Trivia / Kenan & Kel

• Actor-Shared Background: The show takes place in Chicago which is Kel Mitchell's actual hometown (Kenan Thompson is from Atlanta).
• Acting for Two: In "Present Tense", Kenan and Kel also played Roger's great-aunts.
• The Danza: Kenan and Kel themselves.
• Dawson Casting: Not at first, as Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell were both eighteen when the first season aired. But by Season 3, they were in their twenties still playing teenagers.
• Descended Creator: Director Kim Fields Freeman, best known for her role as Tootie on The Facts of Life and Regine Hunter on Living Single, played Kenan's substitute teacher in two episodes. In her first episode, at the end, she got her own curtain call and bouquet of flowers from Kenan and Kel.
• Missing Episode: While the series has finally gotten DVD releases on Amazon, they are "Best Of Seasons" sets and are missing a total of six episodes between them.
  • Season 1 is missing the following three episodes: In the Line of Kenan, Baggin' Saggin' Kel, and Safe & Sorry. Baggin' Saggin Kel utilizes the LL Cool J song, Mama Said Knock You Out, so the episode's omission is most likely a result of music licensing issues, as it was also skipped on The '90s Are All That, Amazon Instant Video and Vudu. The reasons for In the Line of Kenan and Safe & Sorry being omitted are more of a mystery, because those two episodes did at least air on TeenNick.
  • Season 2 is unaffected. Every episode of the season was included in the set.
  • Season 3 is missing the following episodes: The Chicago Witch Trials, Freezer Burned, and Who Loves Who-ooh?. In each case it appears to be related to guest star royalties (Linda Cardellini, Dr. Joyce Brothers, and Tamia respectively), as well as more music licensing issues with Tamia’s music. The Chicago Witch Trials and Freezer Burned aired on TeenNick, but not Who Loves Who-ooh?.
  • Season 4 seems to also be unaffected, with every episode included.
  • The show was added to Paramount+ (then CBS All Access) in 2020, with In the Line of Kenan, The Chicago Witch Trials, Freezer Burned intact and the Pilot gone. Baggin' Saggin' Kel, Safe & Sorry, and Who Loves Who-ooh also remain unavailable. However, all of the available episodes are missing the end-of-show curtain tag scenes and closing credits for some reason.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: Kyra is seen less in the later seasons, because Vanessa Baden was attending school.
• Throw It In!: Kel's Character Catchphrase was originally just "Who loves Orange Soda? I do", but Kel Mitchell improvised doing the rest of it.
• What Could Have Been:
  • A Working Title was 'Me and My Homeboy'. Another possible one was 'Me and My Friend'. The creators eventually settled on "Kenan and Kel" when they realized that's what general audiences would probably be calling the show anyway.
  • Kenan revealed in his memoir that he and Kel wanted their close friend and fellow All That cast member Josh Server to star in the show as well. However, Nickelodeon was only interested in having Kenan and Kel as a comedy duo so Josh was left out. He would get to make a guest appearance in the episode "Poem Sweet Poem".