Kenan Thompson: Black Comediennes Are Not ‘Ready’ For SNL

Kenan Thompson says black women are not funny enough for Saturday Night Live (SNL), or at least not yet ready, for the descendants of the Not Ready for Prime Time Players.

He stands by Lorne Michael’s decision not to hire a black comedienne in several years since that really, really, really light skinned black actress, Maya Rudolph, had to play Oprah and Michelle Obama while we all got hernias suspending our disbelief.

In nearly four decades on air the series has only had four black women as regular cast members: Yvonne Hudson (1980-81), Danitra Vance (1985-86), Ellen Cleghorne (1991-95) and Maya Rudolph (2000-2007). Of the six actors joining Saturday Night Live for Season 39, only one is female and all are white.

Specifically, Kenan Thompson said. “It’s just a tough part of the business,” he tells TV Guide. “Like in auditions, they just never find ones that are ready.”

That means Wanda Sykes, who was hilarious on The Chris Rock Show just wouldn’t have been plain ready either.

And she’s openly gay, too. Plus, supposedly, women like Sommore (born Lori Ann Rambough) from The Queens of Comedy, HBO’s Def Comedy Jam, Showtime at the Apollo, Comic View, and BET Live from L.A., The Hughleys and The Parkers, wouldn’t have been ready either.

That means no black woman comedian within our entire solar system is properly prepared to audition for a show with fluctuating quality and ratings over the past few years. Does that include Kim In Living Color Wayans, as well?

In fairness none of these women probably auditioned. But to say “they just never find ones that are ready” implies that looking for qualified black women is like trying to find the lost ark of the covenant.

Kenan Thompson himself hasn’t been funny since he was part of the show Kenan and Kel; that was a kid’s show that led to Good Burger. When we talk about the great black comedies like Coming to America, Friday, and even romantic tales like The Best Man, neither Kenan nor Kenan and Kel rarely crosses our cultural lips, and absolutely never does Good Burger come to mind.

Secondly, Kenan Thompson is perhaps the luckiest black man on television. For reasons that defy logic and the musings of madmen, he has been steadily employed for years on a show where he has forever remained in the shadow of the likes of Eddie Murphy and plenty.

What has Kenan accomplished? Is it the same loud characters that only differ because he switches costumes? Or is it his tendency to crack up at his own, oh let’s call them jokes, while the enormously talented, multi-faceted, and underused, Jay Pharoah learns an uncomfortable lesson about what “seniority” means?

If Jay Pharoah had his way, there would’ve been a black female cast member on Saturday Night Live yesterday. Contrary to Kenan Thompson’s niggardly opinion, Pharoah already has someone on stand-by for whenever the producers give him the word.

“They need to pay attention,” Pharoah tells the Grio. “Her name is Darmirra Brunson. Why do I think she should be on the show? Because she’s black first of all, and she’s really talented. She’s amazing. She needs to be on SNL. I said it. And I believe they need to follow up with it like they said they were going to do last year.”

At least Jay Pharoah has the common sense, the common courtesy, and the home training not to throw black comediennes under the bus. What more can you ask for from a comedian?

Ironically, Kenan Thompson is probably the luckiest black man on TV. But his new-found confidence as a comedian has parochially come to comprise of a lack of respect for black comediennes. His comments need to be dismissed as gross disregard for decency and above all, a lack of professionalism.

To say that no black woman, in all the land, is ready for Saturday Night Live is the type of coonery and buffoonery that would have made Uncle Ruckus proud. So congratulations Mr. Kenan Thompson. Your Dr. Ben Carson coffee mug is on the way. It’ll be hand delivered by Herman Cain.