Name: Kenan Thompson and Heidi Gardner Talk SNL, Jack Black, Nickelodeon and More
Uploaded: 2024-10-24T15:00:00Z
Duration: 9 min 38 s
Description: Kenan Thompson and Heidi Gardner of “Saturday Night Live” sit down for The Job Interview with WSJ. Magazine to chat about their early careers, comedic inspirations and biggest flops on stage.

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Under CEO Cristiano Amon, semiconductor company Qualcomm is bringing its technology to multiple industries. This conversation was recorded on May 28, 2025.

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Kenan Thompson and Heidi Gardner of “Saturday Night Live” sit down for The Job Interview with WSJ. Magazine to chat about their early careers, comedic inspirations and biggest flops on stage. Photo: Rachel Batashvili

https://m.wsj.net/video/20241023/38a0b770-2070-463c-a029-654654f53b96/1/hls/manifest-hd-wifi.m3u8

Kenan Thompson and Heidi Gardner of “Saturday Night Live” sit down for The Job Interview with WSJ. Magazine to chat about their early careers, comedic inspirations and biggest flops on stage.

Kenan Thompson and Heidi Gardner Talk SNL, Jack Black, Nickelodeon and More

You've worked with some of the biggest names in comedy.

Cut it out. No, I have not.

You have though. You have, me. Just kidding.

Yes, that's right,

Kenan.

Yes.

Actually, I really want to know this. This is fun.

Okay.

When did you know you were funny?

I was confusing it between being funny and cute. I felt more charming early because I was like the gingerbread man at age five. Really making people laugh was pretty early. Like me and my brother would go back and forth a lot. HBO just came out. So we were finally able to watch everything on repeat. And our favorites, like the "Coming to America" and "Trading Places" and you know.

So you were quoting and?

Big time. You know what I mean? And just cracking up, so yeah.

What was your first job?

Okay, so was at a place called Mesa Wraps, which was like Chipotle before Chipotle.

Mesa.

And I was wrapping big old burrito with like little high schooler hands, like.

You know how people go with it. Hard at Chipotle

For sure. Well someone was a hairstylist before becoming a comic. And what did you learn from your time as a hairstylist that you brought with you to comedy?

I would say that the cliches are true in hairstyling. People really do treat you like a therapist. Like they open up.

All the way.

Which for someone who likes to do characters, that was like a well of inspiration, I had this client, Jordy, she was like a pudding maker. Like no one else was making pudding, you know? And I was like, I will absolutely be using that.

100%, you don't think about who's making the pudding.

On like a large scale

Delivery pudding too. Like traveling around LA delivering pudding. Have you ever had an I made it moment?

Like, look Ma, I made it?

Yeah.

Getting cast in my first movie, which was a large movie because it was a sequel to something. That's my knuckle puck. It's hard to be accurate, but it drives goalies crazy. And then I had to go to hockey camp, you know.

And that grounded you a little bit?

Immediately. Tell us about your SNL audition.

I auditioned twice. My first audition, I don't even remember 'cause it was also the first time I ever saw this stage in person. So suddenly I'm standing on the stage and I'm like, can I take a selfie? And then they're like five, four, three. And I'm auditioning like I did 12 characters and I wanted to make it undeniable. And then I got a call a week later that was like, we're bringing her back, but she has to do a whole new audition. And I was like, I did all the things I had. The Sketch.

Kind of the best thing to have happen, right? Like empty out your bag and then have to start.

Yes.

Right at point.

How did you spend your first paycheck?

I want to say on candy.

Cute.

But my mom was very strict, you know what I mean? So like, I wasn't just given like all this like free money all of a sudden. So any money I got still felt like it came from her. It was like.

Maybe still allowance vibes or did you know you were bank?

Big time. Like some shoes like I knew I was getting like numbers in the paycheck or whatever.

Shoes. Shoes, I think, yep.

Looking back on your early Nickelodeon days, how did working on "All That" and "Kenan and Kel" prepare you for SNL?

It didn't at all. Next question. I'm just kidding.

No Gravity.

Thoroughly. I mean, "All That" especially because it was sketch comedy, you know what I mean? The confidence of performing in front of audiences, you know what I mean? And like performing in front of kids, especially comedy is, it's tough. It comes on you before you understand how to deflect it and not necessarily hold on to certain, you know, ideas that everybody's watching kind of thing.

Yeah it would be cool to learn that language, like cameras, angles, like to learn that as a kid and like really get it in there.

Yeah, I mean, I think it was very advantageous to like not have to do "All That" learning on the fly. You know what I'm saying? Everybody feels the pressure, you know, in different ways, but in your first week here, it's gotta be insane.

My first season for some reason, all I was eating was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and ordering all the kids' books I liked when I was a child and I was like.

You're in your happy place. Look for that happy place.

Yeah, I'm trying to like protect myself in a really childlike way right now, 'cause the world just got real big and I'm in New York.

Yeah, the world just got real big. Tell me about the hardest time you have flopped on stage.

I did do an update a few seasons ago. It was like 80s cocaine wise. And I just remember like giving up my all and hearing nothing. I want to dance, don't you want to dance with me, Colin will dance with me, won't you baby? And there's something freeing in that though. I was like, oh, I'm flopping. But then also, what am I gonna stop? No, I gotta go harder now like, you just gotta.

Like, where's this disconnect happening? You know what I mean? And it's just like, okay, wow, I start laughing.

Just laughing and just laugh.

Because it's like big swing of the miss.

Who has had the most significant impact on your career and what did you learn from them?

I gotta say Kel because I don't have that many like professional, multi-decade friendships like that. That guy right there is like, we are attached. He always makes me laugh real hard.

He is funny.

To this day.

My first season, I remember it was after a table read. You came around to me and you're like, Heidi, I want you to meet, and you're like, my friend Kel. And I was just like, I didn't know, I didn't know you guys were still friends. It was like I wanted to start crying. It's like, it's cliche but it's a gift to all of us that you guys were put together that you love each other still. Your families love each other. Like, it's a beautiful story.

It it is man. It's really cool to be a part of. Young lady, how did your time at The Groundlings help shape the quirky and layered characters that you bring to life here at SNL?

The Groundlings, you know, really emphasizes characters. They want you to get into characters, but they also won't let you go cheap or too broad at things. They want specificity. They want real people. My mom is such a character, you know, she wears her sunglasses at night and she says Cuba. And she.

Cuba, is delicious this time of year.

Yes, I mean, everything's a party in Cuba.

That was such an ear worm for me. It's so good.

It's so good but even with my mom, they told me at Groundlings, like, I tried to do all the things that were her and that's a billion things. And they were like, pick one. So you've been on SNL for over 20 seasons.

Really?

Yes. What's been the key to your longevity on the show and how do you keep it fresh year after year?

Man, I don't know, it's tough. And a lot of the times you just have these gaps in inspiration. You have these gaps in things that are actually landing. You know what I'm saying? And then as you swing and chip away at finding the next one, thank God a lot of the time the next one comes along.

Totally.

You know what I mean? Now, if you could live inside one of your SNL characters worlds, who would you choose and what kind of chaos would be unfolding?

I would do, there's a lady I do on update that's your busy coworker who's doing seemingly nothing.

Oh my God.

And I like the world that she lives in. I like that she has a computer and a water bottle and a charger. And I just got my work on my salad phone.

Oh my God. What salad? What does it say?

I'm fruit. What's your favorite SNL tradition?

I want to say the after dinner. You just feel all of us decompressing. We're just so unified. Like we just ran marathon together and we all cross the finish line.

Totally.

You know what I mean? And now we can all go home. Or something. Or we can all just release being under pressure for a minute.

What do you do to recharge on Sundays?

You know what I do? Watch football.

Come on KC. KC in the building.

I want you to actually come over this season. Barbecue.

I'm there.

Okay, let's go.

Is there a role or genre you haven't tackled yet, but want to?

Yeah, people won't let me do drama yet. You know what I mean? Like people tend to laugh when my face appears on the screen. And thank you for that by the way. Because it's been a lot of that. I grew up doing very dramatic theater, but audiences have yet to allow me to do that because I was like in a movie where it was like a serious movie and I played a role and then in the testing the audience laughed and they, it wasn't like appropriate I guess for the scene. So it got cut.

See, I think it would work because you're so beloved that if in a movie, if you were like breaking my heart, you would break my heart. I would cry.

Oh, can I do one more? Who is your first comedic inspiration?

I will say the first time that I really felt like I want to be like them is watching Jack Black.

Kenan: Amazing.

Like just reckless, abandoned, just you are you, you are free.

Hyper talent.

Yeah like Tenacious D performed at SNL and I was like, wait, but he's in Airborne. And then it was like "Orange County," "High Fidelity." He just had all those like supporting roles.

Shout out to Jack Black.

And then "School of Rock." It was just.

Forget about it. That's all we have for today. But shall we ask, would you hire me?

Of course, I'm gonna hire you for your first dramatic role. I'm gonna write it.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

You're gonna cry on camera.

We're gonna gonna do it. That's right and you're gonna make the audience cry.

Yeah, let's see if we can do it right now. No, I can't.

SNL’s Kenan Thompson and Heidi Gardner on Comedy, Early Roles and More

Cultural icons explain how they started out and then climbed their way to the top.

SNL’s Kenan Thompson and Heidi Gardner on Comedy, Early Roles and More

The Job Interview

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