The longtime “SNL” star explained that his lost sketch “Wheezin’ Steven” followed an artist who was “like James Brown, if he had asthma or something like that.”

Kenan Thompson revisits James Brown-inspired SNL sketch that never made it to air

The longtime "SNL" star explained that his lost sketch "Wheezin' Steven" followed an artist who was “like James Brown, if he had asthma or something like that.”

By Emlyn Travis

Emlyn Travis is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2022. Her work has previously appeared on MTV News, Teen Vogue, and *NME*.

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January 16, 2026 11:37 a.m. ET

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Kenan Thompson at the 2022 People's Choice Awards. Credit:

Todd Williamson/E! Entertainment/NBC via Getty

Gasp! Kenan Thompson is looking back at one of his *Saturday Night Live *sketches that didn’t make it to air. **

The comedian, who has starred on the late-night sketch comedy series for more than two decades, recalled an axed James Brown-inspired sketch called “Wheezin’ Steven” while visiting *Late Night With Seth Meyers *on Thursday. **

“You did have a sketch, I will say — and we were even talking backstage — I feel like this, you could actually bring back,” host Seth Meyers began, “because right, not everything works, but ‘Wheezin’ Steven.’”

Kenan Thompson on 'SNL'. Rosalind O'Connor/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

Thompson explained that Wheezin’ Steven was the name of a popular musical act who was “like James Brown, if he had asthma or something like that.” **

He continued, “So we don’t really know how he got the career that he got, because he can’t finish a song.”

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As a result, Meyers noted that the crowd attending Wheezin’ Steven’s performance would’ve spent the time “constantly fearing that he had had a full heart attack” on stage. **

“Everybody’s worried,” Thompson agreed. **

The host shared that the idea for the sketch came from “this wonderful bit of theatrics” that Brown would pull during performances when “he was like, ‘I can’t go on. I can’t go on.’” **

Thompson explained Wheezin’ Steven was the complete opposite. “This is more like, ‘Don’t worry. I’ll be fine,’” he joked.**

“It was like a reverse where he’s like, ‘You don’t have to worry about me,’” Meyers quipped. “And then everybody was like, ‘I’m not enjoying this.’”

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Thompson proceeded to tap into the breathless character. “A lot of these,” he said, raising his index finger in the air and acting out of breath. “Like, ‘One sec. Ahh.’”

Thompson isn’t the only one fondly looking back at their lost *SNL* sketches. Last month, Jack Black remembered his “Boys Night Out” sketch, which followed a guy who was thrilled to be heading out for the evening with his friends. **

“[Amy Poehler] wrote it, God bless her,” Black said at the time. “And I thought it was funny, but then, yeah, in the dress, it really took a dump-ski. And it was like… it’s out.”**

The *Anaconda* star has no hard feelings over the sketch getting axed. “I agreed with Lorne [Michaels],” he said. “I was like, ‘No, yeah, don’t, let’s not do it.’”**

Watch Thompson discuss “Wheezin’ Steven” in the clip above.

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW SNL”