It was a simple request, send in your questions for StarTalk. I figured I'd get good requests for Stiller or Macy or Rush but no, every single digit kidlet and my niece and nephew and everyone in their day camp wanted to talk to only one person, star of Nickelodeon's Kenan and Kel and their favorite tape of all time. Good Burger. He's Kel Mitchell and he's The Invisible Boy in Mystery Men.

CrankyCritic: We know actors like to get into their roles, and we only saw you from the waist up...
Kel Mitchell: Oh that scene was funny for me because it kept getting more and more; at first it was like 'you're just naked' and then it got to hey there's a table covering up and then the table got lost somewhere and then it was like OK now you're naked in front of the screen and 200 crew members are staring at you. It was cool. It was my first naked scene as far as movies are concerned and it was fun. I'm glad I did it 'cuz it's in all the trailers and everybody's crackin' up.

CrankyCritic: I have actually seen the Kenan and Kel show where you got into costume and did the comic book convention parody
Kel Mitchell: Yeah. I was the Pink Pansy or whatever, wearing this crazy thing.
CrankyCritic: Obviously there's a love for comics in there...
Kel Mitchell: Yeah.
CrankyCritic: So what did you read when you were growing up?
Kel Mitchell: I love comic books. I loved Spider-Man, Spider-Man was the man. Batman. I studied commercial art in school and Dark Horse comic books were on the set of Kenan and Kel so I knew the Mystery Man thing going in. And then I got all the perks. I got all the Dark Horse comics and I got a T-shirt and everything so that's kinda cool

CrankyCritic: So, if you could have a superpower, what would it be?
Kel Mitchell: X-Ray vision. Or the power to go to the past or the future.

CrankyCritic: Tell us about the Invisible Boy
Kel Mitchell: Invisible Boy was fun. Everybody else's character, they knew where they were at already as a superhero. But invisible boy's character, you kind of grow up with him within the movie. Hew felt invisible because of the fact that no one paid attention to him. His dad didn't pay attention to him at all. He felt like the invisible boy. When he got to be part of the mystery Men he felt like he had a purpose.

CrankyCritic: And the blonde hair?
Kel Mitchell: That was my idea. Every movie I do, or when I'm on the sketch comedy show, I don't really get into it until I have an outfit or something funny with my head or face or something. I can't be myself, 'cuz I'm so different. They wanted to do a helmet, at first. But I said "Ah, Grandmama got to see me. Everyone has got to see me I can't wear no helmet." So I got my hair blonde and they loved it.

CrankyCritic: Now, Invisible Boy wasn't part of the original Mystery Men.
Kel Mitchell: They wanted to put a new character in there. Young, kind of fun and I got added in and that's cool. After the movie they're going to do a new Mystery Men comic and I'll be in that.

CrankyCritic: Were you in awe of the rest of your castmates?
Kel Mitchell: At first, yeah. It was like an All-Star team. Everybody was like 30 and above and I was in a class of my own, for the teenyboppers and the kids. It wasn't like everyone had an ego and stayed in their trailer. Everybody just hung out and we all talked to each other. Paul was great. I watched Paul when I was younger and he was

funny. He had this little scooter that he drove around on the set. It was like Pee-Wee. He'd knock on my door and do Pee Wee "Guess what we're having for lunch today?" It was like, wow. They paired us together in the movie and that was great.

CrankyCritic: So when projects like this come your way, do you take a second to think "is this something that my fans can go and watch?
Kel Mitchell: Yes I do. I passed up a lot of work 'cause a lot of movies that may be out there right now I passed em up because there may have been a lot of cussin' in 'em. I was a drama major also so it's cool to cuss for meaning, but for no apparent reason, no. For kids, for me to become a pimp or something and slap somebody; little kids would go "Oh My God, Kel!" I can't do that, so I passed up a lot of roles and I watch what I do. Being a role model, you just got to watch what you do. When I leave this place I want people to say "that was a good person. He helped out. He made people smile". And that's what I want to do within my movies, too. Every movie I do has to have some kind of message or inspire you in some kind of way. Mystery Men you can take grandma, you can take everyone to see this film.

CrankyCritic: You're working with Kenan in The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle.
Kel Mitchell: Yeah, we did that together. We play Martin and Lewis, I'm Martin. We take Rocky and Bullwinkle back to Whassamatta U, which is becoming a real live university and Bullwinkle is receiving an award. But the kids there don't' want him to come. So they're striking. So he's hitch hiking and we're trying to "find America" so Rocky and Bullwinkle come in our car and they become like our role models. We talk back and forth with them and they teach us all these things, really off the wall stuff. We become their friends through the whole movie.

CrankyCritic: But they're cartoons and you're live action!
Kel Mitchell: Yeah, they had a big actor, tall skinny guy like Bullwinkle and he had little moose antlers and he was hilarious. And then after we'd do the rehearsal, he'd leave. So we had to keep that eye contact with no one there. I'm into improv, so that was pretty easy.

CrankyCritic: Did you meet June Foray while you were making the movie. Did she come down to the set?
Kel Mitchell: Yeah, everybody was there. When I met De Niro, it was like Wow!

CrankyCritic: What do you say to Robert De Niro?
Kel Mitchell: Hi!

CrankyCritic: Do you have as much fun doing Kenan and Kel
Kel Mitchell: As this?
CrankyCritic: Yeah.
Kel Mitchell: Yeah. I like big screen stuff and I like TV. I like 'em both. The fun part is who you're paired up with. I don't really see the difference. With movies it's hurry up and wait and with TV you just get it done.
CrankyCritic: My niece wanted me to ask you what's it like doing crazier and crazier things on the TV show?
Kel Mitchell: Well it's fun! I like getting crazy.
CrankyCritic: How did that show come about?
Kel Mitchell: We were on "All That" and Kenan stayed at my house a lot. And we would hang out all the time as friends. A producer saw that and said "Let's do a story on that." And that's where the Kenan and Kel concept came from. We did that whole curtain thing and just bounced off of each other. We didn't know anything about comedy duos – Abbot and Costello, Martin and Lewis – we didn't know anything about that. Kim Fields showed us a tape of Martin and Lewis and their old shows and they come through the curtain so we started doing research on them. Looking at them and we were like Wow. But they broke up after a while and you know you're getting big when people start talking like that about you. What we decided to do was to move out and do other things, and then come back together.

CrankyCritic: So Kenan and Kel is not going to break up?
Kel Mitchell: No. Never. Behind the scenes, in front of the scenes we're always going to be together.

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