Musical seeds took root early for Key
Actor Keegan-Michael Key was 8 years old when he saw his first musical. It was “Godspell,” and he was hooked.
“I was in the third grade. I thought it was the most magical thing,” Key says. “I thought, ‘Oh, wow, I want to do something like that!’ I wanted to be in a musical so bad after I saw the kids up there were having so much fun. I just remember being absolutely intoxicated by it.”
Little did he know that nine years later he would join a high school production of “Godspell.” And now he is back starring in Season 2 of “Schmigadoon!” from Apple TV+, a send-up of classic musicals. Now streaming, the show’s new season turns to darker musicals with parodies of shows such as “Cabaret,” “Chicago” and “Sweeney Todd.”
In a way, that initial glance of “Godspell” sealed his fate. Key, 52, admits that he first drew notice as the class clown, and his humor often plunged him into trouble. “It was probably from imitating the teacher,” he says.
“I would also pretend to be cartoon characters of cartoons I liked, and my friends in the neighborhood would laugh. I was in the sixth or seventh grade when I first realized I was funny,’’ Key says.
But it was his first part on stage that convinced him he could do it.
“I played the role of a young native American named Billy Yellowcorn in a play at the Detroit Repertory Theatre called ‘Detroit Stories.’ That did change me. It was my first professional job ever, and that really did allow me to say, ‘Oh my gosh, maybe I can do this for a living. I love this so much.’ I would have gone to school for it, but I got that role, and
I remember thinking to myself, ‘Maybe this is it. Maybe this will change my life.’ ”
Adopted by social workers Michael Key and Patricia Walsh, Key grew up in Detroit. His adoptive parents were not shocked when he announced he wanted to be an actor.
“They were actually very supportive,” he says. “They didn’t ask me to have a major fallback. They let me do my thing. I was very, very, very fortunate that they said, ‘Look, if that’s what you want to study, go.’ Thank God.”
He earned his master’s degree from Penn State. Key first gained national attention as one of the comedians on “MADtv,” where he unpacked a panoply of quirky characters. Later, he teamed up with his good pal Jordan Peele for “Key & Peele,” a sketch comedy series that ran on Comedy Central for five seasons.
Key — who credits his second wife, producerdirector Elisa Pugliese, for illuminating his life — has proved his mettle in a variety of ways. He has hosted “Brain Games” on National Geographic, voiced Toad in “The Super Mario Brothers. Movie,” hosted Animal Planet’s “Funniest Animals,” been nominated for comedy writing, made his Broadway debut and co-starred in TV shows such as “Fargo,” and “Playing House,” and films such as “Horrible Bosses2” and “The Lego Movie.”