Kenan Thompson Reveals What He Believes Is The Key To ‘Saturday Night Live’s Enduring Success
deadline.comThe secret behind the enduring success of Saturday Night Live is its ability to evolve and diversify its talent base, according to Kenan Thompson, who pointed to the iconic ‘Black Jeopardy’ sketch as an exemplar.
Speaking at Cannes Lions, the SNL stalwart said the near-50-year-old format is “constantly changing,” adding: “Every week there’s a new host, every season there’s a new cast, also it’s weird how the crowd all seems to stay young, and I keep getting older.” During a 21-year-stint on the show, Thompson said it has evolved in several ways, including format changes from its live Saturday night presence to videos being shared on a Sunday morning.
But a bigger change has come in its diversity, he added. “It’s more than format changes, it’s reach,” he said. “For decades, SNL had only one maybe two Black cast members.
Today, I’m one of five, and we also have Asian, Hispanic, LGBTQ+ members in our cast. It’s just not about appearances, it allows the show to do comedy it never could before.
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