Reprising their roles from a Nickelodeon sketch on All That, Kel Mitchell and Kenan Thompson brought Good Burger to the big screen in 1997. Based on characters from the Nickelodeon universe, Good Burger follows diner employees Ed (Mitchell) and Dexter (Thompson) as they battle against Mondo Burger’s high-tech hamburger, a competing burger joint opening across the street.
Alongside Mitchell and Thompson in the cast are Abe Vigoda, Sindbad, Shar Jackson, Linda Cardellini, George Clinton, Carmen Electra, and Shaq. It was written by Kevin Kopelow, Heath Seifert, and Dan Schneider, who also directed it. Good Burger was a commercial success and in celebration of its 25th anniversary, Paramount Home Entertainment is releasing a Limited-Edition Blu-ray SteelBook on July 19, 2022, which includes the original Good Burger sketch and access to a digital copy of the film.
“I’m excited to celebrate this and to celebrate it with the fans with the Blu-ray SteelBook, with this amazing art on it. It’s a great collectible, man… It’s super cool to be able to give them something that they can keep in their house,” commented Mitchell.
Based on the Nickelodeon Sketch
“We had been doing it for a few seasons before the movie came out, and I remember getting that call… it’s always cool to see a character now move on to do a movie,” said Mitchell, reflecting on the characters being based on the Nickelodeon universe. After reprising their roles for the movie, they were also asked to do so on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2015.
“It’s been awesome that people love Good Burger after all these years, even Jimmy Fallon… When he asked us to do that, we were like, ‘Yeah, let’s do it,’ and to see the standing ovation in the audience and everyone going crazy… it was the gift that just keeps giving.”
Outside of Fallon, there were speculations of Good Burger having a sequel, though it never made it to screen. Instead, a sequel was created in the form of a book that was written by Schneider and Steve Holland. “You never know what can happen… the fans really want a sequel… would I do a sequel? Yeah, of course. We love Good Burger,” commented Mitchell, on whether he would reprise his role once more.
Cast and Location of Good Burger Today
Good Burger was released at the beginning of some casts’ careers, of which later saw heights like Thompson in SNL, Electra in Scary Movie, or Shaq going on to win four championship rings in the NBA (that one may be unrelated).
“We all stay in contact,” said Mitchell. “Kenan and I, we talk all the time. Of course, we stay in contact. I just went to my little sister’s wedding, and his mom came out to be there… Shaq would come hang out with us when we had the show in Florida when he was with the Orlando Magic… then we moved to LA, and Shaq moved as well when he went to the Lakers, so it just made sense to put him in the movie. He was already family,” explained Mitchell.
As for the Good Burger location, it's still in existence but not in the form of a burger joint. Located in West Covina, California, the Good Burger diner is now a restaurant known as Peter’s El Loco. Mitchell commented that he hasn’t returned there, but he does have love for fans who post about being there on social media. “I haven’t been up there, and everybody’s like ‘You got to go over there and check it out,” but I love seeing people online, on YouTube, and Instagram doing a whole little documentary, and at the end, they’ll turn around across the street and realize, 'Mondo Burger’s is there,' and it’s like a Best Buy or office building now.”
Mitchell has worked on a number of series since Good Burger, including Clifford the Big Red Dog and SpongeBob SquarePants. In addition to his work in movies and tv, he has his second book, titled Prank Day, a comedy-fantasy illustrated novel for kids and tweens, coming out on September 6.
“This is my second book, which is a novel for kids… I’m super excited about it. It comes out on September 6. It’s about a kid named Chase who does all these amazing pranks on April Fool’s Day, but the next day, all the pranks come true. He has to figure out why there’s a running refrigerator, why fruit is talking all this crazy stuff, and it’s a race against time. You got to get the book to find out why everything is happening. It’s a really fun book, and if you love me from All That and Good Burger, you are also going to see a lot of zaniness in the pages as well.”