- Writers and director of Good Burger 2 are enthusiastic about the return of the original cast and their involvement as producers in the sequel.
- Good Burger 2 will feature familiar faces, hidden Easter eggs for original fans, and several surprising cameos.
- The sequel will maintain the dorky humor and slapstick comedy of the original while adding more choreographed stunts and new jokes.
During an interview at New York Comic Con 2023, writers Heath Seifert, Kevin Kopelow, and director Phil Traill discussed the upcoming comedy sequel, Good Burger 2. The film, a sequel to the 1997 comedy Good Burger, will follow the return of Dexter Reed (Kenan Thompson) to the fast food restaurant Good Burger with his quirky best friend Ed (Kel Mitchell) and other employees after a failed invention crushes him financially. The film also stars Shar Jackson, Josh Server, Alex R. Hibbert, Carmen Electra, and Lori Beth Denberg.
The original Good Burger film, based on a 5-minute skit from the 1990s Nickelodeon sketch comedy show All That, became a cult classic earning $23 million at the box office with an $8 million budget.
In the interview, writers Seifert and Kopelow explained that Thompson and Mitchell were excited about a sequel film and that their involvement as actors and producers was crucial for the film’s development. As Heath Seifert said, “Their enthusiasm was a large part of this getting made. They were super excited to do it. Nobody had to be talked into making this movie.” Kevin Kopelow added, “They were really excited about it. As were we! We wrote it about five years ago, and it finally came together when schedules lined up. They’re involved as producers, this time around. They were very involved, and very into it.”
Thompson and Mitchell are not the only ones to reprise their roles, as Jackson, Server, Electra, and Denberg are also set to return. The writers promise hidden Easter eggs that original Good Burger fans will enjoy, with Kopelow adding that “Lori Beth Denberg will be back, Josh Server reprises his role in a cameo, Carmen Electra. Danny Tamberelli from All That makes an appearance. There’s a lot of Easter eggs from the original, and from Kenan & Kel. We have Ed liking orange soda, things like that.”
Besides the familiar faces, director Traill revealed that there will be several surprising cameos, such as Rob “Gronk” Gronkowski, Liza Koshy, and Mark Cuban, to name a few. He said, “If you’re a fan of the original TV shows, you’ll be able to find things in there. There’s other cameos, we can’t mention a bunch of them, but we’ve got Gronk, and Liza Koshy… And Mark Cuban!”
The creators of Good Burger 2 aim to entertain both new and old viewers. As Kevin Kopelow said, “It is for both. There’s enough for the original audience, and there’s plenty for the new.” Director Phil Traill added, “It was like getting the team back together for those guys, and then adding a whole new adventure on top of it.”
Building on the original film’s dorky humor and physical slapstick comedy, Traill promises that Good Burger 2 will add more choreographed stunts and new jokes. He noted, “Look, there’s a lot of jokes! When you watch it, it looks like so much fun, but there’s a lot of jokes written by these guys. And then to execute the physical comedy, it’s a whole process! There’s so many stunts in the movie! There’s so much storyboarding and thinking about how we’re going to, say, cover this person with ketchup. You think it’s so easy, but then you break it down, and you’re like, ‘How are we going to do these different things?’ There’s a lot of filmmaking and thought that goes into making something that is so silly and fun.”
Writer Seifert believes that the humor in both Good Burger films is geared toward a general audience, explaining that when writing comedy, it is important to treat the audience with respect and trust that they will understand and laugh at sophisticated jokes. He said, “Even with the original, we never came at it from a place of, like, ‘Oh, here’s one for the parents, wink wink. Look at us sneaking this joke in.’ For us, it was always about asking, ‘What’s funny? What makes us laugh?’ We give the young audience a lot of credit. They will get the joke, or they’ll find it funny. Maybe for different reasons than their parents, but I think we were always successful writing on All That, Kenan & Kel, Good Burger, because we didn’t write down to the audience. We gave them credit. We just wrote what makes us laugh!”
Good Burger 2 is set to be released exclusively on the Paramount+ streaming platform on November 22.