Chemistry between comedic actors can leave a lasting impression.
Though it’s been more than two decades since two friends turned teen humor into something more, people still often have fond memories of the hit Nickelodeon show Kenan & Kel.
And that leads to fans from that generation as well as ones maybe just discovering it to wonder — what are those two up to these days?
For one, it’s a bit easier to know what the former is up to, as Kenan Thompson, who played Kenan Rockmore on the show, can be seen still working his craft on numerous skits as a Saturday Night Live staple.
As for Kel Mitchell, who played Kel Kimbie, he hasn’t been as prominently in the spotlight, though he definitely has popped up on our radars time and again.
Starting as part of the ensemble cast of All That, it became clear that Kel and Kenan had a natural chemistry between them above everyone else, leading them to get their spinoff show that ran from 1996 to 2000.
They also got a spinoff movie from one of their sketches on All That, the highly rewatchable Good Burger, showing that the two of them had such ridiculous rapport with each other that they could carry comedy projects almost on their own.
In the 22 years since the show went off the air, what have the duo been up to, as well as the rest of the cast, and is there any hope of them reuniting for other projects?
Kenan Thompson
Now a mainstay member of SNL for 19 years — starting in 2003 — Thompson is actually the longest-tenured SNL cast member in the show’s 47-year history.
He’s appeared in other shows and movies through the years, most recently starring in his own sitcom, one that had a familiar name just missing its partner, in the NBC show called Kenan. The show came to be in the beginning of 2021, and was renewed for a second season earlier this year, but the show was cancelled in May.
The show had its ups, including the cast and of course, Kenan’s likability, earning him a Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Emmy nomination in 2021, but the show failed to do anything to establish itself outside of the typical sitcom tropes, unfortunately.
The 44-year-old actor has appeared in four other shows in 2022 — an episode each of Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock, The Boys Presents: Diabolical, The Kids in the Hall reboot, and That Damn Michael Che.
Considering he has stated he wants to “get to 20” years of being on SNL, we fully expect to see him when the next season premieres.
Kel Mitchell
While one-half of the dynamic duo stayed in the comedic sphere, the other went in a holy, er wholly, other direction.
That’s right, following his fame and career as an actor, the 43-year-old Kel decided to become a licensed pastor. Speaking on the show Today, Kel said he went through very difficult times during and after his comedic career, not unlike others who have walked down that same road, which eventually led him to take the spiritual path of becoming a pastor.
“Similar to Robin Williams when he was doing characters and bringing happiness to us all, right, same way with the characters that I was doing. I was bringing happiness within it but going through my own battles, you know?” he told Today. “And it was really finding that joy despite the circumstances.”
Earlier this year Kel appeared on Guy Fieri’s program Guy’s Grocery Games (which is in season 30?!) on an episode titled “Comedy Couples Cookoff” which aired in April.
In case you missed it, he also nearly won Dancing with the Stars back in 2019, the same year he became a pastor, finishing runner-up on the hit dance show. And if you want to follow more of Kel’s religious path, he recently wrote a book titled Blessed Mode: 90 Days to Level Up Your Faith.
Vanessa Baden
After playing the little sister to Kenan on the show — Kyra Rockmore — Baden has stayed in the scene both in front of and behind the camera. Based on how prolific she’s been as a writer and more, Baden should be a household name as well.
After attending Florida State and returning to the Hollywood scene, Baden earned her way in as a showrunner’s assistant on a little-known Netflix series that just concluded called Ozark.
Currently, she was the executive story editor for HBO’s The Sex Lives of College Girls, which was co-created by Mindy Kaling. She also wrote one episode, the seventh one of the series titled “I Think I’m a Sex Addict”, and the show has been renewed for a second season already.
Furthermore, she is a staff writer for the dark comedy show Guilty Party that is streaming on Paramount Plus starring Kate Beckinsdale, where Baden also wrote the seventh episode, “A Denver Ten”.
And a third project is ongoing that involves Baden as well, another TV series set to debut on Amazon Prime Video called Paper Girls, based on the science fiction comic book.
She wrote more than 20 episodes of the TNT show Animal Kingdom, where she was also a story editor. Plus, she was a writer for the 2019 web series Unapologetically Black.
Back in 2017, while working on Ozark she was also working on another project from literally all sides. She won a Daytime Emmy Award for her acting in a web series she starred in, cowrote, and co-produced, called Giants.
The 36-year-old also published a collection of essays in 2021, titled Far Away from Close to Home: A Black Millennial Woman in Progress.
Ken Foree
Though his movie appearances have slowed down, the once (and kinda still) horror actor’s filmography goes from the scare and thrill genre to comedy TV for Kenan & Kel, then right back again.
Playing Kenan’s dad, Roger Rockmore, the 74-year-old Foree most recently appeared in 2020’s John Henry, a thriller starring Terry Crews and Ludacris.
And in 2019, he appeared in Jordan Peele’s documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror which is absolutely worth revisiting.
Teal Marchande
Playing Kenan’s mother, Sheryl, Kenan & Kel was actually her last acting gig, as she moved away from the profession in 2000. She’s still active on Twitter, with her bio line stating she’s an “Actress. Writer, Radio Host, Speaker, Advocate & so much more.”
Dan Frischman
And of course, there’s Kenan’s awkward boss, Chris Potter, played by Frischman. While he isn’t acting currently, he penned a children’s book titled Jackson & Jenks, Master Magicians, and according to his website, is working on a memoir.
Reuniting
First, the pair appeared in a Good Burger sketch on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon back in 2015. Then, even with Kel’s newfound career, the two teamed up to reboot All That in 2019 (though they appear on the show, they aren’t regulars in the show), and thanks to one of Kel’s kids, the idea of a Good Burger reboot isn’t out of the picture, either.
“You know, we’ve been talking about it,” he said in the same Today interview. “Kenan and I, we’re all about it, but we’re letting them work it out contractually and all that stuff like that. But yeah, me and Kenan, we’re down.”
He continued, “My youngest one wants me to do Good Burger all the time,” he said. “I’m doing bedtime stories.”
Kenan talked about how proud he is of Kel and his new path in an interview with Good Day Atlanta (Fox) earlier this year, with clear joy on his face when talking about his good friend, as well as addressing (maybe tongue-in-cheek) their visions for reuniting.
“Hopefully we’ll be getting that Good Burger 2 going or whatever, we’ll maybe reboot that Kenan & Kel or something,” the Atlanta native Kenan said. “I’m with all of that. I just miss working with my brother all the time.”
Well, maybe we can have Kenan, Kel, and Baden as the grown-up little sister all living out their lives as adults with kids of their own on a reboot of Kenan & Kel. After what we’ve discussed earlier, we know Baden could probably write the heck out of the script and that Kenan still has his comedic chops.
After all, she said in an interview with Atlanta Black Star last year that she and Kenan remain close friends, and that she still runs into people from her Nickelodeon days often.
The original version still has reruns airing on Nickelodeon’s Pluto TV channel, and some simple searching can lead you to more than a few clips of the show.
Whatever form a new Kenan & Kel would take, fans new and old would probably at least take a flier on what a new version, updated reboot, or something in between, Kenan & Kel would take on in modern times.
Just a few years ago, in talking about the reboot of All That, Kenan and Kel showed their still-sparkling chemistry and love for each other in an interview with Complex News, in which they addressed another project on everyone’s minds — Good Burger 2.
“People keep asking we already said it, yeah, yeah,” Kenan answered. “It’s not in our hands. (It’s in the hands of) the people who gotta make it happen, they gotta give them the check, and then they gotta tell them, nothing, they don’t wanna be told what to do.
“So I get that, and then, you know, we can do it. We can probably get it done in what, six weeks?”
Being that one reboot is airing now, and the duo have talked about their other projects more than a few times the past few years, a new Kenan & Kel seems more than just a dream. Even if it’s Kenan and Kel (and others) getting together for the second Good Burger, that’s good on our end.
Someone gather up some orange soda, and let’s go!
