NEED TO KNOW
Kenan Thompson is thinking ahead to his last day on the Saturday Night Live stage — and he knows it’s going to “suck.”
The SNL star, 47, opened up to PEOPLE about his thoughts on an eventual departure from the series, which he’s been a main player on since he arrived at Studio 8H in 2003 for season 23.
As the comedian reveals, he sometimes ponders what it’s going to feel like to end his run. “I definitely do. It’s, it’s gonna suck,” Thompson says. “There’s just so many layers to it. It’s not just the on-screen that you see in that one, you know, camera shot. It’s so many people behind the scenes and years and years and years with each one of those people. So it’s gonna be a lot.”
He adds, jokingly, “I might have to just rip the bandaid and run out the back door and not say nothing to nobody and just write letters.”
Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Elsewhere during his chat with PEOPLE, timed with the release of his new children’s book Unfunny Bunny, Thompson said “it’s usually always sad” when a cast member departs — including when colleague Bowen Yang left the show in December after seven seasons.
“It’s tough for me because I have yet to have the moment,” he explains. “You know, if I was on the other side of it, I’d be a little more like, ‘Yeah, you know, it’s all good,’ like, ‘Shake it off’ kind of thing. But, like, I’m dreading the moment. I might collapse in the moment because it’s been so many years and so many relationships and just…”
Thompson adds, “That’s gonna be a drastic change at this point that I never thought, you know, SNL would be such a large component in my life. I never thought I’d even get the job in the first place.”
After over two decades on the show, Thompson is the longest-tenured cast member of all time by nearly a decade. Behind him are Darrell Hammond (14 years), Seth Meyers (13 years) and Colin Jost, who became a Weekend Update anchor in 2014 after joining as a writer in 2005.
Speaking with PEOPLE last year ahead of SNL’s 50th anniversary, Thompson joked that he’s actually been on the show since the beginning. “I’ve actually been on the show the whole time,” he said. “If you look, I’m in the back. I’ve been waving. My audition was actually in 1962.”
“It’s crazy because most people do eight [seasons] max, you know what I mean? Or 12. But it’s a one-of-a-kind place,” he also said. “It’s the people in front and behind that embrace it, need it. So when they call me, what, am I not supposed to oblige the greatest job in the world? So it’s just out of love. What a blessing it is to have steady employment.”
