Kenan Thompson Reveals ‘Falling Out’ With Co-Star Kel Mitchell

The "Saturday Night Live" star discusses not speaking to his friend for years before the two reconnected

“All That” castmates and “Kenan & Kel” co-stars Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell have reunited to reprise their roles of Dexter and Ed for the sequel to the 1997 comedy “Good Burger.” Thompson, the longest-running cast member in “Saturday Night Live” history, revealed that he and his co-star had a falling out over the years, but now they are just fine.

In an interview with “Today,” Thompson, whose new book, “When I Was Your Age: Life Lessons, Funny Stories & Questionable Parenting Advice from a Professional Clown,” was released Dec. 5, spoke about the rift he and Mitchell had over the years.

He said it wasn’t any particular thing or a big disagreement between them.

“It was more of a separation that kind of grew into the traditional terms of what a falling out is, which is like not a lot of communication,” Thompson said.

“Originally, it was just us kind of looking for our own individualism, basically, as adults, taking a breather from being a duo because we both came into the game as individuals,” he continued. “And we were placed together because we worked so well together and all that. It was just a journey of being adults. Time passes and more time passes and it just became ridiculous.”

After they finally got back in touch with each other, it was as if they had never stopped talking.

“When you have a real friendship, it was five minutes into the phone call, we were back,” Thompson said. “It was like, what were we waiting on all this time? You just never really know until you actually have that talk.”

Mitchell and Thompson played the characters popularized in the 1990s on Nickelodeon’s hit comedy sketch series “All That.” Their latest collaboration, “Good Burger 2,” is currently playing on Paramount +. The original movie, “Good Burger,” was released in theaters on July 25, 1997.