Interview: Taylor Louderman Talks KENAN Ahead of Season Finale

Tonight, NBC will air the season two finale of Kenan. The comedy series follows the life of busy single dad Kenan Williams (Kenan Thompson), who is juggling a high-profile job as host of Atlanta morning show "Wake Up With Kenan," while also raising two pre-teen daughters.

Tony-nominee Taylor Louderman plays Tami, Kenan's ambitious co-host on the morning show. This season, Louderman brought Broadway to Kenan as she and Thompson performed a splashy musical number on their morning show.

BroadwayWorld caught up with Louderman to discuss what audiences can expect from the Kenan season finale, the transition from Broadway to TV, and her nonprofit organization, Write Out Loud.

---

How are you feeling now that we're at the conclusion of the second season of Kenan?

Bittersweet. It's so bizarre to work for three months on something every day and then it just goes by so fast. I'm really excited. I'm excited for people to see the finale episode. When I read the script, I was very surprised. So that's thrilling. It's just cool to see all of our hard work come to life.

You and Kenan star on "Wake Up with Kenan", the morning show on the series. Were there any TV personalities that you kind of took inspiration from when you were preparing for the role?

I kind of looked all over. I wanted to look at, you know, like the Kelly Ripas of the world and also the local news anchors or hosts. I just try to dissect their behavior and what areas could I overdo in the sense to make it comedic. You know, Tami's good at her job, but sometimes you can crack her.

It was also so exciting to see you perform and sing on the show. Was that always like part of the character when they had originally created it or did they add it specifically for you?

I don't know. I didn't ask for it by any means, but I welcomed it for sure. I do know in season one, there was a little section of singing that we filmed and that didn't make it into the episode and I was bummed. But then for season two, I've got way more than I could have asked for. It's so fun. It's really cool to have those two worlds collide. One of the singing portions was like a full on Broadway tribute. I'm in a world where I'm kind of the new guy at the television scene as a series regular so to have a little bit where they're like, "Okay, now we're going to do change." And I'm like, "Oh I got this, let me tell you how it's done." Not really, but you know, that was nice. I felt that home.

Speaking of that transition from stage to screen, what were some of the challenges that you had faced starring in a sitcom rather than a Broadway show?

A big one is your relationship with the audience. It's so weird to watch it back now with everyone and to be in the audience with everyone and kind of learn what's working and what, what maybe I could have done better after the fact, whereas on a Broadway show, you have many nights ahead where you can perfect it and you have previews where you really ask the audience for feedback, in a sense. In the sitcom world, I guess multicams are a little bit different, where you have the live audience and you kind of perform like you are on a stage, but this isa single cam, which means you better be quiet when we're filming the scene. So you don't get that feedback right away. That was scary at first because I feel like I really learned comedy because if I had an audience. So that was bizarre. And with that comes a lack of control. Onstage, I'm the last filter before it hits the audience, in a way. On screen, I gave them multiple takes and I try to give them a variety so they can pick and choose because they see the big picture, I don't. So you really are more trusting in this medium.

You're also working alongside such a fun cast. What were the days on set with people like Kenan Thompson and Chris Redd?

I think they're probably exactly like you would imagine. Like funny and fun all the time. We don't take ourselves too seriously, which I love. Between Fortune and Chris and Kenan, I feel like they're always pitching bits, if you will. Like not really pitching bits, but they can turn the silliest thing into a comedy sketch and it's just so joyful. It's just a blast.

Looking forward into the series, where do you want to see Tami go from here?

Oh gosh, this is a great question. I really had to change my focus to be just open-minded to anything with television. I remember reading in the script, Tami has four kids. And I remember thinking, "No, she only has two! What?" You know, you have to change your mindset around your character. It's evolving. You have to practice being open-minded. I want to see her grow. I want to keep stripping away at her perfectionism. I want her to be celebrated for being driven but also able to be vulnerable. We saw a little bit of that this season, which I'm grateful for. I love championing that message that women don't have to wear a ton of makeup to be valued nowadays in our society. That was really exciting. So some of the things like that, I'd love to see her invest more in her relationships, and be a little less judgmental through time, but that is tends to deliver some of the comedy so I'm sure she'll always wobble on that line. I can't wait to see where she goes from here.

You're also the founder of a nonprofit, Write Out Loud, which you started in 2019. What had inspired you to create that?

I was in Mean Girls and I felt like I finally achieved a level of success where I could invest time into giving back. I was also playing the mean girl, I was playing the bad guy and it was kind of weird because people looked up to me as the bad guy. It was just weird to hear little girls at the stage door say, "I want to be Regina George when I grow up." I always say that because it perfectly explains kind of how I felt, which was, "No, you don't!" How can I make a good impact with these young people looking up to me, I felt like I had a responsibility. I just thought of where my resources and my strengths cross paths with a need in the industry and what I thought of and with my friend, Ben Rauhala, was a musical theater songwriting contest and we award the winners an EP and a concert where Broadway singers perform their songs. So it did a lot better than I expected. Now I find myself in the thick of the business side of it, the taxes and all that. I'm really challenged in ways I never thought I would but I love it. I really love it. It's so rewarding to see these songwriters feel empowered and to know that their voices are heard and just to keep going. I mean, to get them all in a room together, you watch them share ideas and just collaborate. That's the stuff that's. That's it. That's the magic of it all. So I love it. Anybody who's out there who wants to submit their song, I encourage them to do so. We want to lift you up. And we're accepting submissions through the end of February.

It's been great to see you like kind of tap into so many different facets of the entertainment industry. Is there anything else that you want to accomplish in the future

Oh my gosh, there's too many things I think I want to do. I don't think I have enough time. I really do love learning all the facets of storytelling. I think theater is so powerful and one thing I've been really passionate about is making sure it's accessible to kids. I grew up in a very rural area in the Midwest and I was lucky because I had a mom who was willing to drive me an hour to a city to get it. So that's something that's been on my mind a lot is how can I make I.T more available to every kid because it had such a huge impact on my life. So I do give a lot of my time to the theater where I started out in Rolla, Missouri, which is close to my hometown. I'm learning a ton. I really feel like I'm going to school and getting a master's in theater production or running a nonprofit. So I'm open to where I'm pulled and what comes next. We wrote a teen musical, a couple of friends of mine, and then the pandemic hit, but that was so fun, too. To make theshow available. It gender-neutral. So anybody could play any role and there were a lot of roles. So we wanted to make it really conducive to like a middle school theater production. So that was really rewarding, too. So, we'll see. I don't know. Thanks for asking that question. I need to think on it a little more.

---

Songs for Write Out Loud's 2022 content can be submitted here.