Florida and Texas. Stop doing the fucking pose, bro. We're not, we're not in a Madonna video. Ew. A Madonna video. Yeah, doesn't he look like he's in a Madonna video with his dumb tan and his fucking terry?

What's his face? Lighting. Richardson. Yep. Everybody's so tired because it's so late. I know it's so late. Well, it's late for us, not for Jason. Jason, though, you must have played early today, huh?

Yeah, 8.30. I had to get it all out of my system before. Is it nice now? Yeah, it is nice now. Yeah. Sean, you've got something you want to say. I think you've got to lead up to something. Go ahead.

Yeah, I can see the sparkle in your eyes. I was just going to say when you guys, when you guys hit that ball, and you say, do you guys go four? Or do you guys say, bye? You've gotten so, so sloppy, so lazy. I can't do it. I have nothing. It's like watching season 16 of a TV show,

when everybody's just phoning it in. They're just reading their lines from their chair. But we'll allow it. That was a bye. Smart. Lass. Smart. Lass.

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