‘Good Burger’ Star Kel Mitchell Reflects on Origins of Comedy Sketch Turned Iconic ’90s Movie (Exclusive)

It may be hard for some ’90s kids to believe but Good Burger was released in 1997 and is celebrating its 25th Anniversary this year. The iconic comedy was first launched on Nickelodeon’s All That, with Kel Mitchell playing Ed, the clueless-yet-goodhearted Good Burger fast food restaurant employee tasked with taking orders. Recently, Mitchell sat down with PopCulture.com to reflect on the film, which is now available to own on Limited-Edition Blu-ray SteelBook, in honor of its big anniversary.

Taking stock of how long it’s been since Good Burger debuted in theaters, Mitchell confessed, “[It] absolutely does not feel like 25 years. But, it is and, it’s so cool that people still love it to this day. I love the fact that kids that are super, super young, 5 years old, are having Good Burger-themed birthday parties. It’s so cool that family members, like kids that watched it in the ’90s, are now parents. And they can enjoy this movie with their kids. That’s so cool, man. So cool.”

The actor then went on to recall creating the character of Ed and how he originally turned up in a completely different All That sketch. “Here’s what’s crazy. So I did the Ed voice in the audition. And it was just my take on a Valley kid. You know what I mean? Being from the south side of Chicago. So, me and my boys would do it all the time. We’re like, ‘Whoa, dude! Yeah. Cool!’ And so, I did it in the room and then the writers took that and made this world. But first, to all of our fans, the first time Ed was ever shown was as a pizza guy. Right? And it was in a sketch called ‘Dream Remote.’ And Josh [Server, fellow All That cast member] could like forward, hit. He wanted something, he’ll hit the remote and it happened really quickly. And so, he wanted pizza really quickly. So, he pressed the fast forward. Pizza guy that comes to the door goes, ‘Well, dude, here’s your pizza.’ Only line in that sketch.”

Mitchell continued, “And then they said, ‘Yo! We got to take this and create a whole world with this voice,’ and they created Good Burger. And I remember, because I come from theater, I felt like it needed to have like, where did he come from? How does he walk? And I kept doing this, ‘Well, yeah, dude.’ And I was like, ‘He needs some hair to bob a little bit.’ And I went into the makeup hair room and I saw this Milli Vanilli-like wig and I threw that on and ed was born, man. It was like, he was born. And it just looked so cool. And shout out to the producers for allowing me to do that. It just said, ‘Hey, Kip. Yeah, do it. Yeah. Let’s rock the wig! Let’s rock the wig!’”

The Good Burger 25th Anniversary Limited-Edition Steelbook is now available to own from Amazon, and other retailers. Paramount+ subscribers can watch old episodes of All That, as well as Kenan & Kel — Mitchell’s hilarious ’90s family sitcom with Kenan Thompson — anytime on the streaming service. Those interested in trying out a free trial of Paramount+ can do so by clicking here.