Kenan Thompson Lands His Own NBC Comedy After 15 Years at 'SNL'

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Kenan Thompson Is Working On His Own Show

Kenan Thompson is having an amazing year, and he’s only just getting started.

After grabbing his very first Emmy nomination ahead of his 16th season with Saturday Night Live, the 40-year-old comedian is now set to star in his very own primetime comedy. This is a major move from the sketch comedy show’s longest-running cast member of all time, who just set the record last year.

According to reports from Deadline, Thompson is going to star in an NBC single-camera series, Saving Larry, which is about a widowed father of two children. His father-in-law is also there to provide support, whether Thompson’s character likes that or not. The series comes from SNL creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels, his Broadway Video company, and Superstore executive producer Jackie Clarke, who wrote the series.The series hasn’t gotten a full order yet, but the network is starting with a significant production commitment.

But with this new gig comes some potentially sad news.

Thompson, who is the longest running cast member in SNL‘s history, might have to end his tenure with this move. In an interview earlier this year with The Hollywood Reporter, he said, “I think about leaving and I fear it. This is such a special place, you want to do your part here, but you also want to make room for people that are coming behind you. This was the first year I really started feeling like, ‘OK, I could push out of it now.’ I’m not overly excited about going back to auditioning.”

The comedian also expressed his desire for getting into dramatic films in another interview. “I would love to take the Tom Hanks approach,” he said to Deadline just last month. “Do a bunch of comedy and then turn into the biggest movie star ever. That would be so awesome.”

With his new series on the way, Kenan is certainly headed in his very own Tom Hanks-like direction. Congrats on the new gig!