Review: Comedy Central's very funny 'Key & Peele'
Sketch comedy duo Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele deal with biracial and non-racial humor
Jordan Peele as President Obama and Keegan-Michael Key as "anger translator" Luther in "Key & Peele."
Credit: Comedy Central
Early in the premiere episode of Comedy Central's new sketch comedy series "Key & Peele," the show's two stars, Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, talk about the challenges of of being biracial in 21st century America.
"We find ourselves particularly adept at lying," Key explains, "because on a daily basis we have to adjust our blackness."
This leads into a riff about all the people they sound whiter than — "We sound whiter than the black dude in a college a capella group!" Key laments — that's very funny, and that also establishes a mission statement for the series (which debuts tonight at 10:30) beyond simply, "Here are two funny guys doing sketches and celebrity impressions." There are sketches on the show that have little or nothing to do with race, but more often than not, the humor is informed by the intersection between what's considered black culture, what's considered white, and what a couple of light-skinned buddies who self-identify as nerds can get away with depending on the company they're in.
Comedy Central has tried a few of these sketch/stand-up hybrids over the last decade (I quite liked the short-lived "Important Things with Demetri Martin"), but the one "Key & Peele" will obviously be compared to is "Chappelle's Show." Before Dave Chappelle walked away from the show (and, for a good while, show business), he made a huge mark with comedy that was simultaneously blunt and thoughtful about race(*), and Peele recently described Chappelle as "a hero of ours" while describing the decision to mix the sketches in with segments where they talk to the studio audience.
(*) I know everybody loves the Rick James episode, but I'm very fond of "I Know Black People," a game show where Chappelle challenged various black-adjacent white people (a cop, a Korean grocery clerk, a writer on "Chappelle's Show") to answer questions about black culture, and Chappelle, John Mayer and ?uestlove trying to identify which musical instruments are most likely to make different racial groups dance.
The humor in "Key & Peele" is gentler than "Chappelle's Show" — the two stars come across as laid-back and genial when they're talking in the studio — but no less keenly-observed. And, much of the time, it's laugh-out-loud funny.
In the highlight of tonight's premiere, Peele does an excellent impression of President Obama, who has hired an "anger translator" named Luther (Key) to loudly rant about his various enemies (clip NSFW):
Next week, Key and Peele play a pair of actors in a play about Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, each getting caught up in the audience's enthusiastic response to different bits of oratory, until the show devolves into a pandering collection of catchphrases and, inexplicably, pop-locking.
Again, not every sketch has a racial theme — in the premiere, for instance, there's a parody of "Hell's Kitchen" and the way reality show judges try to constantly fake out contestants — but enough of them do to give the show a unity and make it feel like something to watch for a full half-hour, rather than seeking out individual sketches when they go viral the next day.
There are some growing pains. In the two episodes I've seen (particularly the second), there are several sketches that have one basic joke repeated for several minutes. Sometimes, it works because the joke gets elaborated on each time — in the premiere, Key and Peele play two married friends who have to seek increasingly-remote locations before they feel comfortable referring to their wives by every woman's second least-favorite word — but other times it's just the same gag over and over until you're past ready to move on to the next one.
It helps that the stage patter between Key and Peele is so strong. Where I remember very little of what Chappelle or Demetri Martin did and said in front of the studio audience on their respective shows, some of the best "Key & Peele" moments take place on that stage, whether it's Key recreating his experience watching "Bridesmaids" on an airplane or the two friends acting out what it's like when white people fight outside bars.
The whole genre of "white people do it like this, and black people like this" humor got horribly played-out during the stand-up boom of the '80s and early '90s. (One of my most-quoted "Simpsons" gags is Homer watching one of these routines and cackling, "It's true! We're so lame!") And, of course, those jokes always had an undercurrent of suspicion or confusion about another group. But Key and Peele straddle both cultures, and there's a feeling in that bit, and most of the material they do, that they're just as capable of behaving like the white frat guy outside the bar as they are at being the President's anger translator.
So we have two likable and funny guys and a lot of untapped material. That's an excellent start.
Alan Sepinwall may be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com
Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupStreets Ahead
January 31, 2012 at 10:40AM EST Reply to CommentBoth were pretty funny when they were on "Mad TV." Neither one of them were really show-stealers when they were on that show, so it will be interesting to see how they are on their own. I did love Key as Coach Hines, though.
Loretta_
January 31, 2012 at 11:06AM EST Reply to CommentThanks for the review! I'll make sure to check this out.
Lamar
January 31, 2012 at 11:56AM EST Reply to CommentThere isn't any decent sketch comedy on TV right now so I'm looking forward to this. Hope it's funny.
Grubi
January 31, 2012 at 2:26PM EST Reply to CommentI liked your sly reference to Parks and Rec Alan!
Garrett
January 31, 2012 at 2:38PM EST Reply to CommentThe other great reference from "The Simpsons": "White guys have names like Lenny, whereas black guys have names like Carl."
ed w
January 31, 2012 at 5:26PM EST Reply to CommentThe clips on youtube look funny. I'd never heard of the show till your podcast. I think the quality level will depend on whether they are allowed to have short seasons or forced to mass produce many episodes a year which will inevitably lead to a reduction in quality.
Oaktown Girl
January 31, 2012 at 6:24PM EST Reply to CommentThanks for tipping me off to this, Alan. Looks promising!
As for Comedy Central sketch comedies of the past, I really rather liked "Michael and Michael Have Issues", and was bummed that it got cancelled.
Mike
January 31, 2012 at 7:23PM EST Reply to CommentRe: Chappelle's Show
Prince episode wins.
Sully
January 31, 2012 at 9:03PM EST Reply to CommentComedy Central did a horrible job with the promos. They did really quick cuts between 3 second clips thatjust showed them yelling or doing some sort of weird voice that were supposed to make the show seem "crazy." They didn't even show any quick jokes so it was impossible to tell what the show is like. It made me think the show was terrible.
Ted
January 31, 2012 at 9:40PM EST Reply to CommentThe ads for this show make it look absolutely unwatchable, so much so that even a positive review from a reviewer I respect can't change the negative impression of the ads and make me willing to watch this.
JonG
January 31, 2012 at 10:27PM EST Reply to CommentAlan, things may seem repetitive but they are following sketch/improv rules of finding the "game" and heightening it. This was taught by improv guru Del Close and is taught at Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre and iO. In fact, Ian Roberts of UCB fame executive produces this series.
Truck Interesting that the comments section mentions how bad the commercials are for this show, since Roberts' last production credit was for the Spike TV show Players that he and Walsh did together. That was a fairly decent half-improv show, but Spike wanted their programming to appear so edgy that they ran a scrolling ticker under the episodes that said something like "Can't believe how insane this comedy is? Can't get enough of the filthy language and zany scenarios? Tune in at 1 AM to see what we COULDN'T show on TV!". In reality there was no difference other than not editing the occasional "damn". After a few episodes they took the show off the air and quietly advertised a few different premiere dates for the rest of the season that I think never ended up happening.
February 1, 2012 at 12:01AM ESTAdam k
February 1, 2012 at 12:05AM EST Reply to CommentThe best and most memorable part of Important Things was Martin doing stand up on stage with the audience and the worst part about it was the sketches. Dimitry Martin's my favorite stand up but boy I can not remember a single sketch of the show
SoCal
February 1, 2012 at 3:37AM EST Reply to CommentI saw a Badger cameo! breaking Bad forever!
lztouchthedream Everytime I see Badger I get unreasonably excited. Dude definitely deserves bigger parts.
February 1, 2012 at 9:16AM ESTCK
February 1, 2012 at 6:30AM EST Reply to CommentThanks for the heads up Alan! I will definitely check out the show. Your article reminded me of a very random promo I saw months ago for this show that I thought was hilarious, here's the YouTube clip of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzprLDmdRlc
I actually didn't even realize at the time that it was for a TV show, I just thought it was a funny clip and I didn't know what it was for.
Grond
February 1, 2012 at 10:04AM EST Reply to CommentI was really disappointed. The show's been getting pretty solid reviews, but I just didn't laugh all that much. There were a couple of funny jokes here and there, but no more than in your average episode of SNL. Even things that Alan specifically pointed out, like the Obama anger translator, didn't really do much for me. I'll give it another week I guess, but then I'm done.
Lamar I'm with you. Disappointed.
February 1, 2012 at 12:05PM ESTed w
February 1, 2012 at 1:51PM EST Reply to CommentThe clips from this show that I saw on youtube before hand were very funny and they had laugh tracks. The actual episode though did not have laugh tracks during the sketches and the result was a somewhat flat experience. I generally prefer single camera comedy (Parks, Community etc) but this show might be a good example of where laugh tracks can help a show work.
DrewGW
February 1, 2012 at 8:37PM EST Reply to CommentI didn't love the first episode but I will give it a chance. I've liked Key since i saw his deleted scene ghost story about "Buane" in Role Models.
Danielle
February 2, 2012 at 1:55PM EST Reply to CommentThis show was so freaking hilarious. I was crying I was laughing so hard. Funniest show on the air! The obama skit was to die for and so politically correct. "I AM NOT A MUSLIM" HAHAHAHAHAH I cannot wait until the next show. I just dont see how they can top the first episode.
mary ann broadus
February 2, 2012 at 5:07PM EST Reply to CommentThese guys were GREAT on Mad TV, & this show was more consistently LOL funny than even Chappelle. Very, very Funny in fact, & thank heavens for the absence of a laughtrack. Please keep this on the air !!
Dezbot
February 2, 2012 at 7:40PM EST Reply to CommentI really enjoyed the show, but then again, Key & Peele are two of my all-time fave MAD TVers. I loved the callback to the "b*tch" joke, too, in the Obama sketch. That was a touch of genius.
BlackStar
February 6, 2012 at 9:14AM EST Reply to CommentAlthough I can relate to the point of view of the two comedians regarding navigating between the worlds of minority vs. majority, I didn't find their show funny or original. I will watch a few more episodes before giving up completely on them.
Trilby
February 8, 2012 at 11:00AM EST Reply to Comment"I'm tweetin' so you better be readin'. Follow my ass on Twitter!"
So far, very funny. I like them as a team.
bone43
February 20, 2012 at 7:17PM EST Reply to CommentWrite a comment...tried to watch this show but it failed miserably, comes off as a generic Chappelle show....not funny
Mike
October 5, 2012 at 12:51PM EST Reply to CommentThis article was written a while ago but i just had to comment on how much i love these guys. They are really funny! I am sitting here in bed watching a newer episode right now. The sketch that had me laughing out loud was the one where they 're making fun of ridiculous names given to pro-football players. I find this show as tightly written as any comedy show i've ever seen. It fires on all eight cylinders, 98% of the time.