Kenan Thompson Reflects on His Career, His Kids, and Turning Lemons Into Lemonade (Exclusive)

Kenan Thompson is a glass half-full kind of guy — even though he admits it’s not always easy.

In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, the actor and comedian, 47, says that he “leans toward” being an optimist, while acknowledging, “it’s a lot easier said than done.”

“I try to lean toward the positive,” Thompson — who has partnered with Jim Beam for their Jim Beam & Lemonade Kit care package — tells PEOPLE. “Why not?”

The care packages are available in limited-time-only drops beginning Jan. 22 and contain a juicer and lemons, along with cans of lemonade and handled Mason jars in which to sip a cocktail.

The kits are themed around the idea of turning lemons into lemonade — a playful nod to surviving the ups and downs of football season (something Thompson knows all too well as a long-suffering fan of the Atlanta Falcons).

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Thompson’s personal life, too, has recently included some challenges. In 2025, the longtime Saturday Night Live  cast member revealed exclusively to PEOPLE that he was diagnosed with gastroesophageal reflux disease — commonly known as GERD. The comedian also filed for divorce from wife Christina Evangeline in June 2022 after 10 years of marriage, with Evangeline’s relationship with fellow SNL cast member Chris Redd now making headlines.

But Thompson, who has long rooted for the Atlanta Falcons, also knows what it’s like to experience the ups and downs of being a football fan, telling PEOPLE, “I know very well [what it’s like] to be left out of things when it comes to playoff time but you know, we’ll get there. This year, I have to embrace kind of being on the sidelines. So if I’m going to be on the sidelines, I might as well have a tasty beverage to go with.”

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As an entertainer, Thompson is decidedly not on the sidelines. A comedy veteran, he had breakout success as a child actor in the 1990s — first on the sketch comedy series All That, before making his film debut in D2: The Mighty Ducks and later co-starring in the sitcom Kenan & Kel alongside Kel Mitchell.

He joined SNL in 2003 and is now in his 23rd season as a cast member.

“I’m proud of the efforts in general,” he muses. “Just me putting myself out there as a performer, you know, that’s a very vulnerable thing, so I pat myself on the back from the beginning.”

But he admits there are highlights in his professional career, particularly when it comes to the characters he’s created and portrayed.

“Pierre Escargot [a recurring character on All That] was a lot of fun … certain people know about Mavis and Clavis [also from All That], that’s going all the way back,” Thompson says. “Those were two of our favorites, me and Kel — just playing old men that were kind of reflective of the old Black men we had seen on TV or just in life and stuff like that. So it was our first expression of that and we got to do that out loud, on the show.”

Thompson continues: “It was just so much, so much fun. Kel used to make me laugh so much. I think he was impersonating like his dad straight up, and I was going a little older. It was really funny and cute.”

Saturday Night Live, meanwhile, is more of “a pressure cooker,” he says.

Of his favorite sketches, Thompson says, “I love ‘What’s Up With That?’ and ‘Scared Straight,’ and ‘Black Jeopardy’ … anything on the Weekend Update desk is always a lot of fun.”

Thompson himself is more even-keel, describing himself as “weirdly, drastically different from my persona on television.”

On set, he says, he remains as professional as he can, even in moments when most would find it hard not to laugh.

Of not breaking character, Thompson says, “I’ve tried to pick my moments when I’m off camera to kind of let the release valve go a little bit and laugh at things and get back into professional mode when it snaps back. But you have to be careful with that because, you know, it’s live TV, so different buttons get pushed sometimes and the camera might cut to you … you kind of have to stay present as much as possible, but I mean, I also enjoy what I’m doing and I enjoy the people I’m doing it with and I enjoy the reasons why.”

The Jim Beam Lemonade Kits will be available on a first-come, first-served basis for consumers via a limited quantity drop schedule, with the first on Jan. 22, and the second on Jan. 29.