Why you should be watching ‘Key & Peele,’ like, right now
Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele aren’t just any ol’ sketch-comedy-nerd duo. For one thing, few modern comedians have been able to juggle a heightened sense of silliness with charged, ever-timely racial commentary the way these two can. But these delightful dudes also offer a refreshing antidote to cynicism in our current wry, mostly-meta comedian culture. Whether they’re spoofing dorky valets, black Republicans or a whining couple outside of a club, nailing it is bound to occur — and I mean the optimistic, everyone-is-lampooned-but-no-one-is-gutted kind of nailing it that’s harder and harder to find these days. (But hey, call me a starry-eyed fan.)
Sparknotes: these guys are mandatory viewing for fans of anything funny, ever.
Here’s why else you should be gorging on Comedy Central’s newest season of Key & Peele:
Key and Peele are GREAT at making fun of themselves.
Case in point: the comics have invented alter-ego characters to comment on all Key & Peele YouTube videos: Vandaveon and Mike. Yeah okay, it’s a super winky device — but did I mention what stellar character actors these guys are? Comedy Central is even working on offering spinoff programming, centered around these two fictional critics:
Their comedy style is TOTALLY absurd, in an old-school way.
Unlike some other comics, Key and Peele are very unafraid to get weird in their sketches. Heightened scenes take us as far away as space (see: the “And I said . . . ” sketch), or a revised, imagined histories (see the “World War II” sketch . . . )? Everything is fair game.
Key and Peele have a hyper-impressive comic range.
No group is spared. No character is taboo. On a related note, if you have yet to partake in their viral “Meegan” sketches, get thee to Hulu, stat.
Their writing team is pretty groovy.
The writers behind Key & Peele include one original founder of the Upright Citizens Brigade (Ian Roberts) and the bad-ass comic Rebecca Drysdale — to name only two members of a high quality team. There’s an alchemy that seems to happen when jokes on the page meets jokes on the stage, and this show has got that formula down PAT.
Key and Peele has a soft side.
Put simply, it’s intelligent comedy for everybody with a little heart.
The next time you’re volleying between reruns of Archer or reruns of Arrested Development, consider taking season 4 of Key and Peele for a spin. They won’t let you down.
