Kenan Thompson recounts hungover SNL shoot after wild cast night out: ‘[Will] Forte was planking, face-down’

“[It was] maybe even 5:30," Thompson recalled. "I was will.i.am, and I put on heavy dreadlocks. Heavy, hot dreadlocks."

That's one way to keep the good times rolling.

During an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, longtime Saturday Night Live star Kenan Thompson reminisced with Meyers about a very drunken memory from 2005, when Thompson and fellow SNLers Finesse Mitchell, Amy Poehler, and Will Forte were out partying until 4:30 a.m., only to be picked up at 6 a.m. to shoot a pre-taped sketch.

“[It was] maybe even 5:30," Thompson corrected Meyers. "I was will.i.am, and I put on heavy dreadlocks. Heavy, hot dreadlocks. We were all the Black Eyed Peas early in the morning. And that was back when we used to shoot 90 miles upstate for some reason.”

The sketch, which aired in the Oct. 8, 2005 episode hosted by Jon Heder, was called "1-800-555-PHUNK,” and featured Thompson, Poehler, Mitchell, and Heder portraying the Black Eyed Peas in a commercial parody. Forte did not appear in that sketch, but appeared in others throughout the episode.

Kenan Thompson with host Seth Meyers on July 11, 2024.
Kenan Thompson with host Seth Meyers on July 11, 2024.

Lloyd Bishop/NBC/Getty

"We used to do all our pre-tapes up there and it was very painful," he continued, explaining that, in order to amuse themselves, the cast would come up with bits where they would pretend to phone themselves. For instance he would call the version of himself from the night before, which he called "Should've Kenan." "'Should've Kenan' is at home in bed, and he gets a call from 'Crazy Kenan,' like, 'Hey man, hello, you think you can come pick me up?'" Thompson joked.

Speaking again of the hungover taping incident, Meyers, who also starred on SNL from 2001 through 2014, said, “I remember when [the sketch] aired at dress. Everybody knew the full story. We were crying, watching all of you guys. You had to dance so hard. And we were like, 'Oh, they are so hungover.'”

But, for all the fun (and not so fun) times, Meyers also pointed out something Poehler once told him: “She was so miserable, and what she loved, and what we all loved about that time is, the saddest we were, we were always laughing.”

Thompson agreed full-heartedly with this sentiment, adding of the partying incident in particular, “100 percent, because Forte was planking, face-down, just laying on a bare carpet… trying to just be still and sleep that hangover [away].”

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Watch the full clip with Thompson and Meyers in the video above.

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