Former Atlantan Kenan Thompson, the longest-running remaining cast member on "Saturday Night Live," plans to leave this season, which would be his 12th, according to TMZ.
He is leaving on good terms. The story said he considered leaving last year but given all the cast change over, creator Lorne Michaels convinced him to stay another year. The show's 40th season debuts this Saturday with Chris Platt as host.
An SNL spokesman said cast changes aren't made until the end of the season but that doesn't mean Kenan isn't planning to leave.
I last interviewed Thompson in 2012 to promote as how he was doing at the Ferst Center.
One of his most original sketch characters is DeAndre Cole, the talk-show host who is a terrible listener and prefers to interrupt his guests (no matter how famous) by singing "What's Up With That?"
“That’s a fun one for me,” Thompson said in 2012. “I just thought it’d be funny to just break out in song and not let anyone talk.”
He married Christina Evangeline in Atlanta in 2011. In July, they had a baby and named her Georgia in honor of his home state.
When I spoke with him in 2012, he said he really wanted a family so the baby was definitely in his sights. At the time, he said he wasn't ready to leave "SNL" yet but now it appears the time has come for the 35 year old.
Thompson grew up poor in College Park and attended Tri-Cities High School, staying out of trouble by focusing on theater and sports.
His big break came portraying a hockey player in the sequels to "The Mighty Ducks." That led to two hit shows on Nickelodeon, "All That" and "Kenan & Kel." There he learned the craft of sketch comedy and enjoyed the benefits of fame. "I felt like a rapper, " he said in an interview with me in 2005.
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