Going into this 40th anniversary season of Saturday Night Live, rumors and reports circulated that Kenan Thompson would leave the show after 12 seasons with the cast. Soon thereafter, those rumblings were disputed, perhaps because Thompson hadn’t yet reached a decision.
But it’s now official that Thompson is coming back to SNL next season, continuing his run as the performer with the current longest tenure. Thompson confirmed the news himself during an interview on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast released on Monday. The interview was recorded in the week leading up to last Saturday’s show hosted by Reese Witherspoon. Here’s that part of the conversation:
Maron: And you’re the longest-running cast member at this point.
Thompson: At the moment, yeah, it’s me. I have the goblet.
Maron: Tenure. It’s 10 years?
Thompson: It’s 12, at the moment.
Maron: Is this it?
Thompson: No. I’m still going.
Maron: Why do people keep saying that it’s it?
Thompson: Well, they said that at the beginning, for some reason. People, I guess, thought they had some info and just threw that story out. And we denied it immediately, but the only thing people remember is that…
Maron: When you heard it, were you like, “Is there something I don’t know?”
Thompson: Yeah, I got nervous. Like, for real? Cuz I heard they did Keenan Ivory Wayans like that, like he showed up at work and […] they told him it was a no-go. Like the show was off.
You can listen to the entire interview here, in which the two discuss Thompson’s career, his auditioning process for SNL and how a typical week plays out in terms of writing the show. (SNL diehards probably already know most of that, but it’s always intriguing to get a peek behind the scenes.) But if you’re pressed for time, the conversation about Thompson staying with SNL begins at the 1:04:00 mark.
So at least Thompson didn’t show up to Rockefeller Plaza, only to find out that he was no longer a part of the SNL cast. It’s doubtful that Lorne Michaels would do that to him after 12 years on the show, but that sort of brutal dismissal unfortunately happens in show business. Thompson, like most any performer, is acutely aware of that sort of history.
Judging from the interview with Maron, Thompson doesn’t seem like he’s in any hurry to leave (though the conversation didn’t really push the question further). While he may not be a featured or breakout cast member, Thompson is a reliable player, bringing consistency to the show and is arguably the glue that holds the cast together.
SNL‘s season finale is this Saturday, May 16, with host Louis CK and musical guest Rhianna.
[Vulture]
