Kel Mitchell Says The “Vibe” Of ‘All That’ Changed When Dan Schneider Joined
Kel Mitchell has finally opened up about his perspective working with Dan Schneider, and claims that the “vibe” of All That changed once he began running the show.
During a recent episode of Baby, This is Keke Palmer podcast, the actress spoke to Mitchell about his time growing up and working at Nickelodeon in the ’90s. The actor retraced his steps from a young Chicago kid with a dream to getting a shot on the cable network, where he would be allowed to live his dream as an aspiring rapper while also getting to “make people like him laugh” on Kenan & Kel. But it was during his time on All That that made him feel a way about the “political landscape” of the entertainment industry. Palmer asked him to elaborate on this and wondered how he felt watching the Quiet on Set documentary.
Mitchell pointed out that he and Kenan Thompson discussed that documentary and explained that “that wasn’t our experience.” However, he did share some insight on working with Dan Schneider, a Nickelodeon creator who was heavily referenced in the docuseries for allegations of inappropriate behavior with children. Kel said he allegedly had a “big argument” with the man and noted that they often bumped heads.
“The vibe of the show started to change a little bit,” Mitchell said, detailing what happened when Schneider took over All That after original co-creator Brian Robbins departed. “They left us with the head writer, Dan Schneider. So he’s writing, and me and him kind of bump heads a little bit. I remember me and Dan had a big argument on set. He was like, ‘Let’s go over here to this room right here, in this closet.’ He closed the door, and he just took off, you know, just yelling all this wild stuff.”
Kel spoke about his OG status and explained how that played a part in how he took the argument between himself and Schneider. He explained that two things could only happen from this alleged heated exchange, saying, “Either we are going to fight or either I’m going to leave.’” Mitchell disclosed to Palmer that he decided to leave.
Kel Mitchell was one of the original members of Nick’s classic sketch show, All That, which began airing in 1994. He starred on the show for five seasons and also starred in the show’s spin-off, Kenan & Kel, in 1996.
His co-star, Kenan Thompson, spoke about the Quiet on Set documentary back in March during an episode of The Tamron Hall Show. The SNL star was asked about his experience working on Nick’s Kenan & Kel and All That as a kid and teenager in the 1990s-2000s.
Hall asked Kenan about his thoughts regarding the Nickelodeon documentary. Fighting through discomfort, Thompson offered support for those directly impacted. But in his rumination of the situation, he iterated that what was depicted in the docuseries, fortunately, wasn’t his experience.
“It’s a tough subject because, it’s tough for me because I can’t really speak on things that I’ve never witnessed,” Thompson said. “Because all these things happened after I left, and Dan [Schneider] wasn’t on Kenan & Kel like that. I mean, he got a ‘created by’ credit, but it was a different showrunner. So our worlds weren’t really overlapping outside of All That, necessarily. And then all that negativity kind of started happening outside of our tenure there.”
“I wasn’t really aware of a lot of it, but my heart goes out to anybody that’s been victimized or their families. I mean, I think it’s a good thing that the doc is out, and it’s putting things on display that need to be, you know, stories that need to be told for… accountability sake. But it’s tough to watch because I have fond memories of that place, and I have fond memories of my co-stars. So, to hear that they’ve gone through terrible things like that, it’s just, it’s really tough,” he added.
Watch the video above.
