MovieChat Forums > All That (1994) Discussion > Why didn’t Kel Mitchell become the brea...

Why didn’t Kel Mitchell become the breakout star that Kenan Thompson did?


https://lebeauleblog.com/2020/01/29/whatever-happened-to-kel-mitchell/

Meanwhile, in 1991, Brian Robbins of Head of the Class fame started a production company with his friend Mike Tollin called Tollins/Robbins Productions. They made many sports documentaries, one of which Albie Hecht, the Head of Development for Nickelodeon, was impressed with. She contacted Tollins and Robbins about creating a documentary for Nickelodeon.

They filmed a documentary where Mike O’Malley and Phil Moore, hosts of the show GUTS, traveled all over the country on a comedy tour. Hecht loved the documentary and ended up asking the production company to produce their own show.

Robbins brought his friend, and the Kids Network version of Harvey Weinstein sadly enough, Dan Schneider to help him produce a show. There they came up with an idea for Saturday Night Live for kids, All That.

One of the things Mitchell auditioned for was All That. And he couldn’t be more excited for it! As he said:

“But then, All That came along. It was like, “Whoa, a sketch comedy show.” It was the first of its kind for kids. I’m like, “Oh, this is right up my alley.” I remember I was a sophomore in high school. I had finals that week. I never forget a monologue, but I forgot my monologue when I went into the audition. I froze, and then they were like, “You can go out, and you can go think about it, and come back in.” So I said, “Cool.” And then I went out, and I knocked over some of the camera cords and the camera sailed and everything, and I was like, “Okay. I ruined this audition.” But they thought it was funny because I played it off in a funny way, because I’m real physical. I came back in, and I rocked the monologue, and then they told me to do impersonations, and I did all these crazy impersonations of my uncles and people I’ve seen on the street in Chicago on the bus and stuff like that. I did a “dude” voice, and that’s where Ed [from Good Burger] was kind of born. I did that there at the audition. They were just cracking up.”

Mitchell ended up getting in, as did his future co-star Kenan Thompson. In only the first year alone, audiences loved the two’s chemistry so much that they got their own spin-off, Kenan and Kel, a year later, which also proved to be popular with the Nickelodeon crowd.

Kenan and Kel not only starred the titular duo but also starred another Head of the Class alumni, Dan Frischman, and Ken Foree as Kenan Thompson’s Father. You might’ve heard of him from an obscure little indie called Dawn of the Dead.

Kenan and Kel aired for four seasons from 1996-2000. The show was a turning point in Mitchell’s career not just for its popularity but also for starting Mitchell’s famous catchphrase, “Who loves Orange Soda? Kel loves Orange Soda!”

Nickelodeon was so persistent on making Kenan and Kel the next big comedy duo that they had them star in movies. Or a movie. Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell starred in Good Burger, a feature film spin-off of the popular All That skit, Good Burger.

If you’re not a 90’s kid, the name Good Burger will probably mean nothing to you. If you are, you may be surprised to hear this but Good Burger was not a success. It received negative reviews from critics and it barely made back its money at the box office, only grossing $23.7 million worldwide on a budget of $8 million dollars.

But it managed to grow a cult following with 90’s kids. I say this from experience, ask anyone in their 20’s and early 30’s about this movie and they’ll remember it fondly.

So while Kenan and Kel were popular on TV, they weren’t really popular on the big screen. At least at first.

But Kel Mitchell didn’t only have Kenan Thompson to fall back on. He had created plenty of beloved characters from All That on his own.

And the producers of Mystery Men seemed to take notice as he was cast in the ensemble of Mystery Men only 2 years later…while Kenan Thompson was nowhere to be seen.

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SNL made the mistake of picking one over the other instead of hiring both of them.

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To tell you the truth, I honestly don't know why Kel didn't become a bigger star or have as prolific of a post-Nickelodeon entertainment career as Kenan Thompson did. If I were to guess, I think that Kel may have been first and foremost, a victim of pop culture isolation. What that means is that if you watched him on Nickelodeon, you of course knew who we was, but outside of that realm, he wasn't that big of a deal. Kel apparently, also had some "personal demons" that he had to overcome for a while and that may have naturally, messed with his momentum.

https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/the-price-of-fame-kel-mitchells-story.515562/

There's also the rumors that he and Kenan had a falling out for the longest time. So it could be possible that Kenan through is "connections" got Kel blackballed.

https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/so-yall-never-heard-about-kenan-screwing-kel-over.1242972/

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