Characters / Kenan & Kel

Kenan Rockmore

Kenan Rockmore

Portrayed by: Kenan Thompson

• Aloof Big Brother: Towards Kyra.
• Big "WHY?!": His catchphrase, naturally.
• Book Dumb: He forgets what George Washington did with the cherry tree, can't think of an author to use as an influence for his "graduation speech", and doesn't know how to spell "thief" ("T-H-E-A-F-E"). That said, he is resourceful when it comes to planning his schemes.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: When it doesn't come to school or his responsibilities, Kenan can be rather quick-witted.
• Butt-Monkey: Kel causes his schemes to fail and has put him through other humiliations, such as in "Fenced In", "The Raffle", and "Clothes Encounters".
• Character Catchphrase: "WHHYY?!" and "Mind your business!"
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Towards Kel, much to his frustration.
• Deadpan Snarker: He is fond of snide remarks, usually directed towards Kel, who cannot understand them.
  Kel: Oh, good. You're still here.
  Kenan: Well, no. Actually, I went to the arcade and played some video games. I just got back.
  Kel: No, you didn't.
  Kenan: I should have known I couldn't fool you.
• Enraged by Idiocy: Kel may be his best friend, but his stupidity is often the reason for Kenan's first catchphrase shown above.
• Fatal Flaw: His tendency to live right in the moment as opposed to thinking about the future is often why several of his plans go awry.
• Flanderization: A minor case. In the first two seasons, Kenan is actually shown to be a mostly studious employee. Most of his goofing off was either to pass the time when no one was in the store, or when Kel was interrupting him at work. After Sharla got hired, him actually doing work was a rarity.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The Foolish to Kyra's Responsible.
• Get-Rich-Quick Scheme: His fondness of these drives the main plot of the show.
• High-School Hustler: As the theme tune says, you gotta watch Kenan, because Kenan be scheming! They usually backfire in the end, unless his scheme benefits others more than him.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He is lazy, irresponsible, and fairly self-centered, but he does have a good heart, which is especially demonstrated in the Christmas Special.
• Only Sane Man: Compared to Kel, he's far more rational.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Manly Man to Kel's Sensitive Guy.
• Straight Man: He serves as this to Kel, who inadvertently foils his numerous schemes with his carelessness and stupidity.
• Ultimate Job Security: Given the constant ditching from work, goofing around, and allowing Kel to not pay for his orange sodas, Kenan should have gotten fired from day one, although this could have to do with having Chris as a manager.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He's afraid of rats.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: Every time he has a solution in fixing his mistakes, Kel often screws up his only chance of fixing it. The Raffle especially is one of those examples.

Kel Kimble

Kel Kimble

Portrayed by: Kel Mitchell

• Apologizes a Lot: He usually apologizes after either causing destruction or doing something stupid.
• Big Eater: Kel has eaten an entire Thanksgiving turkey in under a minute and ordered a hamburger, onion rings, corn, macaroni & cheese, and spaghetti & meatballs (and, of course, a pitcher of orange soda) at a Chinese restaurant. In the episode "Who Loves Orange Soda?", when Kel's X-ray reveals that his ribs are bruised due to a bowling incident and also that his insides are bright orange because of his love of orange soda, Dr. Goyer explains that for one's insides to become bright orange requires a daily consumption of four to five gallons (roughly eight big bottles) of said beverage. Kel gives him this response: "Yeah, Doctor; so, what's your point?".
• Bilingual Bonus: Kel can speak English, French, Spanish, and Chinese (at least the Schniederverse version of Chinese).
• Book Smart: Played with. Ironically, in contrast to Kenan, he does fairly well in school despite his overall stupidity. Though he still doesn't know how to spell certain words.
• Break the Cutie: In "The Tainting of the Screw", "Mental Kel-Epathy", "Who Loves Orange Soda?", "Get the Kel Outta Here", and "Bye, Bye Kenan: Part 1".
• Butt-Monkey: Whenever he participates in Kenan's schemes or during his Too Dumb to Live moments.
• Captain Obvious:
  Kel: I bet that rat has something to do with all the bites in the food!
  Kel: Wait a minute! I know what happened! We picked up the wrong girl from the airport.
• Character Catchphrase: "Awwww, here it goes!"
• Childhood Brain Damage: Kenan once implies that Kel's lack of common sense (and otherwise intelligence) was the result of him being dropped on his head as a child.
• Cloudcuckoolander: He believed his stuffed hippopotamus was real, for starters.
• The Ditz: Is easily not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
• Dragged into Drag: A couple of times, Kenan's plans require a girl, which means Kel has to dress up as one. People can't seem to see through the disguise, either (even when he pretended to be pregnant!).
  • Only Chris seems to noticed.
• Drop-In Character: Kel spends more time at the Rockmores' than in his own home, for Roger's contempt. This is even lampshaded in one episode, in which a letter destined for Kel is sent to the Rockmores' home.
• Dumbass Has a Point:
  • While Kel does make Kenan's problems worse, he always makes a good point that Kenan is the one who started his own misfortunes in the first place. Not that Kenan ever wants to admit it.
    Kel: Well, this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't been so nosy.
    Kenan: I'm sorry, did you say something?
    Kel: (shrieks) No!
  • In the Made-for-TV Movie, he tells Kenan his father just wants to camp out to cut corners, which he isn't wrong about.
• Flanderization: At the start of the show, Kel was simply a clumsy teen who lacked common sense. From season 3 onwards, he becomes outright Too Dumb to Live.
• G-Rated Drug: Kel's addiction to Orange Soda. There's even an episode dedicated to everyone trying to break his addiction, and he suffers from obvious withdrawals.
• Genius Ditz: Kel scored a 98 (out of 100, on this show) on the IQ Test.
• Idiot Houdini: Downplayed, in that while he usually suffers as much slapstick as Kenan, his destructive idiocy is less likely to be met with proper disaplinary than Kenan. Part of this comes from his family (and most of his life outside Kenan for that matter) being The Ghost, while most of the primary supporting cast are Kenan's family and peers, though in some instances like "The Graduates" even indiscriminate authorities seem to know to punish Kenan and only Kenan, even as Kel makes things worse and worse.
• Innocently Insensitive: Most of the time, he would unknowingly insult people due to his general lack of thought.
• In Touch with His Feminine Side: He wore a princess suit^note  as Patty the Power Pixie at a Comic-Con.
• I Warned You: He always tells Kenan his plans won't work, but Kenan never listens and doesn't want to hear of it even when his plans do fail.
• The Jinx: He often brings bad luck to others (namely Roger and Chris) through his recklessness and stupidity.
• Keet: He is very energetic and excitable. He once gets super excited over Crazy Betty's theme song.
• Kindhearted Simpleton: Kel usually means well in spite of his destructive stupidity.
• The Klutz: Kel is extremely clumsy and wreaks havoc wherever he goes.
• Large Ham: He dropped the screw in the tuna.
• Lethally Stupid: He has endangered the lives of others (particularly Roger) through his idiocy.
• Literal-Minded: Takes everything that people tell him far too seriously.
  Chris: Kel, you make my head hurt.
  Kel: Really? This is what makes my head hurt. (grabs a jug of laundry detergent and hits himself in the head)
• The Millstone: Many of Kenan's schemes fail due to him.
• Never Bareheaded: He is rarely seen without some sort of hat on.
• Nice Guy: His stupidity notwithstanding, he is generally well-intentioned and easygoing.
• Prone to Tears: It doesn't take much to get him upset, especially if orange soda is involved.
• Sarcasm-Blind: Often takes Kenan's sarcastic remarks seriously.
  Kel: You want me to go get 'em?
  Kenan: No. Let's just sit here and wait for my clothes to magically reappear.
  Kel: Kenan, that'll never happen. I mean, we don't even have a magic wand or anything, and...
  Kenan: Please go find my clothes!
  Kel: See? Now that's a better idea, don't you think?
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Sensitive Guy to Kenan's Manly Man.
• This Ain't Rocket Surgery: Kel claims that his unseen parents are a rocket scientist and brain surgeon, despite his idiocy, although Kel's also Genius Ditz judging by his aforementioned score in a IQ test.
• Too Dumb to Live: For starters, he crawls out the window of a multiple-story building to grab his top hat, in which he loses his balance and falls. Fortunately for him, he ended up landing in a feather truck.
• Took a Level in Dumbass: By the start of season 3, he becomes much dumber.
• Trademark Favorite Drink:
  • "Who loves orange soda? Kel loves orange soda! Is it truuuue? Mmmmmmhmmmm. I do I do I do I do-oo!"
  • It is implied in "The Tainting of the Screw" that his favorite food is ham.
    "I enjoy ham."
  • His female persona from "The Honeymoon's Over", Kelly, loves root beer.

Chris Potter

Chris Potter

Portrayed by: Dan Frischman

• Benevolent Boss: Deconstructed. He gets along with Kenan and means well, but this allows the latter to get away with his shenanigans during work hours.
• Butt-Monkey: Tons of examples, including the Christmas Special where he was beat up by a robotic Santa Claus while all the customers sat back and watched not even knowing it's a robotic dummy.
• Character Catchphrase: "I have a radio in my car!"
• Character Tics: His eye twitches whenever there's trouble. Though it was only shown in the pilot episode.
• Cloudcuckoolander: He constantly blurts out random nonsense and has a bunch of weird quirks like being afraid of big rabbits and sandwiches and owning a Pewter cow collection.
• Collector of the Strange: He has a collection of Pewter cow figures in his office.
• Extreme Doormat: He seldom reprimands Kenan for goofing around and ditching work and typically allows Kel to steal his orange sodas.
• Manchild: He has to be rocked to sleep every night by his mother (and makes Roger do so when he temporarily moves out), is generally eccentric, and has poor social skills.
• Momma's Boy: He lives with his mother and enjoys bonding with her when he's not at work.
• Noodle Incident: He has a boatload of them, all involving his mother.
• Nice Guy: Easily the nicest of the cast which is demonstrated by his Benevolent Boss nature towards Kenan.
• Pointy-Haired Boss: Despite being the superior at Rigby's, he hardly manages to take care of the store, which gets constantly vandalized by Kenan and Kel's shenanigans.
• Terrified of Germs: Shown in "The Cold War" when Kel has a cold, though justified as he runs a grocery store and that's where Kel was.
• Token White: Played with. He is the only white main character, but there are plenty of white extras and minor characters on the show.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He's afraid of big rabbits and sandwiches, though he no longer fears the latter.

Roger Rockmore

Roger Rockmore

Portrayed by: Ken Foree.

• Alliterative Name: His name is Roger Rockmore
• Amusing Injuries: Suffers these from Kel. Kenan's mischief tends to injure him too.
• Butt-Monkey: Second only to Chris.
• The Chew Toy: Poor Roger can never get a break.
• Jerkass Has a Point: He may be harsh towards Kel, but since Kel frequently injures him and breaks his stuff during his visits, it's easy to understand why he hates him.
• Jerkass to One: He is a loving family man, but resents Kel more than anything else, mainly because of the latter's Lethally Stupid tendencies.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Roger tends to cranky, cynical and quite rude, but he cares deeply about his kids and will protect them whenever they're in danger, particularly Kenan.
• Kick the Dog: Roger telling Kel "he was never his friend."
• Made of Iron: This guy has been tumbled down the stairs, hit in traffic, smashed by a rock, shoved out a window, and even suffered a concussion while jumping out of the window to chase Kel in all one day. And somehow this guy is still alive.
• Scary Black Man: To Kel, anyway.
• The Scrooge: He hates spending money and often cuts corners, specifically shown in the Made-for-TV Movie.
  Kel: (to Kenan) Your dad's just too cheap to buy a room.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Kel is his.
• Soul-Crushing Desk Job: In "Bye, Bye Kenan: Part 2", he gets a new job as a mountain ranger which literally amounts to sitting in a desk all day and doing absolutely nothing. He thankfully loses the job when a bear gets involved.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He's afraid of ladybugs.

Sheryl Rockmore

Sheryl Rockmore

Portrayed by: Teal Marchande

• Noodle Incident: When she was in college during The '70s, she once streaked in public.
• Only Sane Woman: Is one of the more reasonable and understanding characters along with Kenan and Sharla.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Is much more reasonable than her husband and rather reasons with Kenan than outright ground him, unlike Roger whom is extremely quick in punishing him.

Kyra Rockmore

Kyra Rockmore

Portrayed by: Vanessa Baden

• Abhorrent Admirer: Kel's not dumb enough to miss that Kyra has a crush on him, one he doesn't return due to her being his best friend's pre-teen sister and being very clingy with him.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: Takes pleasure in seeing Kenan get grounded.
• Berserk Button: When some other girl takes an interest in Kel.
• Bratty Half-Pint
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Hates it whenever someone else is in love with Kel.
• Demoted to Extra: She is absent during the entirety of season 3, and only made a few appearances in season 4.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The Responsible to Kenan's Foolish.
• Precocious Crush: She has one on Kel.
• Stalker with a Crush
• Tsundere

Other Characters

Ethel Quagmire

Played by: Doreen Weese

• Cool Old Lady: She has her moments.
• Recurring Extra

Sharla

Played by: Alexis Fields

• Deadpan Snarker
• Will They or Won't They?: Between her and Kenan.

Janet

Played by: Catherine Mangan

• Academic Alpha Bitch
• Expy: Mindy in the later show Drake & Josh.
• Nerds Love Tough Schoolwork
• Recurring Extra
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Antagonizes with Kenan in every episode she appears in.
• Straw Feminist: She once gave a presentation on a book titled, Women, Better Than Men. It was 45 minutes long and even the teacher was napping after she finished reading it.

Dave

Played by: Tim Powell

• Creepy Monotone
• Deadpan Snarker
• Verbal Tic: "Delivery" and "Sign my thing."

Marc Cram

Played by: Biagio Messina

• Butt-Monkey: Suffers due to Kenan's impulsivity often.
• Clock King: Downplayed. He is a clock enthusiast and has a collection of them. He reads a poem in class that consists of just "Tic toc. Tic toc. Tic toc. I'm the clock. Tic toc..."
• Mistaken for Thief: In one episode the pocket watch that Kenan's father gave him as a gift turns missing and Kenan spends the rest of the time trying to prove that Marc, due to his obsession with clocks, stole it. In the end, after Kenan caused enough mayhem as usual, Roger reveals that he took the watch to fix it himself.

The Headless Knight

• Big Bad: The main antagonist of the Made-for-TV Movie series finale.
• Faux Affably Evil: He portrays himself as a welcoming host, but is a monster.
• Final Boss: The villain of the series finale.
• I'm a Humanitarian: He eats the bodies of those he kills.
• Laughably Evil: While he's easily the darkest character to appear on the show, he's still given enough comedy that the film never completely loses its comedic tone.
• Serial Killer: He murders people and uses their heads as his own.
• Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: He's a cannibalistic serial killer. Downplayed in that he does have some humor to him.

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