Key and Peele (2012-2015)

This is a show I watched earlier this year, and I really loved it. I came at Key and Peele kind of backwards – while I’d previously seen some individual sketches from their show (many involving Obama and his “anger translator” Luthor,) my larger window into their work was more post-Key and Peele. Obviously, there’s Jordan Peele’s writing/directing work in Get Out and Us, and Keegan-Michael Key brightens any movie he appears in. But when I found out Key and Peele was on Hulu, it was awesome to go back and check out some of the incredible comedy they made together.

As a sketch show, there’s no plot summary to give, so I’ll go straight to the sketches themselves. Key and Peele features plenty of comedy centered around the Black experience, tackling racism in society, media stereotypes, culture clashes, code-switching, and more. Some of my favorites include two Black guys crashing a Civil War reenactment to remind the participants just what that “glorious” cause is that they’re celebrating, a substitute teacher who normally works in inner-city schools struggling to pronounce the white-kid names at a school in the suburbs, and a pair of “Magical Negros” fighting over the same broken white guy they want to inspire.

Get Out and Us obviously demonstrate Peele’s well-honed horror chops, and we see him mastering various horror tropes to strong comic effect in numerous sketches here, ranging from ostentatiously-sexy vampires to a pod-people invasion where the key to survival is checking for racial biases (white guy with Confederate flag patch offers to share his bunker with two Black guys? Clearly a pod person. White girl instantly assumes the two Black guys are going to mug her? Unfortunately a human.) Really, the show plays with all manner of genres and subcultures, from hard-nosed police dramas to rap videos, and it does them all well, but the horror ones are often the best.

Then, there’s just a lot of good plain silliness. A decent-hearted lunk forever dealing with his high-maintenance girlfriend’s drama. Behind-the-scenes turmoil on the set of Family Matters, which Jaleel White rules with an iron fist. The leader of a group of Celtic warriors frantically works to maintain his status through improv with the severed head of an enemy. A class on the proper techniques of cunnilingus. It’s all on the table and more.

One thing I will note is that the humor can get uncomfortable when the focus turns to other marginalized groups. When Key and Peele play Latinx or Arab characters, for instance, the comedy often feels less insightful and more surface-y. The same frequently goes for when they tackle LGBTQ stuff in their sketches (although I do enjoy one of a military recruiter changing up his tactics to recruit gay men.) In those moments, the humor tends to feel dated.

Warnings

Violence, sexual content, language (including the N-word,) drinking/smoking/drug use, thematic elements, and some uncomfortable humor directed toward other races and LGBTQ folks.