Kenan Thompson Becomes a Card-Carrying Spiceman While Eating Spicy Wings ｜ Hot Ones [Nk1P_VTENFo].webm.wav.txt

 - I was at the top of the mountain.
 And now I'm back at the base.
 (upbeat music)
 - Hey, what's going on everybody?
 From First We Feast, I'm Sean Evans
 and you're watching Hot Ones.
 It's the show with hot questions and even hotter wings.
 And today we're joined by Kenan Thompson.
 From his roots at Nickelodeon
 to becoming the longest tenured cast member
 in Saturday Night Live history,
 he's been making us laugh for over 25 years.
 He also stars in a new comedy series from NBC.
 It's called Kenan, Tuesdays, 8.30, 7.30 Central.
 Kenan Thompson, welcome to the show.
 - Man, thank you for having me.
 I'm a big fan.
 I have literally seen all of them down to the game show.
 So I'm gonna hold up. - Whoa!
 I'm flattered.
 If you don't mind me asking,
 do you have like a favorite episode?
 - I think I'm gonna flip into my Gordon Ramsay impression
 when it starts to get pretty hot.
 (laughing)
 That was an incredible episode.
 I also make my eggs like that thanks to that episode.
 So that was incredible.
 That was incredible.
 Pete was great.
 I'm surprised he got through it, you know what I mean?
 Because he does have like intestinal issues.
 (laughing)
 They're all pretty solid, man.
 Like once that like first kick, kick sailing,
 you do that effect where you know
 they're starting to feel, feel some heat.
 You know what I mean?
 I can't wait till it happens to me.
 So it's just really funny and like really smart
 and it's awesome.
 I don't understand how your stomach is still intact
 because you go through it all like fearlessly
 all the way down.
 (upbeat music)
 We're going with the classic, let's go.
 Salud.
 - Salud.
 (upbeat music)
 Okay.
 So we're already starting off in a hot spot.
 So.
 (laughing)
 This is gonna be definitely interesting.
 (laughing)
 This is a good wing, wing it.
 - So let's begin with this new chapter in your career
 going from, as you put it, a piece of the puzzle at SNL
 to now shouldering a major network primetime TV show
 that you not only star in,
 but also one that bears your name.
 One of the parts of the show's premise that I found amusing
 was that you played the host of Atlanta's
 number two morning show.
 - Yeah, we're all in here for jokes,
 even in the description, you know?
 Like that's what I think you have to do,
 especially coming on the heels of a 30 Rock
 or Parks and Rec or Office type of a culture, you know?
 Like everything is very progressive.
 Throwing out millions of jokes every 10 seconds,
 coming in with a comedy show in that kind of culture.
 Yeah, we gotta come with jokes all the time.
 So that's where that is basically.
 Like we could easily be like, "Yeah, I'm the best."
 But where's the joke in that?
 (upbeat music)
 Okay, that's on the sweeter side.
 That's a nice little sweet.
 See, this is how you get people hooked in, right?
 They're like, "Oh, it's all good.
 I can just sauce up all these wings."
 (laughing)
 That's when watching the back catalog is an advantage
 in this game, you know?
 You can see the tricks coming.
 - Yeah, man.
 People are all happy in the beginning,
 like, "Yeah, let's talk about my career."
 (laughing)
 - I understand that you're pretty comfortable on ice skates.
 What do you remember about the mechanics
 of choreographing hockey scenes in "The Mighty Ducks"?
 And then who taught you how to knuckle puck?
 - Well, the knuckle puck is, you know,
 our hockey coach was this guy named Jack White,
 and he used to host like the kids'
 junior Olympic hockey team or something.
 And his daughter was an incredible hockey player as well.
 She was incredibly good and also very encouraged.
 She was just always like, "Yeah, you know, digging
 and learning how to use your edges and blah, blah, blah."
 It was a very supportive environment.
 Her father, on the other hand,
 used to give me shit constantly.
 Like, "Come on, Russ!"
 He used to call me by my character name.
 "Come on!"
 I was like, you know, "I'm a person.
 I'm not just my character."
 But he had us locked in and like,
 would just break us of wanting to quit
 or wanting to be like,
 "Oh, we can just use our stunt doubles."
 He was like, "No, you guys are gonna be a real team."
 So we just played all day.
 It was great.
 - One of the biggest strengths of all that
 were the musical guests,
 which helped to introduce Craig Mack,
 the Lox, Aaliyah, to fourth graders all over the country.
 Looking back, do you have an all-time favorite
 musical performance from that show?
 - All time?
 I mean, TLC set the bar pretty high, you know?
 Like, we were obsessed with them
 and then they came and they were so cool.
 They did the theme song
 and then they came and performed in the first season.
 And then we had people like Usher at a young age, you know,
 and Coolio came through.
 And that was an interesting week
 because Coolio stuck up the studio.
 And that was the first time like us kids
 were kind of exposed to the smell of that
 going on in the hallway.
 (laughing)
 - Whoa!
 - Yeah, all right, Mark.
 Let's go to Barbados.
 Tossy, toss, toss, toss.
 Fippy toss.
 (laughing)
 Interesting.
 That's good.
 Starting to kick that spice, huh?
 - Mm-hmm.
 - All right.
 - So you've been a staple on "Saturday Night Live"
 for 18 seasons, so I'm sure that in the hundreds of episodes
 that you've done in Studio 8H, you've seen it all.
 I know that creating that show,
 it's a collaborative process,
 but it's also extremely competitive.
 Looking back, was there an OG cast member
 who you recognize with helping you
 to break through all of that?
 - Yeah, I mean, Tracy was like the first one.
 Like, he wasn't even in the cast anymore,
 but for some reason he was still around that first week,
 like writers night, just holding court
 in the middle of the conference room,
 sitting there telling jokes and blah, blah, blah.
 And then he took me and Finesse to lunch at TGI Fridays.
 And it was a half a block's walk,
 but we walked two blocks away
 to get his car out of the garage
 and then drive around the corner to TGI Fridays.
 And he was like the first person to be like,
 "Yo, listen to me, this is how you do it,
 blah, blah, blah, engage these writers,
 you know what I'm saying?
 Go to the darker ones or whatever
 and see what you can learn from them."
 And everybody else on down,
 I kind of learned by watching basically,
 'cause they were just performing at such a high level,
 it seemed like they were in another atmosphere,
 stratosphere, some shit like that, you know?
 - When you think back on all of the sketches
 that maybe made it to the table read,
 but got cut before they went to the live show,
 is there one that you regret never got to see
 the light of day?
 - I mean, I was hung up on this one that was Active Jack.
 The idea was Bruno Mars was like one of those
 '70s workout kind of TV show kind of guys
 named Active Jack, like, "Come on kids."
 And he did these songs to get the kids to work out
 and stuff.
 And it was like the 40th year anniversary.
 So like, cut to his me, like old and out of shape,
 redoing the song and stuff like that.
 It was really funny.
 But when we did it with Bruno Mars,
 it was pretty well received.
 And then it just didn't make it to the show.
 And I was kind of crushed.
 Kevin Hart ended up being able to do it years later.
 So it lives.
 You know what I'm saying?
 It getting kind of spicy, bro.
 It's getting kind of spicy.
 So this is definitely interesting.
 Let's keep it pushing though, you know?
 Might as well.
 Right, we here, right?
 [MUSIC PLAYING]
 That's the devil's blend, huh?
 Yeah, that tastes like Satan.
 Mm-hmm.
 [LAUGHS]
 That's Satan, yeah.
 Yeah, that's the devil.
 Mm-hmm.
 [LAUGHS]
 So from growing up on Outkast in Atlanta
 to just recently actually dropping your debut verse
 as Tiny Diamond in Trolls World Tour,
 it seems like you've long had a love affair with hip hop.
 And you've played Rick Ross.
 You've played Ice Cube.
 You've played Suge Knight.
 Is there a key to doing a hip hop impression
 knowing that rappers are so lazily lampooned elsewhere
 in pop culture?
 I mean, I think it depends on the individual.
 Like, Ice Cube has a very clear tone to the way he talks.
 You know what I'm saying?
 Like, it's a very clear tone, dog.
 [LAUGHS]
 And he's always frowned.
 And then Ross, of course, Big Bo's, you know,
 and that like, what up, dog?
 Have you-- excuse me?
 Oh, shit.
 Getting spicy.
 I caught a little, yeah.
 My best favorite impression I ever did was Rick Ross.
 Suge Knight, I think you got to know Suge to like,
 listen to him.
 You know what I'm saying?
 He's a deep individual.
 His voice is a little higher than you might assume
 just because he's so big.
 That's kind of the way he talks.
 He talks like with a real menace.
 It's going to be coming at the end of his sentence.
 [LAUGHS]
 [MUSIC PLAYING]
 I'm proud of myself.
 We got into the halfway mark, man.
 This is what's up.
 Twist it.
 Shake it.
 What's happening?
 See, that's what it starts to do.
 It starts to throw out hot, just crazy spice in places
 and make you react to things.
 Well, that ain't necessary.
 You don't need all that.
 You don't need all that.
 But OK.
 OK.
 Mm-hmm.
 All right, Keenan.
 We have a recurring segment on our show called Explain That
 Gram, where we do a deep dive on our guest's Instagram,
 pull interesting pictures that need more context.
 So I'll show you the picture.
 You just tell us the bigger story.
 [MUSIC PLAYING]
 Here you are backstage with the legend Alex Trebek
 at the NHL Awards last year.
 Was he aware of Black Jeopardy?
 That was the first thing he mentioned.
 He actually said, God bless you for figuring out
 a way to do a Jeopardy behind the legendary Will Ferrell's
 Jeopardy.
 You know, it seems like anything Will Ferrell's
 kind of like holy grail-ish, off-limits-ish, you know?
 My writing buddy Brian Tucker and Michael Che
 are two brilliant dudes when they figured out a take on it
 that was just chock full of too many jokes to ignore, basically.
 So he was patting me on the back about that.
 But I was patting him on the back
 for probably being one of the smartest people in the world,
 because it seems like he knows the answer to all
 those Jeopardy questions.
 He has a way of responding to each question like, no,
 of course.
 Like, it's this and that and the other, because I read this book
 or I've known about this historic town in Rome
 or-- you know what I'm saying?
 He was incredible.
 And I was asking him about his health,
 and he was saying he was feeling better and fighting through it
 and stuff like that.
 So it was quick, but very, very positive.
 [MUSIC PLAYING]
 It's about to get real.
 All right.
 We're doing it the same way each time,
 basically, is what you're saying.
 Yeah, big drip, big drip.
 Well, you know that's how we do out here, player.
 Big drip, mouth on top of trash, mouth on fire two seconds later.
 [LAUGHTER]
 All right, cool.
 A little bit of a time delay here.
 Should be about a three, two, one.
 I feel that.
 But it's still pretty good.
 I'm not doing too bad.
 You're doing great, Keenan.
 You're doing great.
 I'm not doing too bad.
 So there are countless quotes about you
 from Lorne Michaels and past castmates
 that basically boil down to you being an ultimate teammate,
 reliable, somebody who pumps oxygen into sketches rather
 than sucking the air out of the room.
 Is that something that came to you naturally?
 Or early on in your career, was there ever
 a time where you were a little more me, me, me about things?
 No, I'm a tourist, man.
 I'm mellow.
 You know what I'm saying?
 And I'm a little--
 You and me.
 You and me.
 When's your birthday?
 April 26.
 Oh, nice.
 April.
 I'm May 10.
 So yeah, we're strong.
 We're strong, very herd-minded individuals probably.
 But I never want people to turn all the attention on me.
 I'm big on the mindset of ensemble-ness.
 So yeah, I mean, I'm definitely trying to-- see,
 it's starting to burn my lip a little bit now.
 I'm starting to feel that that's a little burn on that there.
 It's happening.
 So you know.
 Yeah, I love to hear that people feel like I inject
 positivity instead of negativity.
 I'd much rather be happy than sad.
 It just feels like natural logic to me.
 All right, honey badger, don't do me dirty now.
 We already suffered through the Super Bowl with you.
 I'm smelling it, and I'm hesitant.
 But I'm going to go for it.
 OK, that's sweet relief.
 Until?
 Until it starts happening.
 Wow.
 It's like a volcano, slow eruption.
 I like that, though.
 Hell yeah.
 I think you're a spice guy.
 I think you're a spice man.
 Am I a spice man?
 Like if I get through my other three,
 I earn my spice degree.
 Yeah, yeah, we send you a commemorative plate.
 That also rhymed, by the way.
 Get through the other three, earn that spice degree.
 Oh, snap, coming off the dome.
 So I've read that you're a prolific stock trader
 and pride yourself on being able to read the Wall Street ticker.
 A recent SNL cold open spoofed that whole Wall Street bets
 phenomenon with Pete Davidson playing the majority shareholder
 of GameStop.
 What's your take on this recent phenomenon of meme stocks
 and then all that's going on with social media and stock
 trading?
 Yeah, I mean, that whole movement is incredible.
 Just the fact that they try to show that the system is rigged,
 and then the system showed them that it is rigged.
 You know what I'm saying?
 It's like, yo, we have big money in place.
 So yeah, you can play those games for a day,
 but then we're going to show you the next day
 that all of that is about to fall back.
 Whoever was able to get in and out that same day, man,
 god, kudos to you.
 If you saw that coming and you were inside enough
 to know that that was happening, I'm not that far inside.
 I can only watch and hope and pray, basically.
 I'm definitely just gambling with it.
 Being in the entertainment industry for decades
 means that you've had no shortage of people telling you
 what to do with your money.
 Looking back, what do you think is
 the worst piece of financial advice you ever received?
 Giving somebody power of attorney.
 Never give anyone power of attorney of anything.
 Yeah, that was an early lesson for me, for sure.
 You are able to make your own decisions
 and be able to watch your money.
 You definitely should do it with somebody.
 Like, I always had mentors and stuff like that,
 but I learned better by being involved.
 You know, I didn't learn anything
 by someone just handling stuff for me.
 Honey?
 She's got to come back for this one.
 OK, we're going for the bomb.
 Wow, that choked me up.
 This is the bomb.
 How much are we pouring?
 Historic moment.
 How much are we pouring?
 Just the traditional?
 Yeah, that's--
 Plenty.
 That's plenty, he says.
 All right, cool.
 That's a lot.
 That's a lot?
 That's a lot.
 Man, we're going crazy in here.
 Why?
 Why waste time?
 I'm along for the ride.
 I'm along for the ride.
 I smell it.
 It smells like a problem.
 It does smell like a problem.
 Cheers.
 Cheers, Keon.
 Yeah, I see why you would say that.
 That would be a problem.
 I was just trying to protect you from yourself.
 Nah, it's not even about flavor anymore.
 It's just about getting hot.
 Yeah.
 So that's hot.
 I'm going to need water for this one.
 Starting to cough me up a little bit.
 [LAUGHTER]
 That's the one.
 They're laughing at me now.
 I hear the live studio audience.
 You hear it, right?
 Yeah.
 [LAUGHTER]
 Yeah.
 We're supposed to just continue with that, huh?
 Wild, man.
 Yeah, that's hot, bro.
 Any more questions?
 Yeah, yeah.
 So the nature of sketch shows seems so--
 burn the midnight oil, cram for a final exam sort of situation.
 What is the food situation like in the writers room?
 Like, is it just pizza and energy drinks,
 or is there more to sustain it?
 Yeah, man.
 It's like McDonald's and shit.
 This is fucking hot, yo.
 I'm telling you.
 Yeah.
 We got to slow this down.
 Yeah, it's like late night snacks,
 or we'll get like a full meal.
 But that one is crazy, yo.
 You're sweating too.
 You and me both.
 You and me both, kid.
 It's going up from there.
 Is that what you're saying?
 It goes up from there.
 I don't know about that.
 On your podcast, you already know
 you talk about everything, including food.
 How has this pandemic renewed or changed
 your love of cuisine in unique and interesting ways?
 Like, you used to not be able to get delivery
 from like your favorite high end spots, you know what I'm saying?
 So now it's like they put together whole meal
 packages for the family, and you know,
 alcoholic packages or whatever if you want to have
 like a full dining experience.
 Mixed cocktails, blah, blah, blah.
 But even though the food is really good, you want to go out.
 You want to like be social.
 So still a little depressing sometimes.
 That shit was hot, bro.
 Right.
 It's calming down, but it calms down and flares back up.
 What's that about?
 Y'all know why they call it the bomb, you know,
 like we sweating, mouth burning.
 Boom, boom, boom.
 Boom, boom, boom.
 All right.
 So this next one is the eye of the scorpion.
 I had a scorpion.
 All right, cool.
 You worked for it.
 Did you learn that that last one is just an explosion
 so it's better to like do it so people
 can actually get through it?
 So we've kept it in in this spot since like season two,
 but this is just stood the test of time
 because it never bricks on a reaction.
 Never.
 I'm not even spiced anymore.
 I feel like that one broke down at the bomb finally.
 So I'm coming down off of that.
 I'm just like terrified of this one
 because I've seen what it does to people.
 Well, you know what, Keenan?
 I know that you're a thrill seeker.
 I know that you are because you have an obsession
 with roller coasters that goes all the way back to being a kid
 and working on this Nickelodeon lot
 where a lot of the shows were shot
 at Universal Studios in Florida.
 Yeah.
 Did being on that network give you carte blanche
 in the amusement parks or did you have to wait
 in line like everyone else?
 Back in the day, I think it was just
 the original Universal challenge.
 It was like Terminator 2 or something
 was like the main attraction was like 3D.
 And Halloween Horror Nights, I think, was like starting
 or like still in this first like 10 year phase or whatever.
 So we used to sneak through the back door during lunchtime
 and like ride a bunch of rides and then come back.
 When Halloween Horror Nights would come,
 we would like take a group of friends
 and sneak through the back door once again.
 And then we just like have so much Halloween fun,
 like for free.
 And then they started locking the door
 because I think they were watching the cameras.
 But you know, we're kids.
 You got to try it until you get caught basically.
 Like that's what kids do, push boundaries.
 I am not afraid.
 We're going to rub it in, rub it in so that everybody
 is deliciously spiced.
 Cheers, my friend.
 This has been an absolute pleasure, man.
 Cheers, Kenan.
 Thank you so much.
 [MUSIC PLAYING]
 Here we go.
 Another one, not for flavor.
 So I'm expecting an explosion.
 It's coming.
 Here it comes.
 Here it comes.
 Oh, yeah.
 That's good.
 Yeah, that's a smoker.
 All right, I'm going to go back.
 Whoa, going back in.
 I have one more wing to do.
 So that's good.
 I mean, I feel like after that bomb,
 I earned my stripes, homie.
 Kenan Thompson, card carrying Spiceman.
 Spiceman, I have many leather bound books.
 OK, Kenan Thompson, our spicy wing experience
 is coming to an end.
 But before we roll credits, I want
 to spotlight one of the many brilliant sides of Kenan
 Thompson, and that is when it comes
 to the art of the impression.
 In your nearly two decades on SNL,
 you've broken records for the number of impressions performed.
 So if you'll humor me, I want to channel
 some of those legendary caricatures
 while your brain and mouth boil in Scovilles.
 What up?
 What up?
 I'm photoing you, because I want to make
 a good post about this later.
 This has been a real experience.
 This explosive.
 Steve Harvey, which do you prefer, drums or flats?
 Honestly, the flats is good for me.
 You know what I'm saying?
 I like to chomp a good drumstick every now and again,
 but I love getting in between them flats, man.
 David Ortiz, which sauce in the lineup was your favorite?
 I enjoyed the Barbados style, because it
 reminds me of the islands.
 It's very sweet and very spicy.
 But the bomb, man, that one is the truth, man.
 The bomb is the truth.
 For Big Poppa, we eat a big lunch.
 And finally, how would DeAndre Cole react to eating
 a wing covered in da bomb?
 Spicy as hell, burning up my mouth now.
 Oh, shit.
 I'm sweating now, baby.
 Woo.
 It's spicy, baby, and I gots to say, woo.
 My mouth is burning.
 What an amazing run through the Hot Ones gauntlet,
 an absolute treat, Kenan Thompson.
 And now there is nothing left to do but roll
 out the red carpet for you.
 This camera, that camera, probably just the camera
 you're looking at.
 Let the people know what you have going on in your life.
 Thank you very much.
 I mean, you covered it all, man.
 You're podcasting out here.
 The show is coming out February 16th,
 and then it will be on on Tuesdays at 830,
 I guess, as that goes along.
 SML still rolling, never going to stop,
 you know what I'm saying?
 And I'm always trying to perform or create
 ways for others to perform.
 So that's what I will be up to.
 Great job, Kenan.
 Great job.
 I thought I was going to flip into my Gordon Ramsay, man.
 I don't know why he was whining so hard.
 All right, here we go.
 Fuck, man.
 On the heat, off the heat.
 Put it on the heat, now take it off the heat.
 Oh, man.
 Brilliant.
 That was a brilliant episode.
 Spicy as hell.
 (cymbal rolling)
 - Hey, what's going on Hot Ones fans?
 This is Sean Evans checking in to say thank you so much
 for watching today's episode.
 If you enjoyed it, maybe like it.
 Maybe throw us a subscribe even if you're feeling generous.
 And as long as you keep watching, fuck it, I'll keep eating.
 (upbeat music)