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Photo by New Line Cinema

Keanan Thompson has had a hell of a career so far, especially considering he’s only 28. A supporting member (and accidental pilot) in this week’s number one flick, Snakes On A Plane, Thompson honed his comedy chops on, um, the Nickelodeon show Kenan & Kel. Best known as an emerging star on Saturday Night Live, Kenan spoke with Complex for our Aug/Sept 2006 issue, and here’s an uncut muthafuckin’ version of the muthafuckin’ Q&A.

Photo by New Line Cinema

So what’s your work week like at SNL?
We pitch on Monday and some people start writing on Monday. I start on Tuesday and I write all night. The deadline is 10 a.m. Wednesday. You forget about going outside of the building for the next 12 hours. We all have offices and everyone goes in their individual focus area and some people collaborate. We see what characters work for the week or whatever characters are going well. Wednesday is table reading and Thursday is first day of rehearsal. Friday is rehearsal.

Is it super competitive to get material on the air?
It’s very competitive because there is only an hour and a half. At the table reading, we go over 45 sketches and then only eight actually make it on the air. So it’s tough.

What was the best sketch you’ve done that hasn’t made it on the air yet?
I thought the Colin Powell sketch was great, but it didn’t go how we wanted it to. It was a brilliant sketch, but it got a weird reaction from the in-studio audience. Certain jokes that worked earlier didn’t necessarily work with the audience. But you never really know. That’s what makes it so exciting. There is this one sketch, where Barry White’s illegitimate son Gary White has a public access talk show. [Laughs.] Crazy ideas like that.

What’s the adjustment like for you moving from LA to NY?
I jumped out here and it was a storm. I’ve been though three winters now. I had to get a car this year though, all that walking, cabbing. I’m black, man, I can’t catch no cab in the city. When I moved to Brooklyn I had to get a car.

Is it tough doing the show live?
Hell yeah. Going back to that sketch, that sketch been on my mind all weekend. It’s mind boggling how there was such a crazy difference between the dress rehearsal and when it aired. We had a better sketch, and there were less windows of silence. Not even a couple of chuckles. So you’ve got to keep going and we made it through it. It always feels shitty. I thought it was funny, I was still having fun with it. Whether they were getting it or not, it’s not my fault. People who see it on TV will take it how they take it.

How were you cast?
I auditioned. Tracy Morgan had just left the show. I was in Barbershop 2 and I came out here to audition. Lorne [Michaels] was cool. Having to audition by doing stand-up in a club, that was scary. That was my first time auditioning.

What happened the first time you saw the script for Snakes on a Plane?
The first time I saw the script for Snakes on a Plane, I was like, “There you have it. There it is. What else is there?” During shooting, Samuel L. Jackson kept saying “It’s Snakes On A Plane motherfucker. That’s what it is.” He had a heavy argument with that. He was like, “Call it Snakes On A Plane.”

How did you feel about the buzz behind the movie?
It’s crazy. It’s pretty awesome. People are just having fun. X-Men has been done before. Superman has been done before. But Snakes On A Plane with Sam Jackson, everybody wants to hear what he has to say. People are waiting for a line that they can put on a T-shirt. ‘Eat snake motherfucker.’ ‘My Sam Jackson is all about yelling. You have to yell.’ It’s hard man, after Dave Chappelle there’s not really much you can do that hasn’t been done before.

What character do you play in Snakes?
I play Flex’s childhood friend, Troy. Flex plays a rapper and I’m part of the posse or entourage. Then, all of a sudden, I have to fight off snakes. I always get the worst movie names: Russ, Roy, Troy, Dexter, Albert. Where are the Maliks and Jamals?

Are all of the snakes animatronic?
Some of them real, then they had some rubber ones. Some of them were real snakes. They made my hair stand up.

I heard there were some re-shoots to make it from PG-13 into R, were you a part of them?
Yeah, I got to put a couple of cusswords, some F-bombs up there.

So you’ve made a healthy transition into adult work. I don’t even think of the Nickelodeon thing anymore.
That’s good. It can’t be denied. It is what is. Or it was what it was. We’re in 2006. The SNL thing, that’s what’s happening. I’m a dedicated fan and employee of the show.

How old were you when you started acting?
15.

Was it hard growing up in the spotlight?
Nah, it was awesome. We [Kenan and Kel Mitchell] used to love going to the mall and trying to get chased by girls. It was exciting. Going to the movies and seeing which little ghetto girls watched the show. It was great. Then we grew up and it started being real. Grown people started hitting us up like, “Do you want to do this project, that project.” It was a good experience though. I know it’s going to be a lifelong thing. I’ve gone too far to ever retreat back to the shadows. I want to go further. If I got Puff Daddy status, I wouldn’t even mind that.

Critics hated another movie you were in, Fat Albert, but it made money.
They wanted kids to follow it. Kids watch that movie like crazy. It’s kind of like how Good Burger was. I hope Snakes On A Plane will be like that. Kids were never taking that tape out.

What have you been doing this the summer?
We’re shooting this movie called Weinerz. One of the [toughest jobs to get] in this country is as a driver of the weinermobile. The character I play really wants to drive one so he turns his life savings into his own weinermobile. It’s shooting in Salt Lake City.

So after SNL, it’s movies.
Yeah.

What SNL characters are you working on?
We did so many characters but it’s almost mind boggling how hard it has been for me to figure out one person to run with. I don’t want to do any old character. I want to do something that is really great and funny. We’re getting closer to it. That Gary White thing would have been pretty funny and we will probably still try that again. Once I get that 5-minute platform on live TV, that’s all I need, five minutes of live TV.

How long are you going to stick around?
Until they kick me out. I’ll be there for a couple more at least.

Interview by Thomas Golianopoulos
Aug/Sept 06