Kenan Thompson weaponizes 22 seasons of SNL misfires into a picture-book masterclass on why bombing is the first step to funny.
Kenan Thompson has heard the crickets. On Saturday Night Live, they’re deafening—38 live shows a season, 22 seasons, thousands of jokes that never escape the writers’ room.
Instead of pretending the flops don’t exist, the longest-running cast member in SNL history has written them into existence for children. His new picture book, “Unfunny Bunny”, out now from Feiwel & Friends, reframes comedic failure as a rite of passage—and covertly distills the secret sauce of Studio 8H into 32 pages of watercolor hope.
From Nickelodeon to Cricket Choir
Thompson’s earliest memories of bombing date back to “All That” rehearsals in the ‘90s. “I find it so humorous that it can be such a disconnect between what we thought was going to happen and what is actually happening,” he tells USA TODAY. “It’s like, ‘Yo, this is not working at all. Why did we think it was?’”
That philosophy—laugh at the silence—became the spine of “Unfunny Bunny”. The story follows a rabbit whose jokes tank in class until a Hilarious Hedgehog invites him to co-write material. The hedgehog is Thompson’s love letter to every co-writer who ever threw him a lifeline.
The Real Hedgehogs of SNL
Thompson name-checks his personal hedgehogs: head writers Michael Che, Colin Jost, Mikey Day, and longtime scribes Dan Bulla, Streeter Seidell, Carl Tart and Bryan Tucker—the latter co-authored the book. Early mentors Tina Fey, Seth Meyers, James Anderson and Paula Pell get shout-outs for teaching him that a thin premise can survive if you “fill it with jokery.”
- Rule 1: If the sketch dies, dance harder (see: David S. Pumpkins).
- Rule 2: If the reference is too niche—Thompson once pitched a “Shaft” deep cut nobody under 50 remembered—pivot to physical business.
- Rule 3: When you sense gold—like the recent “Scared Straight” reunion with Will Ferrell and Eddie Murphy—lean all the way in.
Dad Jokes as a Legacy
Thompson’s two daughters, ages 11 and 7, are now apprentice cringe-comedians. “My little one, she’s a little joke teller,” he brags. “Simple, but actual jokes. I’m like, ‘Well, look at you.’”
“Unfunny Bunny” weaponizes that same family dynamic: bad jokes become bonding agents. Thompson wants minivan audiences finishing the book with a shared eye-roll and a new batch of groan-worthy one-liners. “There’s nothing better than a bad joke,” he insists. “Good intention is everything.”
Why It Matters Now
Hollywood’s current strike-era reset has every studio chasing “authentic voice.” Thompson’s kid-lit detour proves authenticity isn’t a writers-room buzzword—it’s the courage to publish your blooper reel. By packaging 30 years of misfires into a bedtime story, he gives children (and anxious comics) a blueprint:
- Bomb loudly.
- Find your hedgehog.
- Write the next joke.
The book’s release also lands as SNL approaches its 50th anniversary special—an inflection point where legacy talent must decide whether to pass the torch or freeze the brand in nostalgia. Thompson, who has already surpassed any cast member in longevity, chooses evolution: seeding the next generation with the same permission to fail that he earned in 1996.
Bottom line: “Unfunny Bunny” is not a celebrity side hustle—it’s a stealth manifesto for every kid who freezes at the classroom talent show and every adult terrified of the Monday morning pitch meeting. Thompson’s thesis is simple: the laugh tracks are sweet, but the crickets are where the real education begins.
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