Kel Mitchell was happy to drop everything and do that Emmys cameo for Kenan Thompson
It seems like they're still friends in real life, which is all we've ever wanted
Aux News Kenan Thompson
Though the show itself was largely a snooze (if “they gave out awards and nothing mind-meltingly stupid happened” is boring to you), one highlight of the 2022 Emmy Awards was a blink-and-miss-it cameo from Kel Mitchell—the old Nickelodeon comedy partner of Emmys host Kenan Thompson. It came in a completely unrelated skit that Thompson was doing with “honorary bartender” Kumail Nanjiani, during which Nanjiani fumbled with bottles and lamented the fact that “honorary bartender” was a job and not just a title. When Thompson tried to help out by taking orders from some of the celebrities sitting around the bar, Mitchell turned around and asked for “a Good Burger.” It was incredible. (Ask your… older millennial friends?)
Now, we would’ve loved to see the Emmys completely grind to a halt for some extended Good Burger riffs or the classic Kenan And Kel setup where Kel gets into some kind of scrape and Kenan comes up with an overly complicated scheme to get him out of it (Awwwww, here it goes!), but that was really the whole extent of the cameo. Mitchell showed up at the end of a sketch, he referenced an old Nickelodeon thing (plus a movie that’s a 10/10 on the wackadoo scale), he and Thompson hugged each other, and then ‘90s kids went nuts.
And it sounds like it wasn’t especially hard—at all—to convince Mitchell to do it. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter at the Governors Ball post-Emmys, Mitchell explained that Thompson and the producers for the Emmys met up with him when he was in New York promoting his new children’s book Prank Day, and he “jumped at the chance” to do the skit with his old ALl That buddy. Mitchell told THR that they even took precautions to keep him hidden when he arrived for the show, telling him not to walk the red carpet or anything to maintain the surprise, and he was still on board.
It was all worth it, because seeing Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell together is a joy. We just would’ve liked more of it. Hey, to make it up to us increasingly decrepit and mummy-like ‘90s kids, could we get more seasons of Kenan And Kel? Maybe they could do one where Kel does something that really frustrates Kenan, and he pauses for a second and then screams “WHY?!”
15 Comments
I’m so happy to see Kenan’s finally forgiven Kel for dropping the screw in the tuna.
I have a radio in my car.
We just would’ve liked more of it.Y’mean, like, the front of Kel’s head?
I’m curious to know how much of the general audience was confused by this because it kinda feels like an inside joke between Millennials of a very specific age. I don’t know how mainstream Kenan and Kel were.
Yes, I’m sure Kel was, uh, very busy and had to drop…many things to show up for a brief cameo.
Ironically, was in Portland this past weekend and passed a book store that had a sign up that Kel was doing a signing at on Sunday. Would have gone but was after my flight back home. But that’s something.
He was on a show about 5 years ago that my kids used to like. Don’t know if he’s done anything since then.
Years ago, I tweeted, “You ever just stop and wonder what Kel Mitchell is up to these days?” and within half an hour, I got a follow from Kel Mitchell. So, I don’t think he’s been up to too much. But I’m happy to hear he’s writing children’s books and seems to be doing just fine anyway.
those mall kiosks won’t man themselves LOL
and then ‘90s kids went nuts*’90s
he “jumped at the chance” to do the skit with his old ALl That buddy
*All That
it kinda seemed like Kenan didn’t know it was gonna be him, which would be a fun wrinkle. he seemed genuinely surprised. that’d be some good wholesome fun if the producers kept it from him and just told him to talk to the guy with his head down
When I was a young naïve 90’s Nickelodeon kid, I was convinced that Kel was going to be the breakout star of the two. I remember when Kel’s rap group Aftermath performed on All That, I thought he was going places. I also find it pretty crazy that I still remember Kel’s rap group name 25+ years later based off of one performance on All That. I feel like that is something that should have been deleted from my memory for something more useful.
I always thought Alfonso Ribeiro (Carlton on Fresh Prince) was going to go huge too.
Kel’s on my short list of actors that I’m always happy to see on my screen. He’s not at the level of Kurt Russell, but he’s definitely on the list.