Facts That Make You Realize Just How Long Kenan Thompson Has Been on ‘SNL’
Because Kenan Thompson isn’t exactly an old man — although holy smokes, he’s 45! — it’s easy to forget just how freaking long he’s been a cast member on Saturday Night Live. To put things into perspective, Redditor ThatOneReddetUser jumped on the r/LiveFromNewYork subreddit this week to ask, “What’s a fact about Kenan’s time on the show that makes you realize how long he’s been on it?”
Here are some of the head-shaking facts that might make you feel a little creaky as well…
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Fact #1: Kenan’s Been on the Show for More Than 40 Percent of ‘SNL’s Entire Time on the Air
Joker2814 shared that gem, along with a prediction: “Sometime, in the next five years, a cast member will be hired who was born after Kenan joined the show in 2003.”
It probably won’t take that long, pointed out WhateverJoel. After all, Jenna Ortega hosted this year, and she was only one-year-old when Kenan got his SNL start.
Fact #2: Kenan Joined ‘SNL’ the Same Year the U.S. Invaded Iraq
That fact courtesy of Friesenplatz blew people’s minds. “Jesus Christ,” exclaimed dammit_dammit, “I feel like you could write an entire ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ just from events that have happened since Kenan joined the cast.”
OffModelCartoon asked ChatGPT to do just that. The results are downright clunky so rest easy, Billy Joel, but the historical context is interesting. (ChatGPT went to town with seven verses — we’ll only share the first few here.)
Kenan joined SNL, in 2003,
From there, it’s been a wild ride, as you’ll soon see,
iPods, smartphones, Facebook’s debut,
Twitter, YouTube, the digital breakthrough
In ’04, Janet’s wardrobe malfunction’s glare,
Super Bowl’s halftime show, a shocking affair,
In ’05, Hurricane Katrina’s despair,
New Orleans’ struggle, a nation’s prayer
We’ve stoked the fires of the modern age,
With each passing year, we turn the page,
From pop culture’s whims to history’s stage,
Together we ride, let’s engage
In ’06, YouTube went mainstream, that’s clear,
Google bought it, changing the internet’s sphere,
In ’07, the iPhone came into our lives,
A touch screen revolution, oh how time flies
Economic crash of ’08, banks in decline,
Stock markets plunged, it was a tough time,
Breaking Bad began its meth-cooking crime,
Walter White’s descent, an epic climb
In ’09, Michael Jackson left us all,
The King of Pop’s moonwalk, his final curtain call,
And Avatar wowed with its visual sprawl,
Pandora’s world, a majestic thrall
The Arab Spring in 2010, a wave of change,
Protests for freedom, across the Middle East’s range,
Game of Thrones in 2011, Westeros’ might,
Dragons, betrayal, and the Iron Throne’s fight.
…And it goes on a bit. You get the idea.
Fact(s) #3: Kenan Joined When ‘Friends’ and ‘Frasier’ Were Still Airing New Episodes, ‘The Apprentice’ Had Not Yet Begun Airing, ‘American Idol’ Had Only Two Seasons Under Its Belt, Tom Brady Had Only One Super Bowl Ring, Aaron Rodgers Was Still in College and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Trilogy Had Yet to Conclude
Wide_Answer did an awesome job of providing some pop-culture perspective. “I just stared at my phone and blinked several times because there’s no way in hell that’s true,” bgva marveled. “Obviously it is, but fuck, that just made me feel old.”
