Kenan Thompson Still Laughing After Recent Diagnosis: ‘God Bless, I Feel Great’

Published: April 8, 2025

By Michaela Gordoni

Actor Kenan Thompson is opening up about his two-year health struggle with GERD.

“I noticed that I would get hoarse a lot easier when I’m doing the show [SNL],” he told PEOPLE this month. “Losing my voice quicker, but also uncomfortable sleepless nights because I’m burping up acid, just kind of hiccuping all night. And that can definitely add more stress to an already stressful kind of environment doing a live show like that.”

“So all of those factors, I was like whatever, I’ll get over it. But it just started to pile up,” he said.

He got temporary relief by changing his diet and taking over-the-counter meds, but his issue persisted.

“I got to a point where that didn’t work anymore. That’s when it got serious,” he explains. “It was a suffering-in-silence situation. I don’t know if I was necessarily embarrassed to talk to a doctor — I just didn’t know if I needed to,” he said.

Early last year, his symptoms got worse and he finally went to see a doctor. He was diagnosed with GERD, a common gastrointestinal disorder where stomach acid flows back into the esophagus.

After he started taking Voquezna, he felt immediate relief.

The comedian is now partnering with Voquenza’s GERD IS NO JOKE campaign to raise awareness about the disease. In the campaign, he acts as a chef on the “Kick Some Acid Cooking Show.”

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“It’s nice to throw some humor into it because I like to have fun and a little bit of sugar helps the medicine go down,” the GOOD BURGER actor said. “I thought it’d be funny if there was a chef who couldn’t eat his own food because he is suffering in silence.”

“I’ve had good training with SNL, just trying to take the comedic approach to tougher topics and make it more palatable to discuss,” he continued.

“Sometimes you have to massage your way into it a little bit and just be like, alright, don’t freak out everybody, I’m doing a medication ad, but we need to do a deep dive on this. So if I throw a character in it, there’s some familiarity to go along with the messaging.”

After his diagnosis, Thompson feels a lot better and is more confident about his health.

“God bless, I feel great,” he said. “I’m in a much healthier kind of space with my daily lifestyle and meal decision-making and all of that good stuff. I’m in a good place.”

The actor does seem happy now and in good spirits despite the recent loss of his GOOD BURGER co-star Jan Schweiterman, who died from cancer last month.

Thompson also recently partnered with Cascade in some humorous commercials. One bonus scene features the actor cramming the set props into a bag to take home.

“C’mon, you’re coming home with me,” Thompson said while grabbing Cascade dishwashing packets and other items. “It works so well on set, I’m not taking any chances with my cheese-covered pans later,” he joked.