Throwback Thursday: A is for “All That”

We’re kicking off this the 90s ABC series with what was basically the Nickelodeon version of Saturday Night Live. Sketches, musical guests, etcetera, etcetera. The show started in 1994 and featured a theme song performed by TLC, who released their massively popular album CrazySexyCool that same year and featured songs like “Creep” and “Waterfalls.”

Nothing says cool in the 90s like jumping in slow motion.

If you didn’t watch this show, you still probably recognized a young Kenan Thompson at the end of the opening credits. He is better known these days as a cast member on Saturday Night Live but on All That, he had a few very popular recurring skits and characters including:

Everyday French with Pierre Escargot:

Baggin’ Saggin’ Barry:

and of course, Good Burger with fellow cast mate Kel Mitchell:

This was later turned into a completely ridiculous movie AND Kenan and Kel got their own TV show (very originally named Kenan & Kel with a theme song by Coolio).

The show was, of course, more than just Kenan Thompson and there were a lot of really funny sketches including one called “Ask Ashley” in which Amanda Bynes played a “Dear Abby” type of character who would start out very sweet as she read letters asking for advice and would then flip a switch and start screaming her advice and berating the asker. This is back when Amanda Bynes was like this:

Instead of this:

Oh the times, they are a-changin’.

Recently, I read that there is an upcoming All That reunion featuring past cast members Kenan Thompson, Kel Mitchell, Lori Beth Denberg, Danny Tamberelli, and Josh Server. To celebrate the 22nd anniversary of the show, The Splat network is going to air an All That marathon during the weekend of April 16th-17th and the reunion of the five cast members will be broken up into 1-3 minute interstitials between the episodes.

My birthday is on April 15th, so I know how I’m going to spend that weekend!