Saturday Night Live: Gritty Kenan & Kel Reboot Reunites Stars

Keke Palmer’s Saturday Night Live proved to be a strong episode but one digital short happened which immediately had classic Nickelodeon fans excited. In the sketch Keke Palmer and Kenan Thompson collaborate on a modern, dramatic, gritty reboot of his Nickelodeon series Kenan & Kel, retitled Kenan & Kelly. The sketch continues with some hilarious jabs at shows like Bel Air, but then it did exactly what many fans was when none other than Kel Mitchell made a surprise appearance to bring it all full circle.

Not only did the Kenan & Kel reunion take place within the sketch, but Mitchell slipped back into his classic role in a big way. His entrance onto the classic Rigby’s story set was one that fans instantly recognized, with Mitchell immediately drawn to none other than the Orange Soda case. To complete the joke about a dark-and-gritty reboot of a classic comedy however, James Austin Johnson entered to try and rob the store, shooting Mithcell in the process and having him convulse on the ground while blood pours out. The sketch knew what it was doing though, pushing it all way over the top.

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Is Good Burger 2 happening?

Kenan and Kel’s other major collaboration was naturally none other than the Good Burger movie, a spinoff of the recurring All That sketch with Kel’s notorious character. Talk of a follow-up to that movie, which has become a cult favorite in the years since its release, has heated up in recent years with Kenan Thompson previously confirming that the pair are eager to explore a sequel in some way.

“I would like it to,” Thompson previously told Jimmy Fallon when asked if an Instagram post celebrating the 25th anniversary of Good Burger meant a sequel is in the works. “We are working harder on it than ever, so it’s about meeting the numbers, letting them numbers match up. ‘Cause I need them numbers.”

“We’re still trying to flesh it out, we’re trying to put it together,” Mitchell told PEOPLE in 2020. “We want it to be just as fun for everyone as it was the first time around, and then also cater to a new generation as well as the old generation. It’s just been kind of that task, to make sure we do that well. But it’s still in the talks.”