Kenan Thompson revealed how he maintained his composure as fellow “Saturday Night Live” cast members, and host Ryan Gosling, fought back laughter during the “Beavis and Butt-Head” sketch last weekend.
The sketch saw Heidi Gardner as a NewsNation anchor interviewing a professor (played by Thompson) about artificial intelligence before two people who resemble the ’90s cartoon characters (played by Gosling and Mikey Day) prove to be an interruption in the crowd.
The longtime “SNL” cast member, in an interview with Variety, explained that it’s “hit or miss” as he can sometimes hold back laughter while at other times he can’t do it.
“I got lucky on ‘Beavis and Butt-Head’ that I cracked so hard at dress rehearsal, I haven’t had a break like that in a while where I was in tears and I couldn’t talk,” Thompson said.
He continued, “It was that funny to me and what I was about to say next was funny to me. And I was frozen. I was literally quivering and then I started to panic. Because I was like, I can’t talk without cry-talking. I don’t want to waste the line. It could throw off everything. It was like, three seconds of just chaos.”
He explained that he hasn’t been “quiver-lipped in a long time” although he “smirks” often on the show.
“Not that I’m a control freak, but I definitely had a moment where I [realized I] don’t have control at all. I can’t just sit here and laugh. We’re supposed to be doing a job,” he said.
“And I’m laughing and the camera is just stuck on me because it’s my line and I can’t get it out.”
Thompson went on to give props to Gosling, who broke character and laughed at other times during his hosting gig, as well as Day, who co-wrote the cartoonish sketch.
Thompson isn’t the only cast member to weigh in on the laugh-filled sketch.
Gardner, in an interview with Vultureearlier this week, said she’s coached herself for “so many years” to not break character but it was “nice” to break her rules when she laughed at the sight of Day during the sketch.
She said the “Beavis and Butt-Head” sketch had been put up at table reads and dress rehearsals for roughly five years prior to it airing on live TV, noting that she “lost it” when rehearsing the sketch for the live show.
“I can’t help what I saw, but people were okay with it. Not only okay with it but encouraged it. That’s all the feedback I’ve gotten since,” Gardner said of the sketch during the live show.
Gardner called the “SNL” extras the “No. 1 heroes” in the sketch, as well.
“They must have had the same coaching at some point as I did. I hope all of them get a moment where they can completely lose it in a sketch and be supported after,” she said.
