Saturday Night Live brings Kenan Thompson back as Willie

It has been a long time since we’ve Willie appear on Saturday Night Live — let’s just say that his presence was more than welcome!

For those not familiar with one of Kenan Thompson’s character, he is supposedly the most optimistic guy Michael Che knows. However, his stories are often terrible and full of really dark anecdotes. This is the first time we have seen Willie on the show in four years, and of course we thought that the material would be next level as a result.

So, was it? Well, we tend to think of it as a mixed bag. We loved what Kenan brought to the table here, but we’re not sure that the audience was ready or prepared for this sort of dark humor. They didn’t laugh as much as we did at home, and we’re honestly not even sure that they got all of the jokes!

Is every Willie segment on the show basically the same? Sure. Kenan comes out, tells a few stories, and then mentions his old dog Lucius at the end. Somehow, though, it totally works and this really is not any different from a lot of other classic characters including Drunk Uncle and Stefon.

What is sort of funny here is that despite being the longest-tenured cast member in the history of the show, Kenan actually does not have that many signature characters. Willie could easily be a top five one at this point! We tend to think that the reason for the long break here is probably due to the fact that he didn’t think there was anything new he could do with the character. Because of that, getting to see him tonight was almost a panacea during some trying times.

Related – See some more news on Saturday Night Live, including the surprising cold open

What did you think about the return of Willie on Saturday Night Live tonight?

Do you wish that we had a chance to see more of him? Be sure to share right now in the attached comments! After you do just that, remember to come back for some other updates.