基南·汤普森说，在犯了一系列“菜鸟错误”后，他差点退出《周六夜现场》

Kenan Thompson might be the longest-running Saturday Night Live cast member these days, but there was a moment early on where he seriously considered leaving it all behind.

凯南·汤普森可能是这些天来在《周六夜现场》中工作时间最长的演员了，但在节目开始的前一刻，他曾认真考虑过放弃这一切。

The comedian, who has been a mainstay on the series since he joined in 2003, reveals in his new memoir When I Was Your Age: Life Lessons, Funny Stories & Questionable Parenting Advice from a Professional Clown that a slew of mistakes during his first few years on the late-night sketch comedy show left him feeling like he was on the chopping block. 

自2003年加入该节目以来，这位喜剧演员一直是该系列的主要人物。他在自己的新回忆录《当我在你这个年纪的时候:一个职业小丑的人生教训、有趣的故事和可疑的育儿建议》中透露，在他参加这个深夜喜剧小品节目的头几年里，一连串的错误让他感觉自己被放在了砧板上。

In the tell-all, Thompson explains that his first few seasons were "marred by a ton of rookie mistakes," but that his true confidence “sunk to an all-time low” after he bombed a sketch called “Randy the Bellhop” so badly that it was cut from its respective episode, per PEOPLE. The bit featured Thompson as the titular bellhop who attempts to help Alec Baldwin and SNL alum Rachel Dratch get situated in their hotel room in “all the wrong ways.”

据《PEOPLE》杂志报道，汤普森在爆料中解释说，他的前几季“被大量菜鸟犯的错误给毁了”，但在他搞砸了一集名为“服务员兰迪”的小品之后，他真正的信心“跌到了历史最低点”。在剧中，汤普森饰演一名名义上的服务员，他试图帮助亚历克·鲍德温和《周六夜现场》的瑞秋·德拉奇以“所有错误的方式”进入他们的酒店房间。

"I was excited for the first opportunity to showcase my chops on the big stage," he writes. "Thing was, I couldn’t make it through dress rehearsal. I stuttered over this one line and couldn’t ad-lib my way out of it." Unable to recover from the flub, Thompson writes that he quickly “spiraled into a full-on panic” that was so bad it led someone else to utter an “involuntary ‘Oh no!’” 

“第一次有机会在大舞台上展示我的才华，我很兴奋，”他写道。“问题是，我无法通过彩排。我在这一行上结巴了，无法即兴发挥。”由于无法从错误中恢复过来，汤普森写道，他很快“陷入了全面恐慌”，这种恐慌非常糟糕，以至于其他人“不由自主地”发出了一声“哦，不!’”

"If a slip up like that happened at Nickelodeon or in the movies I’d done, we could just do another take," Thompson notes. "At SNL, there was a lot riding on the live performance, obviously, and to no one’s surprise, the sketch didn’t make it to air."

汤普森说:“如果像这样的失误发生在Nickelodeon或我拍的电影里，我们可以再拍一次。”“在《周六夜现场》，现场表演显然很重要，但不出所料，小品没有播出。”

While T. Sean Shannon, the writer of the sketch was ultimately understanding about Thompson ruining the skit, the Good Burger 2 star writes that “he and every other writer avoided me like COVID” in the aftermath of the incident and that he thought he’d never “get a character of my own” again. 

虽然小品的作者t·肖恩·香农最终理解了汤普森毁了小品，但这位《好汉堡2》的主演写道，在事件发生后，“他和其他所有作家都像躲避COVID一样躲避我”，他认为自己再也不会“拥有自己的角色”了。

“When the season finished, I didn’t even think I’d be asked back,” he writes. “I knew I needed to get better at writing my own characters, and prayed I’d get another season to take a stab at it."

“当这一季结束时，我甚至没有想过我会被邀请回来，”他写道。“我知道我需要更好地写我自己的角色，并祈祷我能再试一试。”

The good news: Thompson was brought back. The bad news was, however, that he frequently received “zero airtime during a show” and “almost quit” as a result. "I was like, 'What the hell am I doing here?’” he asks. “I was famous enough that people were trying to follow me off the subway, but I couldn’t get on the show.’

好消息是:汤普森回来了。然而，坏消息是，他经常“在节目中没有任何露面时间”，结果“几乎辞职”。“我当时想，‘我到底在这里做什么?’”他问道。“我太出名了，以至于人们都想跟着我下地铁，但我上不了节目。”

The lack of opportunities led Thompson to wonder if there was “space at SNL for my kind of comedy.” Feeling let down, he says that he reached out to costar Maya Rudolph to ask why he was still on the show at all. He writes, “It was a no-brainer,' she said. 'We could tell you were ready and you’re adorable. We all said, ‘Obviously, it’s Kenan.'”

机会的缺乏让汤普森怀疑“《周六夜现场》是否有适合我这种喜剧的空间”。他感到很失望，他说他找到了合作演员玛雅·鲁道夫，问他为什么还在节目中。他写道，“这是一个不需要动脑筋的决定，”她说。“我们可以看出你已经准备好了，你很可爱。我们都说，‘显然是凯南。’”

Rudolph’s stamp of approval helped Thompson get back on his feet. "To be complimented by someone you admire was humbling and enlightening,” he says. “I wasn’t just a kid laughing at his own jokes in front of the mirror. I’d been validated."

鲁道夫的认可帮助汤普森重新站了起来。他说:“被你钦佩的人称赞是一种谦卑和启发。”“我不只是一个对着镜子笑自己的笑话的孩子。我得到了认可。”

With his newfound outlook, Thompson says that he began celebrating his costar's wins and "the show outside of myself." It all paid off in the long run, as he writes, "After being promoted to team player, I was in a cold open for the very first time screaming, 'LIVE FROM NEW YORK, IT’S SATURDAY NIGHT!' And let me tell you, that never gets old. It’s exciting every single time."

有了新的想法，汤普森说他开始庆祝他的搭档的胜利和“我自己之外的节目”。从长远来看，这一切都得到了回报，正如他所写的，“在被提升为团队成员后，我第一次在寒冷的开放环境中尖叫，‘纽约现场直播，这是周六晚上!’”让我告诉你，这永远不会过时。每一次都令人兴奋。”