Not all heroes wear capes, and in the case of Kel Mitchell's Ed in Good Burger, his superpower was making some damn good burgers.
In the movie, Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell reprised their roles from the wildly popular sketch on Nickelodeon's groundbreaking All That for a big screen romp directed by Brian Robbins (Varsity Blues). The first feature adaptation based on characters from the Nickelodeon universe, it boasted a fantastic ensemble cast, including Abe Vigoda, Sinbad, Shar Jackson, Linda Cardellini, and George Clinton.
When Mondo Burger's high-tech hamburger haven opens across the street from the tiny Good Burger diner, Ed (Mitchell) and Dexter (Thompson) find themselves in an uproarious battle with big business, and this hilarious comedy classic is now celebrating its 25th anniversary with a Limited-Edition Blu-ray SteelBook on July 19, 2022 from Paramount Home Entertainment.
Last week, we sat down with Kel to discuss the actor's favourite moments on set, the movie's outstanding cameos, his friendship with Kenan Thompson, and the chances of them making a Good Burger sequel.
Kel also weighs in on the odds of a Kenan & Kel revival, his favourite burger, and Prank Day, a new novel he's written aimed at teens. Pre-orders for that are available now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target, Christianbook, and Cokesbury, and you can find Kel on Twitter, Instagram, and his official website.
Check out our interview with the Good Burger star in the video below!
What’s it been like for you, 25 years on, to revisit a film that was not only an incredibly important part of your early career but that's also become so beloved?
Yeah, man, I love that it’s beloved. It’s so cool that people still love it after all these years. They’re introducing it to new generations of kids. There was a kid that just celebrated Good Burger and had a Good Burger-themed party; he was only 5 [Laughs]. It’s super cool that it’s still going after all these years, man, and people can enjoy it with the entire family. I’m excited!
You got to do some crazy stuff in this movie from submerging yourself in milkshake to leading a huge dance number; do you remember every day on set just being wilder than the last?
You know what, it was cool. We had been doing All That for a few seasons and All That was as crazy as it could get with the characters and zaniness of it all. To be able to take all of that and put it in a movie, it was a great creative playground for all of us: the writers, the producers…it was like, ‘Yo, they’re taking our show and are going to put it on the big screen!’ That was a big moment for all of us and I think that’s why it shares a special place in our hearts. It was our first time doing all of this stuff [Laughs], so we were saying, ‘Alright, let’s go, let’s go! Let’s do it!’ It turned out to be amazing and people are still talking about it 25 years later which is so cool.
There were some huge cameos in this film with Shaq, Carmen Electra, and George Clinton all showing up, but for you as an 18 or 19-year-old kid making this film, what was like at the time sharing the screen with names like that?
Bro! So, George Clinton…working with him, my dad loved all the Parliament music and Funkadelic. I grew up listening to that, so to be able to sit down with him and do a scene and dance to his music was so amazing. Carmen Electra, I got to flip her over [Laughs] and [worked] with her all day. Sinbad was an amazing comedian and I also do stand up as well, so it was amazing to learn from him. There were so many big movies he was doing at the time, so for him to come on and play with us in Good Burger was awesome. It was a fun moment as a teen to look around and see all these amazing people I watched on TV and now was working with. Shar Jackson too. That was cool [Laughs].
Obviously, you and Kenan would go on to find great success, but it must be fun looking back at the film to see how J. August Richard and Linda Cardellini, for example, also went on to become big stars after early roles here?
Yeah, man, it’s so fun when I hear them talk about it in interviews or when we see each other. It’s so crazy! I love seeing the journey of everybody, and I remember those times on the Good Burger set [Laughs] just hanging out. We were all just young teens looking ahead asking, ‘What’s going to be next? What’s this journey we’re on?’ We were enjoying the moment and I remember Linda saying in a recent interview that this is her sister’s favourite movie [Laughs]. Out of all the stuff she’s done, Good Burger is her favourite!
Revisiting the film, I loved how pure and funny it is without getting as mean-spirited as a lot of what we see today; would you like to see more movies like Good Burger today or was it a product of its time?
Here’s the thing. A shout out to the writers because I think it’s super cool that, even to this day, Good Burger still holds up. Even with adults and kids and the writers knew how to do it very well. It was very positive. There were a lot of positive things to take from Good Burger like friendship, not judging a book by its cover, and all these different things that were super cool within the story. I think it could definitely hold up now. Kids these days want that. That positivity. It’s always cool when there are films that do have it during these times and that joy in them. So, yeah, I think it will definitely hold up [Laughs].
As you said, this is a movie about friendship, but did you find working on Good Burger strengthened your own friendship with Kenan? Was it quite a stressful experience in some ways?
[Laughs] No! Man, we had a blast. For Kenan, this was his second movie as he’d already done The Mighty Ducks 2. That was cool for me to get ideas from him and learn from him as he’d say, ‘Yeah, this is what they’re going to do today…this is what that camera does.’ It was cool to get that advice from him, and even from Brian Robbins, I remember me and Kenan were partying one night because we had a movie, a TV show at the same time, and came in on set not knowing we had a 4am call [Laughs]. We were just super tired. He’s like, ‘I’ve got a movie to shoot!’ We learned to go to sleep becuase it’s early mornings on movies. It was so much fun doing this and we still talk about it today. Kenan and I are still both great friends and it’s been awesome to share something like this together and with our family and kids.
The movie has a very unique opening with the talking burgers and CGI has moved on a lot in 25 years, but they still looked awesome. What was that like to shoot? It seems like a weird day on set.
They were puppets! Back in the day, without the CGI we have now, they had to build all that stuff. It was these little puppets that were talking which was cool because I’m a Jim Henson freak and love The Muppets. It was cool to see the burgers doing that and I was harnessed up. It’s a good job I’d worked on All That already because I was always in a harness, anyway, getting flown around playing my different characters. I was up there for a while doing that scene [Laughs]. It was a quick scene, but I was in the air for a while.
Good Burger is a beloved movie and we’re talking about it now for this Blu-ray release, but have you and Kenan ever talked seriously about doing a sequel or reboot? I can’t help but wonder what Ed and Dexter must be up to these days.
Yeah man, me too! You never know. The fans, they want it and they’re looking forward to it. Every time we do something with Good Burger, like on Jimmy Fallon, they go crazy. With the Blu-ray they went crazy and now, with the Steelbook, everyone is loving it. On July 19, that’s going to be awesome. You never know…you never know [Laughs].
I grew up on Kenan & Kel and loved it, but have you guys ever given any thought to doing a reunion or even reboot it for a new generation?
A lot of people are asking us about that. It would be fun to get back into that world just to see where Kel Kimble and Kenan Rockmore are with the Orange Soda and how that works fight now [Laughs]. It would be totally fun and it’s killing on Netflix and Paramount+, so that would be pretty cool.
You have done so much since then and a lot of incredible work to boot, but to have these iconic roles must be really quite special for you?
Oh yeah, as an actor, that’s what you want. You want to have roles like that which stand the test of time and people still talk about. It’s so cool. It’s very humbling and I love the fact people still talk about it to this day and the stories they have. I met a couple where their first date was Good Burger. They got married and, every anniversary, they watch Good Burger. I’m just like, ‘Yo, that’s crazy!’ but it’s so sweet and I love hearing stories like that.
I’ve saved my most hard-hitting question for last, but talking about Good Burger…what’s your favourite burger?
[Laughs] You know, I’m kind of like a burger king at this point. Everywhere I go, I get free burgers. To make a really, really good burger, it definitely has to have that juiciness to it. It can’t be a dry burger. When you hold it, you’ve got to be really messy with it. You can do that, if you know how to cook it correctly, with a turkey burger and a vegan burger. Just make sure it has that pillowy effect to it. That’s the way you do it. I cook, you know?
Just before I do let you go, your new kid’s novel, Prank Day, sounds awesome. I love what I’ve seen from it, so could you tell our readers about what to expect?
I’m super excited about it! I’m an author as well. It’s for tweens and is about a kid named Chase who does all these pranks on April Fool’s Day, but the next day on April 2nd, all the pranks come true! He has to figure out why, so there’s a refrigerator running around, fruit talking, a dog that turns into a lion, clowns coming out of a toilet…it’s a wild, wild story. I love movies and books that have a lot of fun, fantasy, action, and a race against time, and I wanted to do that for kids. It has a lot of my comedy in here and a lot of zany stuff that’s pretty cool for my Nickelodeon fans. You’ll see a lot of that in here!
Good Burger celebrates its 25th anniversary with a Limited-Edition Blu-ray SteelBook on July 19, 2022 from Paramount Home Entertainment.