Kenan Thompson says the hardest part of leaving Saturday Night Live is not the stage. It is the uncertainty that comes after it.
Thompson, the longest-tenured cast member in SNL history, said the show has been a “godsend” because it keeps asking him back in a way that gives him stability. The 47-year-old joined the show at 25 and has now stayed for 23 seasons, but he said his future felt up in the air after the landmark 50th season. He had just finished a three-year pre-negotiated deal when renegotiation time arrived, and he said the wait was not pleasant.
That caution did not come out of nowhere. Before SNL, Thompson was already a breakout child star on Nickelodeon’s Keenan & Kel and Goodburger, but an accountant later stole $1.5 million from him after misleading him into granting power of attorney. Thompson said he filed for bankruptcy and spent years rebuilding his credit, adding that he keeps financial rock bottom close to mind because he gets tired of not knowing where his next job is coming from.
“SNL has just been a godsend that they continue asking me to come back, in a way that allows for stability in my life,” Thompson said. He described the money loss as something he now keeps “in a dangerous area kind of thing,” and said, “That’s the border of a place that I’m not going back to.”
The tension is that Thompson’s loyalty to the show is tied to the fear of what comes after it. He said, “I get tired of the mystery of not knowing where your next job is coming from,” and added, “If you ever wonder why I continue to do SNL, that’s a factor.” He said that after his last deal ended, “it kept it on the forefront of your mind too because you know nothing is guaranteed work-wise.”
He also said there was a real cost to uncertainty at the end of a run. “I didn’t get a chance to do my last farewell sketch,” Thompson said. “Man, that might suck if that’s the outcome. I just did my last show without knowing it was my last show.”
Thompson’s career has stretched beyond the sketch show. He starred in two seasons of the sitcom Kenan and co-wrote the children’s book Unfunny Bunny with Bryan Tucker. But the center of gravity remains SNL, where he has become the show’s longest-serving cast member and, by his own account, the place that has kept his life on steadier ground. For Thompson, the answer to why he keeps returning is plain: the show is not just work, it is the thing that made staying possible.