{"id":2453866,"date":"2026-06-11T02:32:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T02:32:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2453866"},"modified":"2026-06-11T02:32:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T02:32:37","slug":"kenan-thompson-explains-how-sharing-an-office-with-colin-jost-for-8-years-led-to-a-classic-snl-sketch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/kenan-thompson-explains-how-sharing-an-office-with-colin-jost-for-8-years-led-to-a-classic-snl-sketch\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenan Thompson explains how sharing an office with Colin Jost for 8 years led to a classic \u201cSNL\u201d sketch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\">\n<h3 class=\"mb-4 text-lg font-bold\">Key Points<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"mb-4\">\n<li class=\"ml-4 list-disc\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Kenan Thompson talked <em>Saturday Night Live<\/em> on a new episode of <em>The Rundown<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"ml-4 list-disc\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He said that he and Colin Jost had shared an office for eight years, which led to them discussing a certain topic from &#8217;70s pop culture.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"ml-4 list-disc\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Jost had no idea <em>Scared Straight<\/em> existed before writing the sketch.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Blame <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/person\/colin-jost\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Colin Jost;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Colin Jost&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Colin Jost<\/a> for <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/saturday-night-live\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Saturday Night Live;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Saturday Night Live&quot;}\" class=\"link \"><em>Saturday Night Live<\/em><\/a>&#8216;s recurring &#8220;Scared Straight&#8221; sketch.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/person\/kenan-thompson\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Kenan Thompson;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Kenan Thompson&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Kenan Thompson<\/a> revealed in a new episode of <em>SNL<\/em>&#8216;s <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=DAcAIzatGbw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:The Rundown;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;The Rundown&quot;}\" class=\"link \"><em>The Rundown<\/em><\/a>, a behind-the-scenes series on which cast members, alums, and guests talk about their favorite moments from the show, that he and Jost spent a lot of time working together.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;Me and Colin were office mates for like eight years,&#8221; Thompson explained. &#8220;I mean, that&#8217;s how &#8216;Scared Straight&#8217; came about. Colin had never seen it. Showed it to him and then watched his mind work.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><strong><em>Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/ew-dispatch-newsletter-11812417\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:EW Dispatch newsletter;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;EW Dispatch newsletter&quot;}\" class=\"link \">EW Dispatch newsletter<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In the &#8217;70s, the documentary <em>Scared Straight<\/em> and TV specials captured a program in which convicts confronted juvenile delinquents in an attempt to keep them from ending up in prison as adults.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Thompson noted that his convict character in the sketches, Lorenzo McIntosh, drew laughs from audiences &#8220;once we landed on him explaining things through &#8217;80s movies.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-0 size-full\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-3 right-3 rounded-full bg-primary p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-primary\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" class=\"flex-none size-4 -scale-x-100 text-primary lg:size-6 [&amp;_path]:fill-current\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M3.1 3.1V11h1.8V6.314l5.392 5.393 1.415-1.414L6.313 4.9H11V3.1zm17.8 17.8V13h-1.8v4.686l-5.393-5.393-1.415 1.414 5.393 5.393H13v1.8z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed bottom-0 left-0 right-0 top-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-primary hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p><i>Kenan Thompson and Eddie Murphy in a &#8216;Scared Straight&#8217; sketch at &#8216;SNL50&#8217;<br \/>Credit: Saturday Night Live\/YouTube<\/i><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><em>The Rundown<\/em> featured an <em>SNL<\/em> clip in which Thompson&#8217;s inmate tells students, including guest Paul Rudd, a tale of what happened when he discovered he was part werewolf, and found himself &#8220;howling and dunking&#8221; and becoming &#8220;the most popular kid in school.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Former cast member Andy Samberg, who played another student, argued that the inmate&#8217;s words were the story of <em>Teen Wolf<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;It was so joyful,&#8221; Thompson said. &#8220;It was just like, &#8216;Well, this is why they hired you. That&#8217;s the brilliant mind that they want to extract from.&#8217; Thank God for writers.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The sketch debuted on the NBC show on May 10, 2008, on an episode hosted by Shia LaBeouf. It was performed eight times between then and 2012, featuring celebrities including Betty White, Lindsay Lohan, and Paul Rudd.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">It was such a hit that it was <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/snl-revives-scared-straight-sketch-50th-anniversary-special-kenan-thompson-11680722\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:performed on SNL50;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;performed on SNL50&quot;}\" class=\"link \">performed on SNL50<\/a>, the show&#8217;s 50th anniversary special, in February 2025. Former <em>SNL<\/em>-ers Will Ferrell and Eddie Murphy joined Thompson as convicts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Thompson joined the beloved Lorne Michaels show in 2003. He&#8217;s since become the longest-tenured cast member.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">As for Jost, he began writing for <em>Saturday Night Live<\/em> in 2005. In 2014, he became the co-anchor of the news segment &#8220;Weekend Update,&#8221; where he continues to sit alongside Michael Che.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Read the original article on <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/kenan-thompson-says-sharing-colin-jost-office-led-to-snl-sketch-11995456\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Entertainment Weekly;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Entertainment Weekly&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Entertainment Weekly<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Points Kenan Thompson talked Saturday Night Live on a new episode of The Rundown. He said that he and Colin Jost had shared an office for eight years, which led to them discussing a certain topic from &#8217;70s pop culture. Jost had no idea Scared Straight existed before writing the sketch. Blame Colin Jost [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2453867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[312076,352943,352939,482261],"class_list":["post-2453866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-cast-member","tag-colin-jost","tag-kenan-thompson","tag-scared-straight"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Kenan-Thompson-explains-how-sharing-an-office-with-Colin-Jost.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2453866"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2453868,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453866\/revisions\/2453868"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2453867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2453866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2453866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2453866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}