Kenan Thompson, “S.N.L.” ’s Longest-Running Cast Member

'Kenan Thompson found his calling as a performer at the advanced age of twelve. “I was cutting grass for twenty dollars a lawn—not dependent on the size of the lawn,” he told Vinson Cunningham at the 2019 New Yorker Festival. “People were getting over on ten-year-old Kenan, it wasn’t cool.” Once he began acting, he says, “I got professional at a young age and I took that very seriously.” Having been a child star on Nickelodeon's “All That,” Thompson made his way to “Saturday Night Live” by twenty-five and is now the longest-running cast member in the show’s history. He’s unafraid to appear as the accused sex offender R. Kelly, or as Bill Cosby. Thompson has also been around long enough to watch the program evolve from having one Black cast member to becoming a more diverse team that can perform sketches like “Black Jeopardy.” But he acknowledges that, for comedians, the current “woke times” can be difficult. “It’s very touchy out there, and you have to be very responsible with what you’re doing”.' -- The New Yorker Radio Hour