Nickelodeon: An Unexpected Path to Big Fame
Saturday Night Live returns this week with a new show, hosted by Drake. Most folks know him as a rapper and musician, but in reality, he got his start as a teen actor on a Canadian teen show DeGrassi: The Next Generation. That show was also broadcast in America on kids network, Nickelodeon. (see the YouTube clip here)
If you look a little closer, you can see that Nickelodeon was a vehicle that started the careers of many famous performers. And why wouldn’t it be? The Mickey Mouse Club was once a launching pad for talent.
1984: Alanis Morisette
1994:Kenan Thompson
The popularity of the sketch led to the Kenan and Kel show which ran from 1996 through 2000. The theme of that show was performed by Coolio. That show was more of a sitcom format, with odd sketch moments interspersed. But it allowed Kenan to develop his acting as well as his comedy prowess (and dreds). Kenan went on to some great performances in films and TV. He played Fat Albert in the movie of the same name and of course, currently is one of the cast members of SNL.
1996: Amanda Bynes
1998: Nick Canon
1999: Taran Killam
The Amanda Show gave plenty of others their shot, like Josh Peck and Drake Bell who went on to star in their own TV series Drake and Josh on Nick before launching into movie careers and Miranda Cosgrove has a successful movie career and starred in the animated movie franchise Despicable Me (she plays the oldest daughter).
The 90’s on Nick is considered the best era for comedy and animation. If these clips made you nostalgic for more, you can watch all these shows and more on a live stream called Nick Reboot www.nickreboot.com or on a livestream channel http://www.livestream.com/48374.
Alanis Morissette on You Can’t Do That on Television
Kenan and Kel in an early incarnation of Good Burger on the Show All That
Here’s a sketch in the later years.
Kenan and Kel later had their own show on Nick.
Kenan in Fat Albert
Nick Cannon, Gabriel Iglesias and Danny Tamborelli, in All That
Amanda Bynes Biggest Fan
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