Kenan Thompson: The Proudest Dad in Comedy

Season 45 of Saturday Night Live ended with the bizarre but necessary pivot to remotely produced episodes, and in the latest episode of the show’s web series Stories From the Show, the SNL cast reflects on what it was like to rehearse and tape sketches while self-isolating in their homes. Some things you will learn from this video: Pete Davidson considers his collaboration with Adam Sandler on “Stuck in the House” his “favorite SNL moment that I’ve ever had,” and Bowen Yang had to knock on his neighbor’s door to warn them that he was filming a sketch and is very aware that Los Angeles is, in fact, in California.

But the sweetest stories are about the cast members’ kids. For example, Kenan Thompson reflects on what it was like to watch his young daughter see herself with her dad in the show’s opening credits: “Watching my daughter watch herself in my intro on the show, she was just beaming. She just couldn’t stop smiling that, I mean, I could’ve cried watching that,” he says. “To see what you do immediately impact your child like that, that was a very touching moment.” Mikey Day also shared a brief excerpt of the thank-you note he wrote his son for performing in the “Dad Prank Video” sketch. “Right now it’s just kind of annoying to have to go up and shoot and stuff,” Day says while paraphrasing the note, “but when you’re older, I think you’ll think it’s pretty cool that you got to be a part of this show.”

The episode ends with Thompson offering some insight on how the remote episodes will change the way the cast approaches their jobs whenever live episodes return again. “We’ll get through this thing together, but we’ll also come out on the other side with a little more compassion and appreciation for our world that we live in,” he says. “Show some more love to each other, show some more love to our planet. That’s all I can hope for.” Same.