Kenan Thompson

29:07And then my mom has this like secretive kind of sense of humor, like a little prissy because she's like the older. She's the oldest of seven, you know, and they come from kind of it's actually called Forest, Virginia. So you can imagine there's lots of trees there and not a whole lot of buildings. So she comes from literally the forest and like kind of had to be a little more like suited and booted. But, yeah, she has this like sneaky little laugh where it's just like, oh, you like to laugh at the naughty. Look at you being naughty kind of thing. So for me, I have a little bit of both, but I'm not really like a room gatherer unless it's like a fixed performance.

29:45No, you're not. Like you're not looking to win the room. Yeah, no. No. I mean, I would say that my experience with you is that you are a little bit more of a three-point shooter. Like you wait for your time and you like to observe. You like to see how people are playing. Yeah, I like to Steph Curry it a little bit. And like when it's time to turn it on, just like take over the game. And you shoot it. You do like a no look on your way out. Oh, yeah. Like I know that's going in. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's definitely your style. It feels good. And it's rare to have like a career before you reach SNL.

30:16Yes. Like and not always helpful. No, it hadn't gone well, I don't think, for anyone at that point. I was like, I just want to do whatever because this writing thing freaks me out. So you guys tell me what you want. And it took five years before I wrote something that was like my idea. On the show? Mm-hmm. Scared Straight was like the first thing that actually made it on the show, if you will. Well, you know, we brought up Eddie Murphy, and I want to talk about what it was like to do that sketch at the 50th. But what's your early memories of Eddie Murphy? Because for me, I'm older than you, but not by much, but enough that when I was watching SNL, when I started watching SNL, it was Eddie's year.

30:53He was 18, 19. Same. When do you remember seeing him? But that was kind of me watching from down the hall when I wasn't supposed to still be awake kind of stuff. You know what I mean? And I remember hearing Hot Tub before I actually was able to watch it. Right. You know, just like trying to just be and I just remember being in PJs, you know what I mean? And like watching my dad just like laugh. I think he was still like my mom was asleep. He was just like the only person up. How's it dark? And you just see that like blue flashing in the glow. And like, yeah. Isn't it funny you have memories as a little kid of like when your parents would laugh really hard at something.

31:30It was like you would look at them like. Like, what happened? What happened? What's funny? And it just imprints on your brain immediately then forever what you think is funny. It was always fun getting to a place where, like, we could share laughter together in the same sort of sense of humor, like, with my dad. You know what I mean? Like, once we started, like, quoting Coming to America to each other in, like, certain moments, it was just such a dynamically fun time because it was, like, our little thing. You know, like, we played pool. We, quote, Coming to America. You know what I mean? and it's like a dad and two brothers, basically.

32:05It's really cool. It's kind of like when you're saying like that, it's reminding me that like for some families, comedy is sports. Like that's how you connect is you talk about what you think is funny. And I know that you loved Eddie. I know that you love Richard Pryor. And you also love Chris Farley, who you got to work with. Can you tell us about that? And Jim Carrey. Oh, and Jim Carrey. Super duper fan of Jim Carrey. And I emulate him, I think, more probably than anybody as far as, like, micro-performing goes. Like, I feel like he performs every possible, like, syllable kind of thing in his physical body.

32:46It's wild to watch. But Farley is just a full buffalo, you know what I mean? And, like, he was just so dynamically funny, not just falling down funny. Like he had some quips that were incredible. Yeah. And sometimes his performances were just like he's the only one that can do that kind of thing. So he came to all that and did that. Like, yeah, it was the greatest day I've ever seen because I was like, that's a true pro. That's somebody that doesn't. They would tell us and rehearse us a lot because we were kids kind of thing. He came in and didn't need any instruction at all. He was playing a ketchup chef that likes to put ketchup on everything.

33:27And of course, my character likes to put chocolate on everything. So it was a battle. And they had this eight layer chocolate cake because we were celebrating something or whatever. And, you know, Nickelodeon likes to make a mess, but they like to shoot up until right before the mess and stop and like do that part a few times to make sure they got it. Right. Right. And they really politely asked him like, please. And, you know, take one after we got and we got to that point, destroy that cake. Like it was nothing. Like I think on purpose because they tried to tell him to do something. And he like beat the cake up to where there was like, there's no way we're doing a second take of this.

34:08Jumped in the car, jumped in the limousine and was gone. Like they have showers. Like we got showers. I'm fine. Toweled off a little bit, still ketchup in his hair and was out of there. And I was like, now that's a gangster. That's a professional gangster. and so damn funny and so nice so nice so nice never fronted on me for being a kid or anything you just came in and like you're like let's get to it kind of thing you know i think i'm sure every young person feels this way they remember the people that like treated them like peers when they were feeling yeah when they were um and they remember the people that were um dismissive of them when they were young because we really do act especially with young people like they don't know what the fuck they're talking about or like it's we're always doing that to them and like i have a problem with like people's boundaries like i learned hard lessons with that because i'm just very like outgoing and kind of like we're fine with this right you're fine if i just keep tapping you on the shoulder like you know me kind of thing and some people put you in your place and you're like hey man stop tapping me and i was like oh snap like i'm sorry i crossed that line tc like magnum pi tc i was so excited to be next to him you know i mean like that's what nickelodeon day to put us, you know, in proximity to a lot of very famous people kind of thing.

35:28And I was just overly excited. I'm like, isn't this great, my man? Look at this. This is an awesome thing. He's like, hey, man, stop tapping me. And I was like, oh, oh, my God. I over tapped TC. But what you're talking about is just like straight up like etiquette on set that a lot lot of people when they arrive at SNL, not only have not ever been like on TV, but often have never been on any kind of set. And there is an etiquette to your point, how you approach people, how you, how, like how to be a professional. And like I, Keenan, you are such a professional in the way you approach your work and the way you deal with people.

36:11You're really, really smart. And you've, you have a lot of experience and you could feel it immediately when you arrived at SNL, But when you think back on those early days of learning about what it was like to be on a set, what was the things that you learned? What were some takeaways that you still think about, like what you try to bring to other sets? First, thank you for all of that. Second, free stuff was the first thing I noticed. I was like, I'm in the right spot. I knew it. I knew it. If the price was right, I was doing it. I knew everybody was doing some version of that, whether it was snacks or drinks or whatever.

36:54Whatever I needed to ask for. Little Wendy's, little bacon cheeseburger meal. Can I get that? And they're like, absolutely. You can get that. No problem. You can get that. Don't even take your wallet out. Fantastic. I'll do whatever. We'll be here in 19 hours. You know, how many more times? You want to jump in the lake? Am I supposed to jump in the lake? Whatever. Yeah. And that was definitely like a check. Check that box. But also the size of things. Like when I got on the Mighty Ducks and saw like a movie set and all these trailers and like so many clothes for everyone. I'm like, what are all these clothes for?

37:31They're like all the different scenes in the movie. They got to wear different clothes. I'm like different clothes. That's crazy. It's a lot of pressure. Super pressure. I didn't know how to skate. Okay, let's talk about Mighty Ducks because you are one of my friends that skate the best. Thank you. You're an incredible ice skater. A lot of people don't know this. Thank you. And I pride myself with that because it's not like a big known thing amongst the black community to just ice skate like that. Yeah. You know, like there's only certain people that do it. There's only certain couple few people in, you know, in the NHL or whatever kind of thing.

38:03You know, New Yorkers or people in cold climates kind of do it around Christmas time kind of thing. just, you know, kind of like going bowling, if you will. I remember. To get good at it is wild. To get good at it is hard. And I have a very clear memory. They used to let us at Christmas shows at SNL. It's the best. Best. Do they do that anymore? They haven't done it in so long. You've got to do it. They used to let us, I mean, talk about free stuff. Talk about perks. On the Christmas show, we'd be like, good night. And then they'd cut to like maybe a bumper and we'd all get to run downstairs, what would we do?

38:39Gotta get there. There would be like a golf cart all of a sudden inside the hallway sometimes like for people to just like zip down there. Some people would be down there already. Right. But if you're in that final thing kind of thing, and then we would wave goodnights on the ice. And we'd be in the Rockefeller, on the ice rink. Underneath the Christmas tree. Yeah, at Rockefeller Center. And just us at one o 'clock in the morning. Yeah. And I go down there and I see Kenan and Kenan is, you are skating forward, skating backwards, skating sideways, What are you doing? Doing 45 million tricks. Thank you.

39:09And then I was like, blah, mighty ducks. Because I was fresh off of learning it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So how hard was it to learn for you? Very. Because, like, I remember, like, I was just talking about this the other day, like, roller skating and going to, like, roller skating rinks is what we had in Atlanta. Yeah. Like, I was busting my ass constantly. You know what I mean? As a kid. But you don't feel anything as a kid. Y 'all just feel the knots later kind of thing. But I remember, like, both feet up falling all the time. I'm like all the time. Yeah. So sure, I put it on my resume under special skills that I could roller skate or something like roller skating, you know, but like I never in a million years considered hockey.

39:47I wanted to learn. But after that first day of hockey camp, which was on my birthday, my 15th birthday, I wanted to quit it all. Oh, I bet. I was like, I want to be an actor. I don't want to be an actor. If this is what it's about, like, am I? Thank God my mom didn't let me quit. She was like, no, go back tomorrow. Kept going back and back in like eight weeks on both movies. You learn how to skate. Yeah. Do you skate? Do you find ways to skate now? Do you look for it? Yeah, it's great. Skating with the family, you know what I mean? At Christmas time. Your girls know how to skate? Yeah. That's awesome.

40:18Yeah. They both are good little skaters. They are. Do you watch any ice skating during Olympics? Yeah, I mean, I watch the figure skating, yeah. I watch the girl with the three-tiered, you know, kind of hairdo. Yeah, Alyssa Liu. Is that her? Yes. I know she's from Oakland area. Yeah. Or she's from the Bay. How dope was that? Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Just because of how casual she is. Yes. And, like, she's just chilling. But, like, the things she can do on the ice, bro, is that I give her all the medals. Like, it was wild to watch. Well, she. That and hockey, I guess. I'll watch it all. She reminds me of when you perform because she was very relaxed.

40:57and you get, and like when we're watching her, we're like, she's good, she's good. And the nerves, like nerves, nerves are like, if you can figure out how to channel your nerves. Oh man. So what were your nerves like when you were auditioning for SNL? You're 23, which is still really, I mean, in the context of the show, I guess it's not so young, but just feels so young. When I watch your audition on SNL, there's a small moment that is, because Sandberg did it too when he auditioned, where you take a moment before you start and you go, oh my God, SNL. You said it like to yourself. And Sandberg had a similar moment where he was just like, you could tell he was like, well.

41:41But it was very inviting. It was not like this person is like cannot handle their nerves. It was, it felt like what you do so well, which is you like zapped yourself to the present moment. You're like, here I am, I'm here. Yeah. And it's like, I have to call it out because if I don't, it'll be like it didn't happen kind of thing. So I have to like put it in the words that like, I recognize that this is crazy. It feels like also just a way to secretly kind of quiet your nerves. Oh, yeah. Just to be, say it. It's like silently putting that seatbelt on. Like, remember in Fight Club when he's just like, you know what?

42:21I'm just going to get crazy with this and let this stare and we'll go. I'm just going to let it go. And I just like let my mind just start rambling. It's so, my audition is so rambly. It's crazy. I mean, it's not. And I think I've told you this story, but I watched your audition from a, we were filming Mean Girls. Did I tell you this story? I've told you this story. And Lorne had the auditions. He was watching them on the plane. Private. Private. PJ. PJ. We know somebody that got money. Our friend got money. And probably the first time I had ever flown private. I don't even remember, but I remember.

43:04And it was during Mean Girls. And we must have been flying back from the set because Tina was there. And Lauren was there. And Lindsay Lohan was there. Incredible. And we watched your audition. That's crazy. And we were all like, he's incredible. And Lindsay was like, I love him. And I remember. And I love her. I know. And I think at the time you probably already had the job, but it was, I, the one thing I remember more than the content, which you realize very fast, nobody cares about the content. Like you think the content, the jokes, everything is so important. You can have the best written material in the fucking world.

43:39You can have the best jokes in the world. If people don't feel like relaxed, happy to see you, drawn to you for whatever reason, it just, it doesn't work. It's like, it's this crazy chemistry thing. The craziest part of casting. Yeah. Like, casting is such a, like, shout out to, you know, casting people that, like, do it well. Because it takes a whole lot of, like, thanks for coming in, but, you know, we'll get back to you. And, like, being able to, they're like nurses, you know, just give you. God, you're right. They're like, we're going to give you something. Help you through the awful news.

44:14We're going to give you a shot. It's going to hurt. Yeah. Or, like, let's try that again. Yeah. And this time, do everything different. Oh, I mean, yeah. They're like, maybe this time try to be like a normal person in the world. Like what a normal person would. Yeah, that's a good note. And then you do it and you still like didn't like check those boxes. Did you have fun? Yeah.

44:40For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Tremphaya offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Tremphaya is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks, followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks. If your doctor decides that you can self-inject Tremphaya, proper training is required. Tremphaya is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely active Crohn's disease and adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. serious allergic reactions, increased risk of infections or lower ability to fight them, and liver problems may occur.

45:20Before treatment, get checked for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or need a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Trimphia today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit trimphiaradio.com. This episode is brought to you by All Free Clear Detergent. Are you trying to be a bit more mindful of the things you buy for you and your family? You know, reading the labels, checking the ingredients, trying to understand what all those letters, numbers, and long words mean. I get it. Sometimes we don't really know what's in the things we buy and we want to feel good about our choices.

45:58So when it comes to laundry detergent, choose All Free Clear. 100 % free from dyes and perfumes. All Free Clear detergent uses only essential ingredients that tackle tough stains and odors. and it's gentle on skin. It's a powerful clean you can feel good about. So go on, pick up a bottle of all free clear for your next laundry day. This episode is brought to you by Hershey's. Now, we've got to have a tough debate that we're bringing to you straight from the campfire. Are s'mores better when the marshmallow's gooey or toasty? Got a strong feeling about it? Of course you do. When you're putting it to the test, just remember that nothing makes a s'more like Hershey's chocolate.

46:39it. Join the heated debate at Hershey's on social media and let us know if you're camp gooey or camp toasty. This episode is brought to you by Purdue Global. You know a great way to give your younger self a hug? By giving that person a chance to come back stronger. No matter what stage of your life and career you're in, it's never too late to become who you want to be. That's why Purdue Global was built for working adults, so you can earn a degree you can be proud of. This is a great moment to move forward. Get started at purdueglobal.edu slash goodhang.

47:16I want to say something about watching you ride the wave that is SNL because it is a series of waves. What do you think has been the way that you've surfed the last 23 years? I think in the beginning, I became friendly to the process of it. Like I became a friendly, useful, like tool, if you will. So like all kinds of people would like write for me because I was able to deliver. Nobody gave us this rule, but, and I'm sure you now tell people this, but if I could go back and tell people one thing, it would be try to do as well as you can in anything you're given. that simple thing gets people to just because everyone's nervous.

48:06Give me one word. Yeah. Or half a line. I love it. Yeah. What have you changed about how you interact with the job that how you've made the system work for you? Yeah. I don't let it just keep me out anymore. Yeah. It used to keep us out. Well, Keenan and I have seen some. It's one of my favorite stories ever of us doing that bit. Please tell us. Okay, let's tell this story. I totally. I need a drink. Let's take a drink. Okay, so I'll start it. Kenan and I. Okay. This was a different time before we had children. This was a different time before we had children. So we would go out a lot, Kenan and I, and all of us would party a lot.

48:45Yeah, we would hang out. And we would hang out. It's New York. Very excited about being in New York. And so there was a night, many nights, but there was a particular night where I was out too late. Yes. This is before I understood the schedule, too. I was just like hanging out. I knew the schedule and I was still out there. And we were at a place called Bungalow 8. Fantastic. Shout out to those kind of places. Shout out to Rashida. Shout out to Rashida. Look, Rashida Jones turned always, my beautiful wife, turned me on to so many aspects of life. Literally the greatest. And she'd be like, hey, I'm hosting this club thing.

49:24it and I'd be like oh my god what time 1 a.m sounds great I mean what the we're there and like it doesn't close like the other places like it can kind of just stay open a little later when you walk in it's like oh you know bring an amazon ring for us and it's time to listen to music and drinks and like lots of people yeah lots of people in the building um so um we went to bungalow and I was there and all of a sudden, guess who comes in later than me? It's Kenan. Kenan comes strolling in. Strolling. And we had a 6 a.m. call. I probably had a 6 a.m. You may be a little bit later because ladies have a lot.

50:04It was first thing in the morning. We had to be up maybe two or three hours later to play. The Black Eyed Peas. It was fantastic. And I had to get in full, you know, spray tan as Fergie. I had a lot of wiggage to be where I am. Heavy ass dreads. Heavy dreads. And it was, the host was John Heater. Okay. Who did not stay out late that night. No. He was ready. Yeah. He didn't have an issue at all. But he's like Mormon, isn't he? He's Mormon. So he just chilled. Yeah, he chilled. He was a responsible person. He was responsible and he chilled. And he didn't even have caffeine. That's how it did. And back then, those shoots used to be 10 ,000 miles away.

50:46I had not slept. You had not slept. Who else was in it? Who was our— I want to say Forte. Forte. I just remember Forte, like, laying on a very hard floor. We were so hungover. Face down. And could not move or talk. And literally, they stopped traffic in the middle of a New Jersey highway. Yeah, for us to pretend to be the black eyed peas. It was like, and rolling. Like, at like 10, 9 a.m., like rush hour. And people were just like, what is happening? You had to be Fergan. Don't poke with my heart. And we had to dance. And Keenan was doing a bit that I will never forget, which is he was taking phone calls from his past self, pretending to tell him to go home.

51:30Yes. Like, you are being unkind to yourself, sir. He's like, Keenan, this is Keenan. You got to go home. Yeah, what are you doing, man? You know, you know you have to get up early. This is not good. Put it down. When you started, you mentioned this earlier, you and Jost were, what are your memories of being, of you and Jost sharing an office? It was the best because we were so dynamically different, in my opinion. You know, like him coming from like Harvard and Staten Island and like me coming from like the south side of Atlanta kind of thing. And like I didn't finish, I went to Santa Monica City College, you know, so I didn't even really get too far down the like college, college, like sharpness road, you know.

52:11So I was still like high school educated in my opinion. I learned a lot from him. We shared an office for eight years. Yeah. Yeah. Because other offices would open up, but like we enjoyed that office so much. And like I think being together so much and then Scared Straight was born from that kind of stuff. And like I learned a lot. Talk about full circle, Keenan. Like you see you're a fan of Eddie. You write Scared Straight. Forget about it. Colin. And then you do it with him at the 50th. What did that feel like? Shout out to those guys. It's like shout out to people that are like, like Colin and Che are both like that.

52:44And I shout out Che out so much because a lot of my favorite stuff that is like very silly and black and really, really smart, you know, is coming from him sharply, like Black Jeopardy and stuff like that. And when you and Eddie did it for the 50th, what do you remember? But what was the little special Twinkly Magic moment when you did that? What did it feel like? So at the 40th was the night before was the first time I met Eddie. You know what I mean? And he just came to that like toast to Lauren in the Rainbow Room. So everything was like very New York magical because it was like in the sky.

53:20And he emerged from a separate elevator from everybody else. And I'm like, of course he has his, you know, specific way. And like I was like, that's really cool. I couldn't contain myself. And he recognized, you know what I mean? He was like, hey, man, like, I was like, oh, my God, this is amazing. so fast forward to the 50th Colin suggests we do a Scared Straight and put him in it you know he had hosted which was the greatest show ever when you know he hosted for Christmas time and then back to Che put me in that monologue with him Chris Rock Tracy and Dave Chappelle like what an epic picture I'll keep it for forever so at the 50th they're talking about doing a Scared I'm like I wasn't even planning on I didn't know what to do because everything was so last minute you know what I mean And so I just heard that they wanted to do this.

54:08And I'm like, they're down to do this? I couldn't believe it. Like Eddie and the GOAT, Will Ferrell, like bro, like Will Ferrell is the greatest cast member we've had ever, I think, in many people's opinion. So for them to be in my little baby sketch was unreal. That's so cool. Unreal. Yeah. Yeah. I felt that. I felt like you were a peer and a fan at the same time with them. Super. Because you are a peer. to them. Thank you. You realizing that moment was special is, is kind of like what going back to our theme, which is you were really present in the moment. And the other thing I'm just going to say about you, Keenan.

54:45I just eat too much humble pie to, to like not feel like a little kid looking at his hero kind of thing. Well, that's what I mean is, you know, okay. Do you ever watch a show Alone? I talk about it all the time on here, but it's a, um, okay. Alone is a, is a, um, it's kind of like an adventure reality show. And it's about people who are dropped off in the wilderness, they have to survive by themselves and whoever stays the longest alone and they all have to hunt and fish and gather and all this stuff. But what you realize is the people that last the longest are not the ones that celebrate the hardest and they're not the ones that take the losses so personally.

55:24They stay somewhat relatively even. You bag a moose week one, you're not going to bag it every week. Right. Your shelter falls down. It doesn't mean because you're a jerk and bad things happen to you. Like you don't internalize. And I get that from you. You ride those highs and lows. Do you think that that's true about yourself? And have you always been that way? Yeah. And I think I kind of focus on that a little bit. You know what I mean? Just to make sure that I don't allow things to just carry me away. You know what I mean? Like there's so much to be emotional about outside of the business.

55:59And it's like the world is in like full chaos and has been my whole life, I feel like. And there's always been some sort of representation of a bad guy, if you will, or a bad, you know, situation kind of stuff. And then the more you learn about the world is like, how dare I even be bothered or upset about, you know, such minuscule things as a misaccomplishment in my career kind of thing, you know? So I've always kind of just been like, cool. Like if something great happens, great. Something bad happens, it's like, all right, pick up the pieces and like, let's keep it pushing kind of thing. Because you can dwell on it if you want and let it like suck you down in a little whirlpool and stuff like that.

56:41But then where would we be and where would all the people that depend on me be kind of thing if I allow the darkness to creep in? It's true, but it's like a life lesson of like, can you be satisfied? Like the life lesson of can you be satisfied? Yeah. Is it really, you know, that yearning? I can easily be satisfied. Yeah. Yeah. I know the things I like and I'm happy when they're around. When you speak about, you know what you like. I feel like you love working with Maya. She's the greatest. And she loves working with you. Maya is just such, I never met such a dynamic force of nature. You know what I mean?

57:26Just in pedigree and talent and, you know, the kind of person she is, the kindness she is. Like, she's very maternal. You are as well. Like, all four of my, like, original, Dratch and Tina, like, my four horsemen, horse lady sisters are giant forces of nature. You know, and it started with Maya and like I'm deeply indebted to her for kind of pulling me out of the fog of Tuesday night and getting something done in my first week and constantly kind of being that source of just funny convo or wonderful performer to perform things with. I mean, you guys are like instant family, like you were a family in another life.

58:07You immediately met each other and you were like, oh, you play the same way I play. Yeah. And also just I'm obsessed with Songbirds. You know what I mean? It's an amazing talent to sit next to and just listen to her just take off on some sort of like musical number or something like while she's just sitting there. And it's like, do y 'all hear this? Like, she is amazing. I mean, I always said this. She would be better than most of the professional singers at K-Marsh. A hundred percent. And you too, Keenan. I try, but like, man, what a cool thing to kind of like being close to kind of thing. And like, I just, I love it.

58:43So the same with like, you know, even, you know, up to the current cast and like everyone in between. And I just love our family so much that I like being close to it. And like, it's just, I'm not afraid of how it will be when I leave. It's just, I would much rather just stay, you know? Why not? Who's writing this brew book? Yeah, exactly right. I'm up to 23 years. I know. Possibly starting 24 or whatever. Possibly. You know, like. It's happening. I mean, yeah, I know you're exactly right. What are the rules? And so we do this thing in the show where we talk to somebody. We get a question. So we talk to Maya.

59:20Oh, my God. How wonderful. What does she say? She loves you so much. God bless her, man. I love her, too. And we laugh so hard at how dumb and how fun the stupid shit you guys have done. It's the best. It's the best. And we talked about TT and Mario, which, you know, is my favorite, which is the couple that is. Put your hands in roller skates. And? Flip you upside down. And? And then wheel you into the kitchen. Put whipped cream on your business. I want you to know I was singing that on the way here. Put whipped cream on your business. What a gorgeous lyric. God bless censorship. if it wasn't for censorship the word play would be so less fun.

1:00:02You're right sometimes the guardrails make it way funnier and you can't say anything dirty so you have to say put whipped cream on your business but Maya was talking like and also I just want to like say thank you again I know I've thanked you many times in my life but you and Maya did one of the most tender wonderful like funny and beautiful things for me in my life that when I rushed from set to have my kid And my first son, Archie and Hay, was in my arms and I was watching the show that the day before I was rehearsing, which talk about like feeling like you're in a crazy alternate reality. You guys sang to me from Update, you and Maya, and with the TT and Mario flair, but not as filthy because there were children present.

1:00:48Of course. Yeah. And I couldn't have chosen two better people to have that feeling from. And it was so, it was such a wonderful, beautiful moment. I really treasure it, Kenan. I'm so glad because it felt that way in the moment. And I was still so young. You know, I was just honored to be asked to be a part of a, like, this is such a moment for you. You're like a brand new mom. And we watched you be pregnant the whole time. And we thought you were going to troop out the show. Like it was a super surprise. That was the plan. You know what I mean? That was the plan. So it was like showing up on Saturday and it was like hearing the news, like Amy won't be with us.

1:01:27There was like all hands on deck kind of energy because you're such a pivotal part of the show. So you not being there was just like there's such a gap. We have to acknowledge this in some sort of way. And yet to be asked to do it was like, this is cool. Like this is what makes this place, you know, an epic kind of place. And I felt very grateful to be involved in any sort of like moment like that. You know, it's very special, man. Maya's question to you was, it was basically more of like a statement, which is you're a fully formed little Kenan. Felt like he kind of came out fully formed. And I think little Maya, too, the same thing.

1:02:09I think you guys saw that in each other. And I think her question was really like, do you think that's true? And I do think we kind of talked about, like, do you think you knew from the very earliest age what you wanted to do? And some sort of way and definitely in that direction, you know what I mean, of like, I don't know if sports is going to be it. Like, I enjoyed playing sports, but I didn't think I was going to be Bo Jackson, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, remember Bo Jackson. Yeah. So, like, yeah, I think I had an affinity towards my path kind of, and I always felt like it had already been carved in some sort of way.

1:02:45Yeah. You know what I mean? Like it was just, you know, big destiny believer that could have something to do with like faith and growing up in church and stuff like that. Yeah. But it just felt that way. And then I kept getting reminded of those things when those kids midi kind of things would happen along the way. Yeah. I'm just like, all right, I think I should just give over to the universe and just stay positive and stay ready. Yeah. Yeah. Well, where are you going? I'm just going to my daughter's little like summer play. Oh, God. You're going to your daughter's play. We're going to be across the street.

1:03:16Okay, but what time is the play at? Where they're allowing the parents in at 1.35. Oh, my God. We have to get you out of here. Okay. So we cannot. It's 1.30. Yeah. So let's go. That's the time. I got to ask you one question. I'm going to put your glasses on. Yeah, please. What are you listening to right now? Yeah. What are you? What's making you laugh? Yeah. What's making me laugh? I love that you're going to your daughter's play. Yeah, it's the best. What is she doing? What play is she in? I want to say it's just their like sixth grade, I think end of school. Does she want to be a performer? Does any of them?

1:03:45Yeah, she's better at sports kind of thing. She's a little introverted. But I see it in her, you know, and she has her moments where she just hams it up, you know, kind of thing. All right, we're going to get you to that play. Yeah. But what are you laughing at right now? What's making you laugh? I'm laughing at a lot of Pac. I'm watching my friends work, you know, like whoever's putting out like new work kind of thing. You know, I just like I wasn't really aware of Sarah's like stand up presence. And I watched that special. That's special. So we. She's a force. We had her on. She is. That special is the craziest shit I've ever seen.

1:04:20It's the craziest. And I thank God because who else can do it? You know, kind of. So I'm like, well, she's here for a reason. And like buckle up, everybody, because when she decides to like. She was so funny on here. Let the train loose. It's gone. Like it was great. Yeah. She's fantastic. And like, that's one of the newer things that I caught on to recently. But like, you know, any and all of our friends that are doing stuff, you know, like Leslie Jones' special was fantastic. Like, Finesse is still out there killing. Finesse is out there with Tisha Campbell, which is why he got Tisha Campbell doing stand-up.

1:04:52And it's really funny. Yes. So like, yeah, I'm just, you know, celebrating all of our friends. Keenan, you always do. You've always been like laughing with us along the way and always like reminding us that like we won the lottery for getting to do what we get to do. A lot of the time it is really a nice reminder and a pleasure to like take a look around, you know, and be reminded of the reach. When we're like flicking through the channels or like something pops up in the zeitgeist, like thank you for Broad City, you know, and like for Paige and Hannah, you know what I mean? Like just supporting like new people along the way and like constantly just keeping the vibe alive, you know what I mean?

1:05:33Fishing for fun times. Thank you for always shouting out all us women, too. You always do that, and we love you for it. It's unbelievable, and it's undeniable. You can put your glasses back on for this last thing. I mean, I love that you're going to your daughter's play. Yeah, my sweetheart. Yeah. Yeah. Jesus. I'm so excited. And my other one had field day, and her country to represent was Austria. So she had to learn about Austria. And listening to a seven-year-old talk about Austria is adorable. Oh, and I've seen the faces of these children. children and they are sweet insanely sweet and cute god bless them and they're so lucky to have you as their dad and now that you're a grandpa we're so lucky to have you as a grandpa yeah and hopefully i'll be a great great before i'm out of here like morgan friedman you know yeah and i'm gonna meet you on the red carpet and have also have sunglasses on and and weirdly a seat like a dog i just want to start bringing a backup pair for people that i like and it was like all right just to make sure thank you we'll get you some keenan we're so lucky to have i'm so lucky to know you and it's so good to see you same love you thank you for doing this so much my pleasure and so happy to see you today yeah same thank you so much keenan thompson you are the best you're the best most wonderful person and so hilarious and i'm so lucky to know you and thank you for doing this and you know in these polar plunges we usually kind of dig deeper into something that we talked about but i just want to take a minute to just dig a little bit deeper into the fact that Kenan's characters on SNL 23 years in still kind of remain the characters that I quote on a weekly basis, whether it is TT and Mario saying, I'm going to put whipped cream on your business, or it's Jean-Claude Jean, the French standup comedian who says, when he does update or DJ Dynasty Handbag, a character that he did on a sketch called Deep House Dish, which was kind of like a Euro MTV show and written by the great James Anderson.

1:07:36And Kenan's character used to say bouquet instead of okay. And I say bouquet or bouquet or bouquet or whatever, however he said it. I say it all the time. I guess my point is Kenan is like like woven into the fabric of that show and my experience in that show in a way that's, that's like very, very, very special to me and is kind of stuck in my brain. So, um, my plunge today is to encourage you to keep watching his stuff, past, present, and future, and to stay in the present like Kenan does too. So thank you for listening to, uh, this podcast called Good Hang with Amy Poehler. Okay. Bye. You've been listening to Good Hang.

1:08:27The executive producers for this show are Bill Simmons, Jenna Weiss-Berman, and me, Amy Poehler. The show is produced by The Ringer and Paper Kite. For The Ringer, production by Jack Wilson, Kat Spillane, Kaya McMullen, Alea Zanaris, Bridget Geerlings, Paige Garbarini, Belle Roman, and Drew Van Steenbergen. For Paper Kite, production by Sam Green, Joel Lovell, and Jenna Weiss-Berman. Original music by Amy Miles.

1:08:55Should she say that about the kisses? Is that weird? She doesn't care. She presses send. This is the love story of real hinge couple, Daniel and Roisin, written and read by me, Rufy Thorpe. Listen to the free audio book now. This episode is brought to you by ChatGPT. Hey, it's Bill Simmons from the Bill Simmons Podcast. Have you guys heard about ChatGPT work? It's the new way to use ChatGPT for bigger multi-step projects. And when you need more than just answers, give ChatGPT work access to your apps and files, and it can create real work documents like spreadsheets, slides, and structured reports.

1:09:36Get started at ChatGPT.com by selecting work mode available on Plus and Pro plans.