In what would become a recurring theme among the show's alumni, Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell were such a big hit on Nickelodeon's variety show All That that they were given their own TV show. Set in Chicago, the sitcom chronicled the misadventures of ambitious Kenan Rockmore and dimwitted Kel Kimble. Kenan & Kel aired from 1996 to 2000. As of July 25th 2011, it airs as part of TeenNick's "The '90s Are All That" blockNot to be confused with the webcomic Kevin & Kell.
Tropes found in this series include:
All Love Is Unrequited - Kenan constantly fails to impress his pretty co-worker, and Kel is completely oblivious (or plain annoyed) to the fact that Kenan's little sister, Kyra, has a massive crush on him.
Applied Mathematics - Kenan once uses this trope to explain Kel his plan, Kel then tells him he can't add things that aren't numbers.
Newscaster: It seems the robbers have demanded a car, a helicopter, $2,000,000 and curiously...some orange soda.
Artistic License - Law: "The Tainting of the Screw" seems to ignore the idea of tort reform. Found a screw in your tuna? Sue the company for $10,000,000!
Black Humor: Kenan and Kel cause bad things to happen to a sweater. This sweater belongs to Kenan's date, and is irreplaceable because it was made by the girl's grandma who passed away.
Broken Record: "Time to write! Time to write! Time to write!"
"Open me, Kel! Enjoyyyyy meeeeeeee!""Nooooooooooooo, I can't!"
The City Vs The Country: The two-parter where Kenan's family moves to Montana so Roger can live out his dream of being a park ranger. Subverted when the whole family hates the run-down house, Kenan hates his new school and Roger finds his job boring and the family can't wait to move back to Chicago.
Clip Show: One episode, in which Kenan and Kel introduce a clip show, but have a fight. The show can't actually start, so time is spent trying to get them to make up - with numerous clips shown in the process.
Continuity Drift - Originally Kel loved ham, not orange soda (or, at the very least, in addition to orange soda).
Continuity Nod - Grape-flavored orange soda is seen in "Who Loves Orange Soda?" and mentioned in "Aw, Here It Goes To Hollywood: Part 1".
At the end of the Clip Show, Kel opens the curtain and reveals he has acquired virtually every single thing Kenan asked him to get for him at the end of previous episodes.
Criminal Doppelgänger: One episode had Kenan's father Roger mistaken by the title characters (although Kenan believes in his innocence) for a jewel thief nicknamed "The Diamond Bandit" that they heard about on an America's Most Wanted-type program.
There was also a clown that tied the duo up and robbed Chris's store who just happened to be exactly like the clown who was later hired to perform at Kyra's birthday party.
The Cuckoolander Was Right - In one episode, Kenan and Kel find an old map in the Rigby's storeroom. Kenan thinks it says "safe", Kel thinks it looks more like "sofa". Just guess which one is correct.
Face Heel Mole: During the 18th annual grocery bagging contest, Chris' rival Angus offers a job for Kel as a way to win the contest. Kel accepts, but during the contest, Kel succumbs to the pressure, allowing Kenan to win. Kel was feigning, that's the reason he accepted the temporary job.
Flanderization - Kel wasn't really that stupid when the show started out; just rather clumsy and childish. As the series progresses, however, he becomes so completely, aggressively retarded that one begins to wonder how he manages to function as a human being or why Kenan continues to put up with him, childhood friend or not.
There are two episodes that show how far Kel has fallen. The first of which is when Rigby's is holding a raffle, with a television for a prize. At first, Kel is tasked in selling tickets...he gets scammed out of ''all'' of them for a single orange balloon. ''Then'' while Kenan is distracted, Kel lets go of the balloon and it floats to the ceiling above the TV, which he uses as a bench to try to grab it. His jumping breaks the TV. Kenan decides to put the brand new TV that his parents got in the auction since Kel said he has the winning ticket...and during the raffle Kel ''loses'' it. Finally, they are at the only place that they can get the same TV at an insanely low price, while Kenan is making the deal...Kel plays with a video camera because he likes seeing himself on TV...and breaks it too, ruining the deal and making Kenan buy a small crappy television in exchange. At the end of the episode, Kenan asks why Kel does all this stupid crap...all of which Kel responds 'Accident, accident, accident...I had to get my balloon back'. Why the HELL Kenan didn't just snap and punch or even murder Kel then is anyone's guess.
The second time is when Kenan and his family go to a pirate themed restaurant. Kel, of course, tags along since he has no where else to go. Due to Kel's stupidity, when he has to go to the bathroom, he runs into the chef and knocks the arrow to where the bathroom is and gets himself stuck in the freezer. To compound things, Kenan then gets trapped. Then everyone else in the restaurant gets trapped in too. And Kel? He doesn't see how it's his fault at all, and keeps being stupid and complaining...and then he gets the door open...and doesn't let anyone else out. At the end, you want the crowd to take their revenge on the fucking moron.
Frying Pan of Doom - Kel used one of these on a robber in an episode, leading to fears of his death.
Genius Ditz - Kel, despite being a orange soda loving idiot, gets a 96 (Later then corrected to 98) in an (marked out of 100) IQ test.
He also got a 98 on the written part of the driver's test.
Getting Crap Past the Radar: In "Clothes Encounter of the Third Kind", Kenan grabs a guy's newspaper to hide his nudity. The guy looks on and smiles.
G-Rated Drug - One episode had Kel try and give up orange soda (he suffered from hallucinations and other withdrawal symptoms). It didn't take.
Kel: When the bread popped out of the toaster, no one knew what to put on it jelly, margarine, cinnamon-sugar. I suggested butter, crumbs were everywhere...
Kenan: Man! He said let's tell ghost stories not toast stories.
How Much Did You Hear? - Kyra managed to get her way when she eavesdropped into one of Kenan's schemes.
Idea Bulb: Parodied in one episode; Kenan is standing in front of a lamp when he has an idea.
Inner Monologue Conversation: One episode begins with Kenan and Kel prepping the audience, then thinking to themselves about each other and the audience. Inexplicably, halfway through the intro, Kenan is able to hear Kel's thoughts and proceeds to tell him what to do while in Kel's head. Kel is left wondering why he can't actually talk back, then opens the episode anyway.
Jail Bake - In "The April Fools" Kel tries to smuggle Kenan a very obvious saw in a cake. It doesn't work.
Limited Wardrobe - One must wonder if Kenan and Kel ever change their underwear.
Locked in a Freezer - One episode had everyone in the restaurant locked in the restaurant's freezer.
Love Letter Lunacy - It was actually a love poem Kenan wrote for class (He didn't know they were going to read it out loud) and carelessly threw away. Said poem reached his good friend's girlfriend, Hilarity Ensues.
Misplaced Wildlife - In "Natural Born Kenan", Kenan dreams that his "real" parents are snow-people from the north pole, and they have a pet penguin. Justified of course, since it is a dream.
Kyra: You're squeezing my liver! Kenan: Your liver?
Pepper Sneeze - They tried using pepper to confirm the identity of a criminal dressed as a clown but they ran out and ended up using Chris' mom's "foot crust dust".
Polar Bears and Penguins: In Kenan's second dream, with his "real" parents as snow people (Eskimos), they have a pet penguin which Kenan has to walk.
Rashomon Style - The recounting of how a botched robbery ended in the robber unconscious on the ground. Kel's recounting consists solely of his inability to open a gigantic bottle of orange soda that coaxes him to open it, much to his heartbreak.
Police officer: What does that have to do with the robbery? Kel: Nothing. It's about orange soda. You have to pay attention!
Refuge in Audacity - The last act of ''Two Heads Are Better Than None," where they chow down on a human dinner with five other guests, three of whom are murdered off-screen during the course of the dinner, their severed heads later found on a table in the basement, next to other two in stocks, seemingly ignorant of their surroundings. Just...wow.
Running Gag - At the end of each episode, Kenan would ask Kel to fetch three random and seemingly unrelated items and meet him at some random place.
Serious Business: After Bulls guard Ron Harper slips on some spilled orange soda, injuring himself, all of Chicago is out to get Kenan & Kel. And Chris.
If it was MJ himself, they would've been dead within the hour.
Anything orange soda related, for Kel.
Shout Out: Kel tries to learn an episode's plot by reading the TV listings, but reads a description for Rugrats instead.
In "Foul Bull", Kenan tried to change the channel to My Brother And Me, his favorite character is Goo.
Stand-In Parents: Kenan once felt the need to hire stand-ins for a conference with his school principal.
The Show Goes Hollywood: There's an episode when they catch the wrong plane and end up in Hollywood. They were trying to go to an orange soda convention.
Throw the Dog a Bone: During her birthday party in "Clownin' Around," Kyra has to put up with an Alpha Bitch that's obnoxious to her and crushing on Kel. Kyra eventually stands up for herself, but Kel then plays the trope straight - making a point of siding with Kyra and giving her a kiss on the cheek.
Subverted at the end of the same episode. Kenan quickly ends the show and is about to walk off, but Kel interrupts the credits to ask about the lack of a final wacky plan. Kenan said he was intending to give Kel a break this time... only to then think of a new plan.
Title Drop - Subverted. Kel holds a camera in front of him and Kenan with a red curtain behind them: "It's like we have our own show: The Kel and Kenan Show!"
In "Natural Born Kenan", in Kenan's dream Kel said he and the Rockmore's "real" son Kevin are going to have their own show: Kevin and Kel.
To Be Continued: Kel says this in "Bye-Bye Kenan: Part 1" and "Aw, Here It Goes to Hollywood: Part 1".
Trail of Bread Crumbs: Kel leaves some of these while he and Kenan climb up the stairs of the tallest building in Chicago. Kenan reminds him they're just going upstairs and they'll come back downstairs.
The occasional bandit either used these, or had their simple plans cooked up into long-ass conspiracies by Kenan and Kel.
Zeerust - The episode set in the future, which distinctly had elements from the future envisioned in the seventies and fifties, played for laughs.
Kel, grab a picket fence, a minigun, and the power of love and meet me at the Other Wiki! Now come on... Tropey!Kenan?! How am I supposed to get a picket fence?! The other wiki, I don't even know about the first wiki! And who can I get the power of love from? Isn't that the crazy future song?! KE-KENAN?!?! AWWWWWW, HERE IT GOES.
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