Key & Peele find the funny side of racial integration
EX-MADTV stars begin new chapter in comedy
There is life after MADTV, KeeganMichael Key and Jordan Peele insist — and it had better be funny, for their sake.
Their new sketch-comedy program, Key & Peele, bows Tuesday on Canada’s Comedy Network, the same night it debuts on the U.S.’S Comedy Central.
The mixed-race comedians will tap racial integration and culture clash for comic material, in much the same way Dave Chappelle did with his short-lived but wildly popular cult classic, Chappelle’s Show.
Detroit-raised Key’s father is African-american, his mother Caucasian; Peele is African-american, but was adopted by a mixed-race couple. Together, they hope to cast new light on the absurdity of “just getting along.”
Peele brings a talent for mimicry to Key & Peele: His MADTV impersonations included dead-on impressions of Montel Williams, Morgan Freeman, Forest Whitaker, Flavor Flav, James Brown, Ja Rule and original
American Idol finalist Justin Guarini. In 2008, Peele was nominated for an Emmy for the song parody, Sad Fitty
Cent, a music-video riff on 50 Cent’s falling out with Kanye West.
“We’ve done the president thing,” Key noted earlier this month, in Los Angeles. “We elected that guy. He’s half-white. Maybe America’s ready for this, too. That’s our hope. We’ll see.”
The point of Key & Peele, Peele said, is that “people” are people, too. African-americans can be just as much geeks and fanboys as Caucasians who still live at home.
“Obama was the best thing for black nerds everywhere,” Peele said. “Finally, we had a role model.”
“Exactly,” Key chimed in. “It’s OK for black people to walk down the street saying, ‘Yeah! Star Trek!’ ”
“Before Obama,” Peele added sadly, “we basically had Urkel.”
And don’t get them started on “Lamar” in Revenge of the Nerds.
“Part of this is that we live in this world where we’ve grown up identifying ourselves as AfricanAmericans,” Peele said, serious for a moment.
“In this sketch show, part of the sketch is going to be pushing the boundaries of sketch. You have to have a new voice. You have to be say- ing something new. That was our cue to say, look, man, we have this thing in common, which is being biracial, and we can examine stereotypes. Or lack of stereotypes. Whatever fits.” Key sees Key & Peele as being part of an extended campaign against bullying.
“I will say this, and I love this about my partner,” Key said. “We both hate bullying. We hate people being mean in comedy for no reason. Everything we do, we always grind, grind, grind on the frame of a scene to try to figure out how to make it funny. We want to appeal to everything, whether you’re from Iceland or Indonesia, and then we’ll put whatever the filter is on top. I’ve never understood why you would want to be offensive for no reason. I never understood the comedian who goes, ‘If you don’t get it, whatever.’ No, that’s not it. Maybe you’re not funny.”