ComingSoon spoke to Kel Mitchell about the classic Nickelodeon film Good Burger, and the All That sketch from which the film originated. The Kenan & Kel star also discussed his upcoming book, Prank Day, and his future creative endeavors.
“When Mondo Burger sets up across the street, sneaky Dexter and burger-obsessed Ed realize they need to fight to keep their fast food joint going,” reads the film’s synopsis. “Their new secret sauce might be the answer, but not if Mondo can grab it.”
Good Burger is now available as a limited edition Blu-ray steelbook, which includes the original Good Burger sketch from All That and a digital copy of the film.
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Spencer Legacy: After the sketch became successful, when did you realize it could be expanded upon, and that a movie was a real possibility?
Kel Mitchell: What’s crazy is with All That being the sketch comedy show for kids, similar to SNL and Living Color, all those characters … they got a chance to like do a movie, you know what I mean? And so for us to have the character be Ed, that was big for me to see what would happen if we turned a character or sketch into a long movie. It was super awesome. I remember them saying that this is going to be a movie and it was my first movie. I remember getting a script. I remember the moment of reading the first script. I actually read it in the bathroom of where I was staying! I remember that, but I’ll never forget it because this is my first big film. And I remember it was really big!
The script was super huge — the first one — because originally we put everything in it. So I was playing all my characters from All That. Then we shaved it down and it became what it is today, which is super, super awesome. And it was just, it was just a great moment. And that poster behind you, reminds me of driving down Sunset Boulevard with my family and with Kenan’s family and us just seeing this huge, huge cut-out of us surfboarding on a pickle, bro. Just moments that you’ll never forget, you know?
Did you ever expect Good Burger to have this kind of longevity? It’s getting a steelbook in 2022, that’s crazy.
Dude, it’s bananas. Like 25 years [and] people are still celebrating it today. People that watched it when they were kids in the 90s, now they have kids and their kids are enjoying it. I saw a kid that was only five years old have a Good Burger-themed party. And I’m like, “whoa, he wasn’t even born when it first came out!” But it’s so awesome that it is just going from generation to generation and people are really enjoying this film. This steelbook is going to be awesome. I love collectibles myself. I go to ComicCon events and collect stuff. So it’s super cool that we have this for fans that they can just have like beautiful artwork on it. It’s super cool.
Why do you think Good Burger has stood the test of time so well?
I feel like the writers really hit it where it was this spark, where it’s kind of like how I Love Lucy is, you know what I mean? Where it’s like, you could turn I Love Lucy on at any moment right now, watch any episode, and you still enjoy it. Even though it was done many, many years ago, you could watch that with your family and still crack up laughing. It’s super cool. I get that same vibe from fans as when I talk about I Love Lucy, or about Martin. I get that same vibe when fans talk about Kenan and Kel and All That, which is super cool. I think that’s just what it is. We just hit it, you know what I mean? It just really worked. It’s kind of what you hope for when you’re shooting a show, you hope that it stands the test of time like this.
How do you think Ed and the restaurant would do in modern times with social media and Yelp reviews?
I think that would be fun. It would definitely be fun to see how Ed would mess up certain things, the way things are going now. I would love to see that, it would be super cool. When we brought it back with the reboot of All That, and I jumped back in his suit, it was super, super fun to be able to do that and see how he navigates in this new world we’re living in. So, yeah, man, Ed can keep going, man. He’s a gift that keeps giving.
Did you end up keeping any props from the movies, like the yo-yo or anything like that?
The yo-yo! Wow. Where’s the yoyo at? That’s true. Definitely a lot of the hats, the Good Burger hats. We had so many parties, Nickelodeon loves to party, so we have so many different like jackets from the set and things like that, that are super cool. My parents have a lot of stuff, I keep a lot of stuff over there. Yeah, man, we got a lot of cool stuff and just … I love the stuff that the fans given me too, like this painting back here. This is my office, and so it’s all Good Burger stuff, like in my closet.
So for a hypothetical Good Burger 2, what guest stars would you want to see?
Ooh, for Good Burger 2 … what’s cool about Good Burger 1 is that we had so many amazing guest stars in it and everyone is telling you how much they love Good Burger. So I’d love to see Chance the Rapper get a chance to be in there. Beyoncé, Cardi B, like let’s just keep it going! You know what I mean? Ariana Grande, like just to be in that world. It would be really, really cool.
What was the most important life lesson you took away from doing Good Burger?
I think the lesson within the film. It had a lot of doing the right thing, staying positive, and not judging a book by its cover. And it’s really deep but when you really look at Good Burger, all those messages are actually in there, like judging Ed because of the stuff that he was doing, but then he ended up saving the day at the end of it all. And then the friendship between him and Dexter was just amazing as well. So yeah man, it was a lot of good, cool messages in there. So shout out to the writers and the producers of it.
After your previous book, what inspired you to write Prank Day?
Yeah, man! So as you know, I love family entertainment, and this is a great book for tweens. It’s a novel, and I love action, adventure, fantasy movies, I grew up on them. And so I wanted to create a book that had all of that in there. And this is about a kid named Chase that does pranks on April Fool’s day, but then the next day, all the pranks come true. He has to figure out why. So there’s a running refrigerator going through the neighborhood, fruit is talking, all his jokes are coming true. You’ve got to get the book to see what happens, I’m super excited about this. I’m an author now, too, man. I’m just loving this journey, man. It’s just been awesome.
You’re an author. You’ve been nominated for two Emmys. You’re an actor producer, comedian, youth pastor. Are there any roles left that you really want to tackle?
I don’t know. I’m just … I’m just doing everything that … God gives me these ideas and I just have a leap of faith and just go after it, man. And that’s the type of thing I want to show to everybody. Like just literally just go after it, go after your dreams, any of those ideas, it’s not too crazy! Have faith to go for it and if it doesn’t work out, it will, you know what I mean? There’s always a door that’s going to open, so just continue to create! Just continue to create you just never know.
What is your favorite line from Good Burger that people still might bring up to you?
Oh dude, it has to be “Welcome to Good Burger, home of the Good Burger, can I take your order?”
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