Kenan Thompson Lines Up His Own NBC Comedy After 15 Years at 'SNL'

Kenan Thompson is having a moment. After nabbing his first Emmy Award nomination ahead of his 16th season with Saturday Night Live, the 40-year-old comedian will star in his own primetime comedy. It's a major move from SNL's longest-running cast member of all time, who set the record last year.

Deadline reports Thompson will star in an NBC single-camera series, Saving Larry, about a widowed father of two children. His father-in-law is also there to provide support, whether Thompson's character likes the hovering or not. The series comes from SNL creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels, his Broadway Video company, and Superstore executive producer Jackie Clarke, who wrote the series. It hasn't gotten a full order, but the network is starting with a significant production commitment.

But with the new gig, Thompson, who's the longest running cast member of the series, might have to end his tenure. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter earlier this year, he said, "I think about leaving and I fear it. This is such a special place, you want to do your part here, but you also want to make room for people that are coming behind you. This was the first year I really started feeling like, 'OK, I could push out of it now.' I’m not overly excited about going back to auditioning."

Thompson also expressed wanting to get into dramatic films in another interview. "I would love to take the Tom Hanks approach," he told Deadline last month. "Do a bunch of comedy and then turn into the biggest movie star ever. That would be so awesome."

Now it seems Thompson might be heading in that direction with his own show.