Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
It’s Thursday. Which means it’s almost Friday. Which means you can probably get away with slacking a bit during your lunch hour. If you’re in need of something short and sweet to watch at your desk, we have you covered with some Afternoon Delight. This week’s pick is from way back when, when Nickelodeon still ruled the roost with America’s youth and Kenan and Kel still got along on All That and the comedy duo’s spin-off, Kenan & Kel.
You might wonder what calls for a seemingly dated Afternoon Delight, as we normally scout for the web’s best new web series to highlight in this weekly feature. There’s no rhyme or reason really, aside from when I recently came across Good Burger on HBO Go and haven’t been able to set aside time (though I have plans to tonight, check back for an update tomorrow) to kick back, smoke up, and revisit the kid comedy that, in turn, became a stoner-friendly throwback.
“Awwww here it goes!” The saga of Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell began in 1994 on the kid-friendly (and I say that lightly) sketch comedy series All That, which featured the likes of now-defamed child stars Amanda Bynes, Drake Bell, and Jamie Lynn Spears. The show was a smash hit and helped secure Thompson’s comedic future as he was, without a doubt, the strongest performer on the series during his five-year tenure. Looking back casts the comedian in an even more impressive light as Thompson’s humor raised the witty and often politically incorrect writing to another level of performance that blended physical comedy and outright slapstick, rarely seen by millennials unless our parents showed us reruns of The Three Stooges. Thompson generated a following who couldn’t peel themselves away from the TV back then and still can’t (one of the only reasons I keep up with Saturday Night Live is to watch Kenan, who frankly, is shockingly underutilized). Yet, his success might have been less substantial if it weren’t for the camaraderie between him and the lesser-known Kel Mitchell.
Nowadays, the two are on less than friendly terms, but back in the ’90s the duo was inseparable and their comedy, co-dependent. On Kenan & Kel, which began two years after the duo’s success on All That, Kenan was the token straight man while Kel played up the dim-witted buddy stereotype, as evident in a fan-generated best-of clips below.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0NBHV1q5pU]Later in their tenure, the duo improvised more, which is where their cohesiveness (albeit in a rather racist recurring sketch), was at its strongest.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4Xv0GMcFkQ]Whether Good Burger holds up might be besides the point when I revisit it tonight in my slightly inebriated state, as Kenan and Kel achieved something in comedy that can never be replicated on a children’s television program again. If you’re like me and run the risk of falling down the ’90s Nick rabbit hole, full episodes of All That and Kenan & Kel are available on Amazon Prime and YouTube, respectively.
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