Friday, December 15, 2023

Book Review: When I Was Your Age


Kenan Thompson is Saturday Night Live’s longest-ever-serving cast member and is hugely beloved thanks to a tidal wave of nostalgic fans who grew up on early 2000s classics All That, Good Burger, and Kenan & Kel on Nickelodeon. He’s also a dad in his mid-40s living in suburbia, and whose universal, relatable, family-friendly humor has created unbelievable appeal and engagement from fans from middle America to coastal elites. Becoming a dad sucked the cool right out of him -- and he's OK with that!

When I Was Your Age is packed with hilarious yet poignant essays that are aimed to offer any reader valuable advice on parenting, focusing on positivity, and having fun in life. Kids, new parents, fellow fathers, budding comics, and aunties who want to pinch his cheeks, can all learn from his biggest mistakes and most triumphant victories. There’s something for everybody here!

Kenan's biography was published on December 5, 2023, from Harper Collins Publishing.

I have been a fan of Kenan's since his early days on Nickelodeon shows, which I watched with my son when he was a kid. From that early age, you could tell he had the gift of comedy and to make people laugh. Whenever he comes into a sketch on SNL, the smile already starts to form on my face. I know I am about to be entertained.

His story jumps around a bit, mostly fitting topics into neat chapters. It is like sitting down with someone who has some stories to tell. That means it isn't all chronological, but it works. I definitely learned a lot about his life which I had not known (the whole goal for an autobiography after all). Kenan's approach is very positive and even-tempered. Even when discussing more sensitive topics, he still does it in a controlled, measured way.

With two decades on SNL, I would have loved some more chapters about that. What we got seemed to just skim a large surface.

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