Aw, here it goes: Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell are teaming up for a new buddy comedy.
The Saturday Night Live star is set to re-team with his ’90s comedy partner for a new horror-comedy flick, Kenan & Kel Meet Frankenstein. The project is the latest in a string of recent collaborations for the comedy duo, who fronted the Nickelodeon sitcom Kenan & Kel from 1996–2001.
Despite the title, it appears the movie will not be a continuation of Thompson and Mitchell’s characters from that series. Per Deadline, the film—which evokes Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein—will follow Thompson and Mitchell as delivery drivers whose route takes them to the castle of Frankenstein’s monster.
“Kel and I have always loved finding new ways to work together, and this project felt like the perfect mix of nostalgia, comedy, and something completely unexpected,” Thompson said in a statement, Deadline reported.
“Coming back together always feels natural,” Mitchell added, “and this lets us tap into everything people love about our dynamic while trying something totally new.”
Thompson and Mitchell originated as cast members on the Nickelodeon sketch comedy series All That in 1994. Their chemistry on that show led to their eponymous sitcom with the kids’ network, which ran for four seasons. Thompson joined the cast of SNL less than three years after Kenan & Kel went off the air and is now the longest-serving cast member in the sketch show’s history.
After more than a decade of distance between Thompson and Mitchell, their renewed partnership has been gaining steam for years. The duo reunited on screen on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2015, staging a new installment of the popular All That sketch “Good Burger.” That was followed by the 2023 film Good Burger 2, a sequel to the sketch’s 1997 movie adaptation. Thompson and Mitchell also teamed up to executive produce—and recur on—a revival of All That from 2019–2020.
In 2022, they revisited the Kenan & Kel universe when Keke Palmer hosted SNL, delivering the parody sketch “Kenan & Kelly.”
Thompson’s production company, Artists for Artists (AFA), is co-producing the new film with Range Media Partners. Founded with producer John Ryan Jr., AFA’s talent-friendly approach aims to connect artists to high-level distribution while allowing them to retain the rights to their work. The company’s slate also includes a reimagining of the ’80s horror classic Sleepaway Camp and Macho, a Randy “Macho Man” Savage biopic.
Jonah Feingold is penning the script for Kenan & Kel Meet Frankenstein.
Thompson and Mitchell announced the project on Tuesday’s episode of the Amazon Prime sports talk show Good Sports with Kevin Hart & Kenan Thompson, with Mitchell filling in for Hart as co-host.
“We’re starring in season 2 of Heated Rivalry,” Mitchell quipped before the real reveal.
An Abbott & Costello–style horror flick is a fitting project for Thompson and Mitchell on multiple fronts. The duo were compared to Abbott & Costello in Coolio’s theme song for Kenan & Kel, and the series’ big send-off was the 2000 comedy-horror TV movie Two Heads Are Better Than None. In that film, car trouble leads the two friends to the doorstep of a castle, where they fear a creature known as the Headless Knight lives.
Kenan & Kel Meet Frankenstein is expected to enter principal photography this summer.
