Kenan Thompson was just getting his start as an actor with the Mighty Ducks series. First appearing on the small screen on Nickelodeon’s old sketch program, All That, he established a niche that now has him becoming Saturday Night Live‘s all-time longest-tenured cast member.
The 2017-18 premiere will officially begin Thompson’s 15th year at the time-honored New York City institution. In addition, he just had his first Emmy nomination, shared with three others for original music in last season’s Christmas episode.
But concurrent with his breakout on what amounted to Nick’s kid-friendly SNL, Thompson made his film-acting debut as Russ Tyler in D2. Theater-going audiences came to recognize him as one of the top street hockey players in the country. For his unique skills, Tyler joined the Ducks on Team USA late in the Junior Goodwill Games, then took part in their Eden Hall exploits in D3.
Thompson’s character played a key role in both movies. Most notably, in D2, he disguises himself as Goldberg to draw attention away from him en route to scoring the championship game’s tying goal with his trademark “knucklepuck.” That goal sets up the shootout, and the Ducks’ eventual victory.
More than two decades later, the gimmicky slapper has sustained some steam in hockey culture. Two years ago, the Colorado Avalanche posted a promotional YouTube video of their mascot taking a knucklepuck. NHL defenseman Dennis Wideman even inadvertently evoked the term when he shot a rolling biscuit past Montreal goaltender Carey Price.
Meanwhile, Thompson has become one of the more well-known comedy actors in movies and on TV. Between the Mighty Ducks sequels, he co-starred in Heavyweights, opposite Shaun Weiss (Goldberg) and Aaron Schwartz (Karp in the original Mighty Ducks).
Following that, he built on his Nickelodeon foundation through the sitcom Kenan & Kel. Working with fellow All That alumnus Kel Mitchell, Thompson established a Saturday-night staple many millennials can still remember watching. The two teenaged title characters had an amusing way of constantly trying to make money, but messing it up somehow.
And in the first season, Thompson even kept his hockey side on periodic display. He wears a Gordie Howe sweater in one episode and a Chicago Blackhawks jersey in another. His character also engages Kel in a brief game of floor hockey, using brooms and a pastry, to procrastinate from work. (The shot Thompson takes in that scene hardly measures up with the knucklepuck, though.)
Thompson and Mitchell also co-starred in 1997’s Good Burger, an offshoot of an All That routine that revolved around their efforts to keep the title joint open in the face of formidable corporate competition. The two recently revived their characters on The Tonight Show, an opportunity they owed in no small part to Thompson’s steady NBC presence in adulthood.
Thompson has appeared in many other movies since joining SNL in 2003, most notably 2004’s Fat Albert. But he is now much more known for rewriting the record book at his employer of 14-plus years.
Thompson has already logged the most impressions of anybody in the show’s history with an astounding count of 122. Perhaps his most well-known impression is that of Steve Harvey. Some of his more outlandish acts are of Maya Angelou and LaVar Ball.
He has been announced for a few more roles in movies that will begin filming soon, and speculation has inevitably held that he will step away from SNL. While that remains to be seen, Thompson has already secured a legacy as one of the great glue guys of the program in its run of 42 seasons going on 43.
In addition, he has become one of, if not the most well-known actor to appear in the Mighty Ducks franchise. None of Russ Tyler’s former teammates are on a comparable, let alone bigger stage, making people laugh every week.
Joshua Jackson (Charlie Conway) had Dawson’s Creek shortly after the movies, but that show ended the same year Thompson took Manhattan for SNL. Jussie Smollett (Terry Hall in the first film) recently re-emerged as a star on Empire, but was out of the spotlight for a long interim.
Of the former Mighty Ducks child actors, Thompson has been the one mainstream constant. He has appeared in at least one movie in each of the last 16 years (except 2010) and stuck with SNL through thick and thin.
To think that it all started back in 1994 with D2 is hard to believe. Almost as mind-boggling as, say, a knucklepuck.
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