“Saturday Night Live” star Kenan Thompson has signed on to star in a comedy series that has received a production commitment at NBC.
The series, titled “Saving Larry,” is a single-camera comedy in which Thomson would star as a dad who has to be both mother and father to his kids after his wife dies. And he has to do it all with his father-in-law hovering over him.
Thompson would also executive produce the series in addition to starring. Jackie Clarke is the writer and also executive producer, with Lorne Michaels and Andrew Singer also executive producing. Universal Television will produce along with Michaels’ Broadway Video.
Should the project go to series, it would likely mean Thompson’s exit from “SNL,” where he recently broke the record as the longest-serving cast member in the show’s four plus decades on the air. Thompson first joined the show in 2003 and was recently nominated for his first acting Emmy in the supporting actor in a comedy category. He and Chris Redd, Will Stephen, and Eli Brueggemann won the Emmy this year for original music and lyrics for their song “Come Back Barack.” Thompson’s other TV credits include the Nickelodeon sketch series “All That” and “Kenan & Kel.”
Clarke is a writer and co-executive producer on fellow NBC comedy “Superstore.” She also previously worked on shows like “Undateable,” “Happy Endings,” and “Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes on Television.”
Thompson is repped by UTA, Michael Goldman, and Del Shaw. Clarke is repped by UTA and Felker Toczek.
Source: Variety, Deadline
