About SNL’s Ending Rumors & Lorne Michaels Will Leave, Kenan Thompson Said “It might not be a bad idea”
Kenan Thompson, an American comedian and actor, has given his opinion on the future of Saturday Night Live after Lorne Michaels said that he might leave the show.
During the Season 2 premiere of Lenard “Charlamagne” McKelvey’s podcast Hell of a Week, the 44-year-old said that after 50 seasons, it might be a good idea to end the comedy show.
“[NBC] could cut the budget, which would make it hard to do the same kind of show. So it’s not fair to just let it go down in flames because of those rules… It might not be a bad idea to stop at 50.”
Charlamagne asked Thompson what he thought about the future of SNL:
“The rumor is that the show will end after its 50th season because Mr. Lorne Michaels doesn’t want to do it after he turns 80. Is that right?
Kenan Thompson laughed and asked if it was a “rumor,” saying that if it were true, he might need to start thinking about his future soon.
“That rumor might have a lot of truth to it, since 50 is a good number to stop at. That’s a really great package. He will probably be close to 80 years old by then, and you know, he is the one who made it all happen.”
Michaels said on CBS Morning in December 2021 that after SNL’s 50th anniversary, which would be in 2024 or 2025, “it would be a really good time to leave.”
Kenan Thompson thinks that without Lorne Michaels, Saturday Night Live won’t be the same.
Kenan Thompson said that NBC might cut the budget for SNL after Lorne Michael leaves, which might not be fair to the show. He was talking about SNL’s future after Lorne Michael might leave.
He also said this about Michaels’s role on the show:
“[Michael] is such a legend that those business wolves stay away from him. Every week, they spend a lot of money on that show. It’s a pricey show, but it’s the only one of its kind.”
The 44-year-old star has been on Saturday Night Live longer than anyone else. He started working on the show in 2003 and hasn’t stopped since.
Kenan Thompson has also been in D3: The Mighty Ducks, The Steve Harvey Show, Kenan & Kel, All That, Felicity, Love Don’t Cost a Thing, Snakes on a Plane, The Mighty B!, Sit Down, Shut Up, The Smurfs 2, Maya & Marty, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Nature Cat, Kenan, etc.
In Season 47, they did their last show as the show’s main cast.