Is Kenan Thompson leaving Saturday Night Live for new comedy gig?
Per a new report coming in via Deadline, the longest-tenured cast member ever at the sketch show may be departing in order to star in Saving Larry, a comedy series at NBC that would star the actor as a dad who has to be both mother and father to his kids after the death of his wife. He will also have to do this while also dealing with his father-in-law watching him at every turn. Jackie Clarke of Happy Endings will write the pilot (which is going to enter production under the current deal), and Thompson will be an executive producer alongside his longtime Saturday Night Live boss Lorne Michaels.
The site notes that Thompson’s exit from SNL is not a sure thing; if Saving Larry is picked up, he will have to depart his post. However, it remains to be seen what happens in the event that Saving Larry does not get picked up to series. At the moment, all it has is a pilot.
Our feeling is this: Kenan is one of our favorite SNL cast members of all time and with that, we’d love to see him continue to be on here. Yet, we’d certainly be okay with him leaving if he finds the right comedy to make it happen, and while family comedies are not necessarily our genre of choice, good ones can go down in TV history like Modern Family or The Office. After fifteen years and counting at the sketch show, plus a recent Supporting Actor Emmy nomination, we do think that Kenan has earned the right to be able to dictate his future. It’s great that NBC would want to keep him in their arsenal.
Related – Check out news on the latest SNL featured player
What do you think about the idea of Kenan potentially leaving Saturday Night Live for a new comedy series? Share right now in the attached comments below!
Also, remember here that you can like CarterMatt on Facebook in the event you do want to score some other news regarding the series. (Photo: NBC.)