Kenan Thompson talking about Barbershop 2, Fat Albert and Kel - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

vashti1999 · 02-04-2004, 11:03 AM

He says he was a fan of Cedric the Entertainer before joining the sequel. "Yeah, running back into Cedric was great. I worked with him before on the Steve Harvey Show back in the day. We did a couple of episodes of that and they were always real nice to us then, coaching us and letting us know what's funny, and to try this and try that. Seeing him again, it was just like, me and him in a couple of scenes. It didn't make the movie but it was still funny. But that was cool. It was a real honor and privilege to be a colleague of someone who was so funny. It's like, I must be kind of funny, I guess."

Funnily enough, Kenan is now rumored to be up for the lead role in Bill Cosby's big screen version of Fat Albert. Before that was known, we asked him what people inspired him to become an actor. "I was born right when cable came out. So cable really inspired me to want to be on TV because there were all these movies on all day. You just sit there and soak in all. Like Bill Cosby kept coming on, and I really started looking up to Bill Cosby and following him stuff, and going back further, I got the book and started learning about Fat Albert and all of that. Eddie, whoever did it. Marlon, Chris Rock, Chris Tucker, you name them. Jamie. I watch them all, learn from them all. Really learn their styles. Then you learn and develop your own style."

He adds that the success of his series Kenan and Kel kept casting directors from being able to look past his character from the show. "That's exactly what happened. I ain't been on Nickelodeon since 2000, and it's 2004 now and we're just now coming out with the Barbershop thing. That's been my biggest opportunity since leaving Nickelodeon, pretty much. The thing about it was was 'Where your buddy at? Why aren't you with him?' I was like there's really no point of us working well together for 8 years and then not being able to get another job in the business again, so we parted ways to really establish ourselves in the business as individual. I think we've both been doing that. But it was tough for them to see me outside of him, number one, and then outside of a child, number two, and take me seriously, number three." Kenan and Kel are still friends, of course. "I'm Godfather to his first born."

isiahthomas · 02-04-2004, 02:13 PM

Thanks for posting this Vashti1999. Kenan seems like he's a cool dude. I can't wait to see Barbershop 2 this weekend. I'm gonna be laughin my ass off cause i know it's gonna be funny.

02-04-2004, 11:03 AM	#1
vashti1999 NY METS - #1 Forum Fanatic Join Date: Oct 14, 2003 Location: The world's greatest city - New York City Posts: 11,404	Kenan Thompson talking about Barbershop 2, Fat Albert and Kel He says he was a fan of Cedric the Entertainer before joining the sequel. "Yeah, running back into Cedric was great. I worked with him before on the Steve Harvey Show back in the day. We did a couple of episodes of that and they were always real nice to us then, coaching us and letting us know what's funny, and to try this and try that. Seeing him again, it was just like, me and him in a couple of scenes. It didn't make the movie but it was still funny. But that was cool. It was a real honor and privilege to be a colleague of someone who was so funny. It's like, I must be kind of funny, I guess." Funnily enough, Kenan is now rumored to be up for the lead role in Bill Cosby's big screen version of Fat Albert. Before that was known, we asked him what people inspired him to become an actor. "I was born right when cable came out. So cable really inspired me to want to be on TV because there were all these movies on all day. You just sit there and soak in all. Like Bill Cosby kept coming on, and I really started looking up to Bill Cosby and following him stuff, and going back further, I got the book and started learning about Fat Albert and all of that. Eddie, whoever did it. Marlon, Chris Rock, Chris Tucker, you name them. Jamie. I watch them all, learn from them all. Really learn their styles. Then you learn and develop your own style." He adds that the success of his series Kenan and Kel kept casting directors from being able to look past his character from the show. "That's exactly what happened. I ain't been on Nickelodeon since 2000, and it's 2004 now and we're just now coming out with the Barbershop thing. That's been my biggest opportunity since leaving Nickelodeon, pretty much. The thing about it was was 'Where your buddy at? Why aren't you with him?' I was like there's really no point of us working well together for 8 years and then not being able to get another job in the business again, so we parted ways to really establish ourselves in the business as individual. I think we've both been doing that. But it was tough for them to see me outside of him, number one, and then outside of a child, number two, and take me seriously, number three." Kenan and Kel are still friends, of course. "I'm Godfather to his first born."

02-04-2004, 02:13 PM	#2
isiahthomas Member Forum Fanatic Join Date: Aug 20, 2002 Location: Cleveland, Ohio Posts: 10,704	Thanks for posting this Vashti1999. Kenan seems like he's a cool dude. I can't wait to see Barbershop 2 this weekend. I'm gonna be laughin my ass off cause i know it's gonna be funny.