'I Didn’t Even Think I’d Be Asked Back’: SNL’s Kenan Thompson Opens Up About Disaster First Season And How It Was A Maya Rudolph Pep Talk That Inspired Him To Stay On

From right to left: screenshots of Maya Rudolph walking through the hall of SNL and Kenan Thompson in the What's Up With That sketch.

It’s hard to imagine Saturday Night Live without Kenan Thompson. The comedian has been on the show longer than anyone else, and he’s truly a staple of the legendary sketch comedy show. However, after his first season in 2003, he almost decided to leave because it went so poorly. Luckily, a pep talk from fellow comedy legend Maya Rudolph inspired him to stay, and now, the All That star is opening up about this moment and his early days on SNL. 

In his memoir When I Was Your Age: Life Lessons, Funny Stories & Questionable Parenting Advice from a Professional Clown (via People), Thompson got candid about his career, especially the early days of it. While he’s been on SNL longer than anyone, and he has been part of some of the NBC sketch comedy show’s best casts, it did not begin that way, and he’s explained why.