(Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Hulu)
Though his masterful sketch comedy work on Saturday Night Live and Kenan & Kel gets him a lot of notice, Kenan Thompson is no stranger to film. This week, his new animated feature Rock Dog opens. We asked him what his Five Favorite Films are, and based on his picks, it’s easy to see where he gets some of his creative sketch and character work. See the full list here:
I think it’s a perfect movie. I think it’s perfect in concept and truly executed to the upmost awesomeness. It’s funny when it needs to be funny. It’s super funny when it needs to be super funny. It also sinks down into some really dark, dark places or whatever. Turns it right back around and gets funny again within a few minutes. I think it’s a brilliant movie.
Coming to America. Duh. We [can] leave it at that.
I’ll start with the “duh” connotation. It’s an awesome movie. I can’t exactly remember the first time I saw it. I think I was really, really young, when it came on television — I think when it came on HBO or something. I don’t know that I was old enough to see it in the theaters. I doubt it. When I did see it at home, it was when cable first came out. There was only so many movies that would get played over and over again. Thank God Coming to America was one of them. I can quote it from the beginning to the end to this day. It was Eddie Murphy in his prime. Arsenio at his most confident. It was just an awesome concept. Super duper rich African dudes coming to Queens, trying to live regular. While you got Mr. McDowell thinking that he’s the king of the hill and stuff like that. It was a really funny movie.
So much character work. I really appreciated those dudes –especially in the end credits, seeing how many characters they really played. I already kinda knew. But it was an awesome surprise to find out that Eddie was the little old man in the barbershop and stuff like that.
I remember seeing Tommy Boy, like, 15 million times. It makes me laugh every single time. Then I realized that I’m really laughing at Chris for 90 percent of the time. Then David kicks in there the other 10 that I need to make it a 100 percent completely awesome experience. Those two going back and forth and David being such a dick — it just works in that movie.
Rock Dog opens on Friday, Feb. 24, 2017 in wide release.
