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Key & Peele
69 Points, 2 Lists, #1 @Olli
Source: Key & Peele
Duo-Type: Mad TV survivors
At a young age, Keegan-Michael Key was adopted by social workers Michael Key and Patricia Walsh. After graduating from Pennsylvania State University in 1996, Keegan-Michael followed his dream of acting an in 2004 joined the cast of Mad TV during it’s 9th season. He portrayed popular characters like Coach Hines, Dr. Funkenstein and Jovan Muskatelle as well as a number of celebrity impersonations. Since then, Key has been a sought after comedic and character actor, appearing in films such as Dolemite is My Name, the live action Lion King film and The Super Mario Bros. Movie as well as appearing in TV series such as the musical comedy Schmiggadoon, the show business sitcom Reboot (no, not that one) and animated series like SuperMansion and Green Eggs and Ham. He will soon be playing Bumblebee in the next Transformers film and the holiday comedy Dear Santa about a child whose letter to Santa is answered by the devil due to a typo. He’s also known for working with…
Jordan Peele was raised at a young age by his mother in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. For a time he went to Sarah Lawrence College to study puppetry but ended up dropping out to form a comedy duo with Rebecca Drysdale. From a young age Peele was a cinephile and at age 12 wanted to be a film director. He spent time as a stand up before joining the cast of Mad TV in season 9. He was known for his celebrity impersonations and won an Emmy for the Sad Fitty Cent song that he wrote and performed for the show. Peele found success in television and made a name for himself. Eventually he transitioned to his dream job, becoming a director producing the critically lauded horror films Get Out, Us and Nope, as well as being a successful producer. But he initially made his name for himself as half of…
Keegan-Micheal Key and Jordan Peele first met auditioning for Mad TV… and auditioning against each other. Key was the more favoured of the two but surprisingly BOTH were hired, in part because they exhibited strong chemistry that the producers responded to. Since then, the two were often paired with each other in sketches until Peele left in the series penultimate season. The duo appeared with each other in other spaces, including a memorable appearance in the music video White & Nerdy by ‘Weird’ Al Yankovic. In 2012, the duo gained their own TV series Key & Peele. The comedy often dealt with stereotyping, racial identity, race relations, social awkwardness as well as a broader (and sometimes shockingly specific) takes on American pop culture (Peele’s love of horror also features in more than one sketch). Popular characters on the show included lonely nerd Wendell Sanders, short-tempered substitute teacher Mr. Garvey and Barack Obama and his “anger translator” Luther (a bit so popular, Key did a sketch as the ACTUAL Barack Obama’s anger translator for a Whitehouse Correspondent’s dinner.)
Eventually, the show ended with season five and Peele began acting far less to focus on directing (he also claims he was motivated to move away from acting after courted to play “the Poop Emoji” in the Emoji Movie. However, the two starred in their own movie Keanu where they play two soft-hearted guys who enter into the world of crime to retrieve their adorable kitten. While not based on a sketch of their show specifically, did follow many of the similar themes such as racial and cultural identity, masculinity and just general silliness. And though Peele acts less often, he still often acts with his old partner Peele in such projects as the stop motion film Wendell & Wild and playing carnival game prizes in Toy Story 4.
The thing is I’ve only watch a few scatter sketches from the Key and Peele show and between that and Keanu, it is clear that a lot of their comedy comes from feeling like they want to deal with ideas about identity, as they are both from multiracial household. At the same time, it never feels like it gets in the way of the comedy with a message but often enhances it by skewing perspective on it. It is also clear that a few sketches really felt like Peele just had some ideas to do weird parodies about horror (“Continental Breakfast”, “Gremlins 2 writer’s room”). But overall, I think this was a comedic duo that felt like it was exploring identity from an interesting angle, steering into the awkwardness but also allowing for real fun and playfulness.
Iconic Moment:
Jordan Peele is one of my favourite directors because he gets how the mechanics of comedy and horror/suspense are not only similar but can feed off of each other. Things that are funny can also be creepy and vice versa because often that’s a feeling you can have in a bizarre social space. In this sketch, the comedy is pitch black as a character needs to keep dancing and smiling during the most devastating moment of his life but even from there we get even more bizarre twists.