-Great to see you, Kenan, how are you?
-Oh, great to see you, buddy.
Look at that, look at that hair!
I'm going right after it, immediately.
[ Laughter ]
-This is the last day... -Love it.
-...before the haircut, but you enjoy it.
-I'm glad I caught it.
-You know, I need this sort of positive feedback
to keep my flowing locks flowing.
So, thank you.
-Yeah, I mean, even after, you know, when you --
after quarantine hopefully will be over and stuff like that,
are you going to ever, like, get back to growing it out?
Are you feeling like a different dude?
-I don't know, because we're never more than,
like, two weeks off,
when we're actually in the regular studio.
So, this might be the last hoorah, but it's been a good --
it's been a good, fun hoorah.
-I wanted it to be, like, your next book cover, almost.
-You know, I haven't written a book,
but I should take some jacket covers now.
-Well, your first book cover.
That should be some jacket photo, for sure.
It's looking good.
-How are your kids?
I know they're 6 and 2.
How have they been hanging in? -They've been good.
They're, you know, they're -- my big girl's, like,
old enough to kind of know what's going on,
but not old enough to be missing anything, necessarily.
Like, she still runs into a couple kids here and there,
you know, friends and family and stuff like that, so.
-Your 6-year-old, the people she did get to see
were highlights for her, because you were a guest judge
on "America's Got Talent." -Yeah.
-And Georgia's a fan, correct?
-She is a ginormous fan.
I mean, she watches it every day.
She knows all the contestants' first and last names
and their stories, you know what I mean?
It's like her first real dive
into something that's hers, you know what I mean?
And she watches "Britain's Got Talent."
She's going deep with it.
-That's great. How have you enjoyed it?
I know you're filling in for Simon Cowell.
-Yeah, everybody was really warm and welcoming,
and the acts were great.
It was a little hard to watch people
get sent home or whatever.
-Sure, of course.
-Georgia had a dream come true
and that was good enough for me, you know.
She got to wave to everybody and say what's up to
Terry Crews, you know.
And Terry Crews, oh, he's got some real sharp radar
on the color scheme with those suits.
-Yeah, oh, my God, absolutely.
-That was a nice pumpkin spice, silky, mm.
For fall, getting everybody ready for fall.
That was a good one.
-So, I have to ask, the last time
you were on the show, you were getting ready
for the Eddie Murphy-hosted Christmas "SNL."
And I should apologize to my viewers,
because every single person who's been on the show
since then, I've asked about it.
But I am so jealous that I didn't get to be there.
Just watching it at home was such a joy.
What was it like -- -Yeah, where were you?
-What? -Where were you?
-I was just -- I don't know where I was.
I guess I should have come, but it was so much fun to watch.
-You guys were on holiday already.
-We were probably were on holiday already, yeah.
-On holiday, as I -- -On holiday.
-Yes, on holiday. [ Laughter ]
-How was the week?
-So surreal, honestly.
Like, you're looking at a guy, especially for me,
who's just been bigger than life
for my entire existence, you know what I mean?
And now he's sitting in front of me,
he's looking me in my eye, calling me by my name.
We're conversating, we go to, like,
the host dinner and all of that.
It's just very intimate all of a sudden, with,
like, one of your greatest, greatest heroes, you know?
And it was incredible.
Six days of that, you know?
And he just got more and more comfortable with everybody
and more open and cracking jokes.
And by the time we were doing, like,
Thursday promos with Lizzo,
he was just, like, all into it, you know what I mean?
Having a great time and laughing and, like,
Lizzo made him laugh in the promo,
and that's the one that they used.
And it just looked like everybody's energy
was towards him in a positive way,
wanting him to have a great show.
It was amazing.
-The thing that I realized, as well,
from watching that episode is you realize he is joy.
He's just joy incarnate as a sketch performer.
And even, you know, in the sketch
where he made a bad cake, he still presented it as joyful.
Like, he was smiling through everything.
And I realize, like, you guys --
you and he have the same DNA as performers.
Like, you're very positive, joyous.
It's contagious, the way you perform.
And I can't believe I'm saying this, Kenan,
but you are now coming into your 18th season on "SNL."
-Isn't that crazy? -It's crazy.
-Isn't that crazy? -Well, one reason it's crazy
is you look the same,
so that's one part that makes it crazy.
-Thank you. I've got my beard going.
There's a beard here. You can see it.
Well, you know, if anything,
I definitely took that from him, you know what I'm saying?
Just because he was the first person
to show me what it was like to just present joy
in every performance, basically.
Like, all he ever was going after
was a joyous reaction from people.
He's really entertaining, like, for real, for real.
And yeah, I always, you know,
just migrated towards that kind of thing
because it makes me feel good in the process.
-Yeah. Does it get --
I mean, at what point in that 18 years did you start feeling,
as the fall was rolling around --
and again, this is a unique fall we're rolling into --
but, you know, I remember having anxiety and anxiety and anxiety,
until about season six or seven, when I thought,
"Okay, I think I at least know
enough of the ropes here to feel somewhat comfortable."
When did that start for you?
-I mean, I feel like it got
comfortable, like, right around
when I started to land a sketch that was my own idea.
Like, kind of after "Scared Straight,"
and I really started being able
to build connections with writers for real,
as opposed to just, like, a writer giving me something
and being able to, like, really build something from scratch.
And then I was like, "Oh, now
I have a different kind of relationship with the show,"
you know what I mean, as opposed to, like,
cast/writer separation or anything like that.
I felt more intertwined
with the entire process finally, you know?
And then I also just never felt like
I was alone in building the show.
There's so many people.
Like, just watching the stress
that you would go through, you know?
And like, you were one of the most perfect --
it looked like it would come easy to you type of writers
I had ever seen, between like you and Tina.
It looked like you could just
flush out sketches, you, Tina, and Joe.
Almost like you almost crap them out, like it's nothing.
But, to also watch how on-edge and on your toes
you were all week,
you know what I mean, just, like, taught me,
"Oh, this is a continuous type of process."
So, yeah, I still feel it coming around.
Like, I feel, you know, September creeping up
and October creeping up,
and it's like, yeah, you should be prepared.
I need to go in there with, like, a couple pitches,
because every time I come in after the summer lately
and I pitch to Tucker, I've been thinking
like a whole summer's worth of ideas.
And I pitch him like six and he likes, like, half of one.
[ Laughter ]
-What about -- I know you've got a podcast now as well.
It must be nice, because again, we know you so much as,
you know, somebody who's a great character
performer or impressions.
Is it fun to just get to be Kenan?
-Oh, it's great.
It's so much -- I can just relax and be myself
and not have any kind of expectation
on what's supposed to happen.
Like, comedy, we're supposed to be going for some kind of laugh,
if we're going to be wasting people's time with noise
and words, right, you know what I mean?
Like, we're supposed to be, like,
setting up and punchlining.
But, with the podcast, it's like,
we're just having a conversation
and this is the first time I think people can,
you know, get a real sense of me
outside of an eight-minute talk show segment or something.
-Well, that's great, buddy.
I really hope you guys figure out some version of the show.
We all will be looking forward to "SNL's" season
premiere in any form... -Oh, it's going to happen.
-...it comes in. -It's gonna happen.
-I'm very excited to hear that.
It's always great to see you, buddy.
-You, too, buddy. You enjoy.
Please, send me a lock of that hair, please.
-I will. I will.