Kenan and Kel Reunite in Surprise Tonight Show sketch
If you tuned into the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon last week on Sept. 23, you would see a hilarious sketch starring Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell doing their “Good Burger” sketch routine. You would then proceed to check your calendar to make sure this was 2015 and not 1997.
Before going any further, let us recap the past 20 years of the comedy duo that was “Kenan and Kel.”
If you were alive in the 1990s, you would easily recognize Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell. They were one of the hottest Nickelodeon stars of that decade. Starring on the sketch comedy series All That, Thompson and Mitchell made their mark on TV. Thompson starred in various sketches on the hit TV series. Mitchell’s most famous is the “Good Burger” sketch. He plays an inept but loveable character named “Ed” who works at a fast food restaurant. At the high point of their success, they starred in their own Nickelodeon sitcom called “Kenan and Kel” which ran from 1996-2000. In 1997, Thompson and Mitchell starred in their own movie which was called Good Burger. Mitchell played the goofy character Ed while Thompson starred as his more normal co-worker Dexter. The movie was met with mostly negative reviews during its theatrical release. Today, however, it has gained a cult following (and is a highly enjoyed movie of mine).
To refresh your memory, here is a couple of clips from All That which shows the “Good Burger” skits. It is from Season 1 (1994) where Mitchell is only 16 years old.
After All That ended, not much was heard about Mitchell. Thompson, however, became successful in another popular sketch series: Saturday Night Live. He is still a cast member to this day.
Throughout the day, Fallon and his social media team were sending out hints as to what might happen during the evening show. It wasn’t until Fallon started talking about his “best job ever” that you got a sense of what might be happening. Fallon talks about how much he loved working at this fast food joint when he was a teenager.
The sketch starts out with Fallon donning a blonde wig and talking like any typical teenager at your local McDonald’s. A problem occurs when a customer complains about a lack of mustard. Fallon calls over his manager Ed. When Mitchell walks out in stage, he is met with thunderous applause and cheers from the audience.
Proceeding with the sketch, Thompson comes out as a customer and is also met with cheers and applause from the crowd. These two have not worked together in almost 20 years so this is definitely an exciting moment. Cameos in this sketch are Tonight Show announcer Steve Higgins and Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter from the Roots.
Kel ends this sketch with a rendition of his character’s famous jingle “I’m a Dude, She’s a Dude.” To really experience some hard core ‘90s nostalgia, watch the link below.
This sketch proves that the ‘90s were in fact, all that.
