Kenan Thompson ‘Suffered in Silence’ With Chronic Illness for Two ‘Saturday Night Live’ Seasons

For years, Saturday Night Live ironman Kenan Thompson struggled with a chronic stomach condition without seeking help, though you can’t blame him for keeping quiet. After all, gastroesophageal pain is one of the most common side effects of working at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

The physical toll that SNL takes on its cast and crew is notorious in the comedy community, seeing as the sleepless, stress-filled schedule of comedy’s biggest live show easily exceeds any OSHA recommendations. SNL hosts and cast members alike have long complained about the stomach cramps that seem to be a given and natural part of the show’s weekly lifecycle, but as any reputable gastroenterologist will tell you, panic-induced indigestion isn’t supposed to destroy your voice and keep you up all night with painful, acidic hiccups — not unless you try to treat your symptoms with something strong at the afterparty.

So when Thompson finally got a diagnosis that brought him immediate relief after years of suffering, he set out to teach the world that gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, is miraculously treatable, and doesn’t exclusively afflict people who devoted 22 years of their lives to a series that might as well be sponsored by ulcer medications.

Thompson says he started to experience GERD symptoms two years ago, though he didn't know it at the time. “I noticed that I would get hoarse a lot easier when I’m doing the show. Losing my voice quicker, but also uncomfortable sleepless nights because I’m burping up acid, just kind of hiccuping all night,” Thompson told PEOPLE in a recent conversation. “And that can definitely add more stress to an already stressful kind of environment doing a live show like that. So all of those factors, I was like whatever, I’ll get over it. But it just started to pile up.” 

“I was able to take something and patch it up for the moment, but I got to a point where that didn’t work anymore. That’s when it got serious,” Thompson said of the condition’s effect on his SNL career. “It was a suffering-in-silence situation. I don’t know if I was necessarily embarrassed to talk to a doctor — I just didn’t know if I needed to.” 

Thankfully, Thompson finally saw a doctor after so many acidic SNL episodes and got the GERD diagnosis. “I didn't know there was a real medical term for it,” Thompson admitted, though their was a a real medical treatment called Voquezna that turned his life around. “I felt relief pretty immediately,” said Thompson.

Now, Thompson has partnered with the makers of Voquezna, Phathom Pharmaceuticals, for their campaign GERD IS NO JOKE to encourage other GERD sufferers to seek help like he did. Part of the promotional deal will include Thompson hosting a GERD-themed cooking show called “Kick Some Acid,” which, as Thompson describes it, sounds exactly like a 2000s SNL sketch.

“It’s nice to throw some humor into it because I like to have fun and a little bit of sugar helps the medicine go down,” Thompson said of the fake show. “I thought it’d be funny if there was a chef who couldn’t eat his own food because he is suffering in silence. I’ve had good training with SNL, just trying to take the comedic approach to tougher topics and make it more palatable to discuss."

Thompson was able to turn chronic pain into a lucrative ad campaign just by biting the bullet and going to the doctor. And, although it’s none of our business how big his paycheck from Phathom may have been, there’s a good chance that promoting medication for a condition developed while working on SNL pays better than actually being on SNL.