''Key & Peele'' (abbreviated to ''K&P'') is an American
sketch comedy television series created by
Keegan-Michael Key
Keegan-Michael Key (born March 22, 1971) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. He co-created and co-starred alongside Jordan Peele in Comedy Central's sketch series ''Key & Peele'' (2012–2015) and co-starred in USA Netw ...
and
Jordan Peele for
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programmin ...
. Both Key and Peele previously worked on ''
Mad TV
''Mad TV'' (stylized as ''MADtv'') is an American sketch comedy television series originally inspired by '' Mad'' magazine. In its initial run, it aired on Fox from 1995 to 2009. After a one-off reunion show in 2015 to celebrate the twentie ...
.''
Each episode of the show consists mainly of several pre-taped skits starring the two actors. The sketches cover a variety of societal topics, often with a focus on American
popular culture
Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...
,
ethnic stereotype
An ethnic stereotype, racial stereotype or cultural stereotype involves part of a system of beliefs about typical characteristics of members of a given ethnic group, their status, societal and cultural norms. A national stereotype, or nation ...
s,
social awkwardness and
race relations
Race relations is a sociological concept that emerged in Chicago in connection with the work of sociologist Robert E. Park and the Chicago race riot of 1919. Race relations designates a paradigm or field in sociology and a legal concept in the ...
. ''Key & Peele'' premiered on January 31, 2012 and ended on September 9, 2015, with a total of 53 episodes, over the course of five seasons. A
special
Special or specials may refer to:
Policing
* Specials, Ulster Special Constabulary, the Northern Ireland police force
* Specials, Special Constable, an auxiliary, volunteer, or temporary; police worker or police officer
Literature
* ''Specia ...
titled "Key & Peele's Super Bowl Special" aired on January 30, 2015.
''Key & Peele'' won a
Peabody Award and two
Primetime Emmy Awards and has been nominated for various other awards, including
Writers Guild Award
The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949.
Eligibility
T ...
,
NAACP Image Award and 16 additional Primetime Emmy Awards in various categories.
Comedy Central also maintains an official YouTube channel for the series, which currently has over 4 million subscribers and 1.80 billion views, as of August 2022.
Format
In the first three seasons, an episode would consist of a
cold opening
A cold open (also called a teaser sequence) is a narrative technique used in television and films. It is the practice of jumping directly into a story at the beginning of the show before the title sequence or opening credits are shown. In Ameri ...
, with a short
sketch. After the
intro
Introduction, The Introduction, Intro, or The Intro may refer to:
General use
* Introduction (music), an opening section of a piece of music
* Introduction (writing), a beginning section to a book, article or essay which states its purpose and ...
plays, the two hosts would introduce themselves to a studio audience and explain a possible situation, with the following sketch having a similar situation. The show then follows this pattern, with a number of sketches, each varying in time. However, not all the segments are introduced by a studio segment nor are they necessarily on the same, a similar or connected theme. Many of the show's sketches follow a similar comedic form, specifically taking a comedic premise, situation, or turn of phrase, and repeating it in a more extreme fashion, thereby 'upping the ante' of comedic absurdity as the sketch unfolds. As an example, in popular sketch "Consequences", a guest speaker is brought to a school assembly to warn students about the consequences of their youthful misadventures. The speaker starts by telling a story of pattern of youthful misbehaviors and minor substance-use, such as smoking cigarettes and "hanging out on the street late at night" leading to misdemeanors and petty crime, through to "real crimes" which resulted in "being shot out of a catapult into the mouth of a dragon", and later being "sucked into a wormhole, consequences!". Additionally, Key and Peele's sketches often poke fun at aspects of race relations in the modern-day US, as well African American culture writ large, in particular distinctive names associated with current Black American culture. One of Key and Peele's most popular sketches is the "East vs. West Bowl" Series, which combines the aforementioned increase in absurdity sketch format and combines it with distinctive (and humorous) names of the characters in the sketches."
In the last two seasons, the show eschewed a studio audience in favor of a pre-shot narrative, featuring the duo discussing a concept during a car ride, as the introduction to their sketches.
Production
The series was first announced in June 2011 by
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programmin ...
.
In anticipation of the show, Key and Peele launched a
web series
A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single in ...
in support of the program. The series premiered in January 2012 on Comedy Central in the U.S. and on
The Comedy Network
CTV Comedy Channel (often shortened to CTV Comedy and formerly known as The Comedy Network) is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Bell Media which focuses primarily on comedy programming. The channel first launched on Octob ...
in Canada.
The first episode drew 2.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programmin ...
launch since 2009. The series was renewed for four more seasons, beginning in September 2012, September 2013, September 2014, and July 2015.
The last episode aired in September 2015.
Episodes
Recurring characters and sketches
*
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
and – The 44th
President of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
, played by Peele, often has difficulty expressing his true feelings, and President Obama's "anger translator" Luther, played by Key, works to interpret the President's low-key statements into raging tirades. One sketch reveals that Obama's wife and daughters each have their own anger translators as well, whom they request help from to speak with each other. Key appeared briefly in-character as Luther at the Annual White House Correspondents Dinner as an anger translator for the real Barack Obama in early 2015. On January 5, 2017, Key debuted an "Obama-Luther" sketch on ''
The Daily Show
''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form from ...
with Trevor Noah''.
* Wendell Sanders – Played by Peele, Wendell is a nerdy, extremely overweight, friendless man who loves sci-fi and fantasy. He often comes up with elaborate stories to convince others (especially over the phone) that he is not a stereotypical nerd, and that he is calling on the behalf of people other than himself. This includes a very attractive woman named "Claire", with whom he claims to have a relationship, and the 15-year-old son named "Stimpy" they have. (He was put on the spot when questioned about his nonexistent son, and he was close to a plush doll of the character from ''
The Ren & Stimpy Show
''The Ren & Stimpy Show'' (also known as ''Ren & Stimpy'') is an American animated television series created by Canadian animator John Kricfalusi. Originally produced by Spümcø for Nickelodeon, the series aired from August 11, 1991, to Dece ...
''.) Though his stories are obvious lies, they are elaborate enough that he usually manages to convince the person on the other end of the phone line (usually a gullible man played by Key) that the people in his stories exist. When asked to speak with his fabricated friends and family, Wendell makes up an abrupt event on the spot (usually involving the fabricated person in question being killed) to prevent the person he is talking to from piecing together that his stories are lies, and to end the conversation.
* Mr. Garvey – Played by Key, Mr. Garvey is an angry and intimidating substitute teacher and 20-year veteran of urban education. He distrusts (he refuses to allow students to leave for club photos, as he believes that it is a made-up excuse to leave class, even after a schoolwide announcement over the intercom, which he also believes to be fake) and has trouble pronouncing the common names of his mild-mannered and generally white suburban students, though he vehemently believes his pronunciations are correct, such as pronouncing the name Jacqueline as "Jay-kwellin" or Blake as "Balakay" or Denise as "Dee-Nice" and his most known Aaron as "A. A. Ron". Any corrections from the students are seen as highly disrespectful lies meant to make him look foolish. Mr. Garvey forces his students to acknowledge themselves by his incorrect pronunciations, often at the very real threat of being sent to Principal O'Shaughnessy (pronounced "O-Shag-
Hennessy
Jas Hennessy & Co., commonly known simply as Hennessy (), is a French producer of cognac, which has its headquarters in Cognac, France.
It is one of the "big four" cognac houses, along with Martell, Courvoisier, and Rémy Martin, who together ma ...
" by Garvey) for disrespect. The only student Mr. Garvey seems to trust is an African American boy at the back of the class named Timothy (accent on the "o") (played by Peele), who is implied to be from the inner city and claims to have a daughter. In March 2015, it was announced that Key will reprise the role of Mr. Garvey in a feature-length film ''Substitute Teacher'' with Peele portraying a rival teacher.
In November 2022, Key reprised the role in an advertisement for
Paramount+
Paramount+ is an American subscription video on-demand service owned by Paramount Global. The service's content is drawn primarily from the libraries of CBS Media Ventures (including CBS Studios), Paramount Media Networks (formerly Viacom Media ...
.
* – Played by Peele, Meegan is a young woman angry at her boyfriend, André, who always pursues her from a club, but she won't let him near enough to make up. The distance they cover in their pursuit becomes extreme. Meegan is shown to be extremely selfish and unintelligent, and does not seem to acknowledge social norms. She herself rarely ever receives any sort of comeuppance for the flagrant disrespect she shows to others. When not with André, Meegan is often seen with another woman who acts exactly like her (played by Key), and they often gossip between one other about being shocked by people doing normal acts, and calling them "crazy". They also take many
selfie
A selfie () is a self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a digital camera or smartphone, which may be held in the hand or supported by a selfie stick. Selfies are often shared on social media, via social networking services such as ...
s of themselves, but delete the majority of them because they don't like how they look in them, including a picture that had already just been classified as evidence in a crime that they witnessed.
* – Played by Key, André is Meegan's equally loud, but far more intelligent and polite boyfriend who tends to take the fall for the conflicts she starts with others.
* DeVon – Played by Key, DeVon is the shady and weird landlord who's often suspicious of what goes on in his tenants' apartments.
* Rafi Benitez – Played by Peele, Rafi is a baseball player who makes all his teammates uncomfortable in the locker room, because of his "slap-ass" addiction.
* Brock Favors – Played by Key, Brock Favors is a news reporter who's always ill-prepared for his assignments such as helicopter traffic reports and reporting on police dog training. He always responds to unexpected and sudden events with loud, excited swearing.
* Col. Hans Muller – A
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
colonel
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...
who is ignorant to the truth. He uses "very scientific" methods to find black people (offering them
beets
The beetroot is the taproot portion of a beet plant, usually known in North America as beets while the vegetable is referred to as beetroot in British English, and also known as the table beet, garden beet, red beet, dinner beet or golden beet ...
, measuring their heads, jingling cat toys). He is played by recurring guest star
Ty Burrell
Tyler Gerald Burrell (born August 22, 1967) is an American actor and comedian. Burrell is best known for his role as Phil Dunphy on the ABC sitcom ''Modern Family'', for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor i ...
.
* Levi and Cedric – Two inner-city friends who often get in rifts because of Levi (Peele) constantly joining new trends such as going
steam-punk
Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and Applied arts, aesthetics inspired by 19th-century Industrial Revolution, industrial steam engine, steam-powered machinery. Steampunk works are often se ...
or getting his own ''
Ratatouille
Ratatouille ( , ), oc, ratatolha , is a French Provençal dish of stewed vegetables which originated in Nice, and is sometimes referred to as ''ratatouille niçoise'' (). Recipes and cooking times differ widely, but common ingredients include ...
''. Most sketches end with Cedric (Key) getting fed up with Levi and calling off their friendship.
* Carlito – Played by Peele, Carlito is a Mexican gangster who believes that very normal or minor acts (including sitting in chairs) are "for pussies", and believes himself to be above doing such acts. He believes himself to be "the crazy one" of the gang, which he will go to embarrassing lengths to prove.
* The Valets – Two valets from the Berkshire Restaurant (who always use unnecessary plurals in names of people, places, or things) who love discussing their favorite movie stars and characters – despite mangling their names and films – such as "
Liam Neeson
William John Neeson (born 7 June 1952) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He has received several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Tony Awards. In 2020, he was placed 7th on ''The I ...
s" from ''
Tooken'', "
Peter Dinkels" (who plays "
Taiwan Lannister"), "
Bruce Willies," "
Michelle Pa-feiffers," "
Timothy Elephants" and "
Racist-Ass Melly Gibsons". They end the sketch by saying that something related to the star in question is "MY SHIT!", then disappearing, by ways such as flying into the air like a rocket or exploding. In February 2014, a sponsored sketch with the valets titled "What About ''Non-Stop''?" – in which "Liam Neesons" himself shows up to collect his car – was used to promote the film ''
Non-Stop''. Key and Peele also appeared in a parody of "The Valets" in one of the teaser trailers for ''
Toy Story 4
''Toy Story 4'' is a 2019 American computer-animated comedy-drama film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the fourth installment in Pixar's ''Toy Story'' series and the sequel to ''Toy Story 3'' ( ...
''.
* Karim and Jahar – Two lecherous Middle Eastern men on the lookout for beautiful women. Though they claim to dislike gay people, they often act in a flamboyantly feminine manner.
* LaShawn and Samuel – A gay couple with very differing personalities and views on marriage. Samuel (Key) is very intelligent and well-mannered and exercises restraint when making important decisions. LaShawn (Peele) is very loud and extremely flamboyant and is constantly thinking up often nonsensical and impossible ideas for their future.
* East/West Bowl Football Players – A series of
college football players (most of them played by Key and Peele) whose names become increasingly ridiculous as the list progresses, such as "Donkey Teeth", "Hingle McCringleberry", "Huka'lakanaka Hakanakaheekalucka'hukahakafaka", "Squeeeeeeeps", "Eqqsquizitine Buble-Schwinslow", and "Firstname Lastname". The West Team also features players from non-university organizations (such as "Nevada State – Penitentiary" and "Army – Navy Surplus Store"); the last player for the West Team is always a white player with a bland, stereotypically "Anglo" name and not played by Key nor Peele. In the third edition of this sketch, the fictional athletes were joined by actual players with unusual names (such as
Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and
Ishmaa'ily Kitchen
Ishmaa'ily "Ish" Yuwsha Kitchen ( ; born August 24, 1988) is a former American football nose tackle. He was signed by the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent in 2012. He played college football for Kent State University. Kitchen has also ...
); the last player for the West team was played by
"A.A. Ron Rodgers", in reference to the Mr. Garvey sketches.
* Metta World News – NBA player
Metta World Peace
Metta Sandiford-Artest (born Ronald William Artest Jr.; November 13, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player. He was known as Ron Artest before legally changing his name to Metta World Peace in 2011 and later to Metta Sandifor ...
delivers the "news," which usually takes the form of presenting bizarre hypothetical scenarios to the audience and his imagined approach to them. This is the only recurring sketch that stars neither Key nor Peele.
* The Black Republicans – A group of outside-of-the-box thinking black men (one member is played by recurring guest star
Malcolm-Jamal Warner
Malcolm-Jamal Warner (born August 18, 1970) is an American actor. He rose to prominence for his role as Theodore Huxtable on the NBC sitcom ''The Cosby Show'', which earned him a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series a ...
) who try to convert other black voters to join the Republican party. They are all shown to be similarly dressed in outdated fashion styles such as leather jackets, braided belts,
dad jeans
Mom jeans is an informal term for high-waisted women's jeans that were first fashionable in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In the late 1990s and 2000s they were mainly worn by adult American women and considered "old" by younger women. Hig ...
, and wire-rimmed glasses. Their catchphrase is "I am pissed, ROYALLY pissed!"
*Joseph – Played by Key, Joseph is a crude con man who fabricates facetious hardships so he can deceive others into helping him out.
*Dr. Rajeev Gupta – Played by Key, Dr. Gupta is an Indian-American doctor who works at a large hospital.
*The Continental – Played by Peele, a strange, eccentric man who opulently and hedonistically indulges in his hotel's free continental breakfast as well as flying first-class. It is unknown if he has
immortality
Immortality is the concept of eternal life. Some modern species may possess biological immortality.
Some scientists, futurists, and philosophers have theorized about the immortality of the human body, with some suggesting that human immorta ...
, stuck in
purgatory
Purgatory (, borrowed into English via Anglo-Norman and Old French) is, according to the belief of some Christian denominations (mostly Catholic), an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. The process of purgatory ...
, or just very strange.
*Rhinos - The name of sports teams of varying sport, often bearing unusually odd-acting team members. Rafi is a member of the
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
team Rhinos.
*Power Falcons - Often portrayed as a rival to the Rhinos. The Power Falcons is also the name of a fictional team of superheroes in an implied reference to
Power Rangers
''Power Rangers'' is an entertainment and merchandising franchise built around a live-action superhero television series, based on the Japanese tokusatsu franchise '' Super Sentai''. Produced first by Saban Entertainment, second by BVS E ...
, two members of which are played by Key and Peele.
Guest stars
*
Tatyana Ali
Tatyana Marisol Ali is an American actress and singer best known for her role as Ashley Banks on the NBC sitcom ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' from 1990 to 1996. She starred as Tyana Jones on the TV One original series ''Love That Girl!'', an ...
*
Utkarsh Ambudkar
Utkarsh Ambudkar ( ; born December 8, 1983), also known by his stage name UTK the INC, is an American actor, rapper, and singer. He is known for his film roles including '' Pitch Perfect'' (2012), ''Game Over, Man!'' (2018), ''Blindspotting'' (20 ...
*
K. D. Aubert
*
Sarah Baker
*
Malcolm Barrett
*
Tone Bell
*
Matt Besser
Matthew Gregory Besser (born September 22, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, director, producer, and writer, best known as one of the four founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade sketch comedy troupe, who had their own show on Comedy ...
*
Jordan Black
*
Wayne Brady
Wayne Alphonso Brady (born June 2, 1972) is an American television personality, comedian, actor, and singer. He is a regular on the American version of the improvisational comedy television series ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' He was the host of ...
*
Paget Brewster
Paget Valerie Brewster (, ; born March 10, 1969) is an American actress and singer. She was first recognized for her recurring role as Kathy on the fourth season of the NBC sitcom ''Friends''. Her breakthrough role came as FBI Supervisory Speci ...
*
Bo Burnham
*
Ty Burrell
Tyler Gerald Burrell (born August 22, 1967) is an American actor and comedian. Burrell is best known for his role as Phil Dunphy on the ABC sitcom ''Modern Family'', for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor i ...
*
Kate Burton
*
Michelle Buteau
*
Anna Camp
Anna Ragsdale Camp (born September 27, 1982) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as the villainous Sarah Newlin in the HBO vampire drama ''True Blood'' (2009, 2013–2014) and Aubrey Posen in the musical comedy '' ...
*
Larry Joe Campbell
*
Mekia Cox
Mekia Cox (born November 18, 1981) is an American actress and dancer, known for her recurring role as Sasha in the second and third seasons of The CW drama '' 90210'', Dr. Robyn Charles in the NBC medical drama ''Chicago Med'' and her role as a ...
*
Rob Delaney
Rob Delaney (born January 19, 1977) is an American comedian, actor, writer, and activist. He was the co-star and co-writer of the TV show ''Catastrophe'', and has appeared in comedy films such as ''Deadpool 2'' (2018) and ''Tom & Jerry'' (2021). ...
*
Julia Duffy
Julia Margaret Duffy (née Hinds; June 27, 1951) is an American film, stage, and television actress. She began her career in television, appearing in minor guest roles before being cast in the role of Penny Davis in the series '' The Doctors'' fr ...
*
Neil Flynn
Neil Richard Flynn (born November 13, 1960) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his roles as Janitor on '' Scrubs'' and Mike Heck in the ABC comedy series '' The Middle''. He has had notable appearances in television series ...
*
Daniele Gaither
*
David Giuntoli
David Giuntoli (born June 18, 1980) is an American actor. He portrayed Det. Nick Burkhardt in the NBC supernatural drama '' Grimm'', and has appeared in films such as '' 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi'' (2016) and '' Buddymoon'' (2016 ...
*
Fiona Gubelmann
Fiona Victoria Gubelmann is an American actress. She has appeared in a number of single-episode roles in television, including ''CSI: NY'', ''My Name Is Earl'' and '' Knight Rider'', as well as a handful of films including '' Employee of the Mont ...
*
Regina Hall
Regina Lee Hall (born December 12, 1970) is an American actress. She rose to prominence for her role as Brenda Meeks in the comedy horror ''Scary Movie'' film series (2000–2006). She has since appeared in the television series '' Ally McBeal ...
*
Colin Hanks
Colin Lewes Hanks (born November 24, 1977) is an American actor. He has starred in films including '' Orange County'', ''King Kong'', '' The House Bunny'', '' The Great Buck Howard'', and the ''Jumanji'' film series. His television credits includ ...
*
Ryan Hansen
*
Tricia Helfer
Tricia Janine Helfer (born April 11, 1974) is a Canadian-American actress and former model. She played the enigmatic Cylon model Number Six in the re-imagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' series (2004–2009). She also voiced Sarah Kerrigan in ''S ...
*
Justin Hires
Justin Hires (born June 24, 1985) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. Hires is known for portraying Detective James Carter on the CBS television series ''Rush Hour'', Juario in '' 21 Jump Street'', and Wilt Bozer in the 2016 reboot serie ...
*
Meagan Holder
Meagan Courtney Holder is an American actress, who is best known for her works throughout television. She portrayed Kelly Bowers on the comedy-drama series '' Born Again Virgin'', Evelyn Sanders in drama series ''Pitch'', Noelle Jackson in the ...
*
James Hong
*
Anna Maria Horsford
*
Clint Howard
Clinton Engle Howard (born April 20, 1959) is an American actor. He is the second son born to American actors Rance and Jean Howard, and younger brother of actor and director Ron Howard. His 200-plus acting credits include feature films such as ...
*
Ernie Hudson
Earnest Lee Hudson (born December 17, 1945) is an American actor. His roles include Winston Zeddemore in the '' Ghostbusters'' film series, Sergeant Darryl Albrecht in '' The Crow'' (1994), and Warden Leo Glynn on HBO's '' Oz'' (1997–2003) ...
*
Rob Huebel
*
Gabriel Iglesias
Gabriel Jesús Iglesias (born July 15, 1976), also known as Fluffy, is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He has produced a number of stand-up specials for television outlets such as Comedy Central and Netflix, including ''I'm Not Fat… ...
*
Nicole Randall Johnson
Nicole Randall Johnson (born December 9, 1973) is an American actress, writer and producer. Johnson is most notable for her membership in the recurring cast of performers on the sketch comedy series ''MADtv''.
Biography
Johnson was born in Los ...
*
Matt Jones
*
Rashida Jones
Rashida Leah Jones (; born February 25, 1976) is an American actress.
Jones appeared as Louisa Fenn on the Fox drama series '' Boston Public'' (2000–2002), as Karen Filippelli on the NBC comedy series ''The Office'' (2006–2009; 2011), and ...
*
King Bach
Andrew Byron Bachelor (born June 26, 1988), also known as King Bach is a Canadian-American Internet personality and actor who rose to fame on the now-defunct video sharing service Vine, where he had 16.2 million followers, making him the most fol ...
*
Art LaFleur
Art LaFleur (September 9, 1943 – November 17, 2021) was an American character actor and acting coach.
Life and career
LaFleur was born in Gary, Indiana. He played football in 1962 as a redshirt at the University of Kentucky under Coach Charl ...
*
Lauren Lapkus
Dorthea Lauren Allegra Lapkus (born September 6, 1985) is an American actress and comedian. Lapkus is known for portraying Susan Fischer in the Netflix comedy-drama series ''Orange Is the New Black'' (2013–2014, 2019) and Jess in the HBO come ...
*
Natasha Leggero
Natasha Leggero () (born March 26, 1974) is an American comedian, actress and writer. She rose to fame after appearing as the host of the MTV reality television series '' The 70s House'' in 2005, and as a regular roundtable panelist on Chelsea Ha ...
*
Tiny Lister
Tommy Deebo "Tiny" Lister Jr. (born Thomas Duane Lister Jr.; June 24, 1958 – December 10, 2020) was an American character actor and occasional professional wrestler known for his roles as the neighborhood bully Deebo in the 1995 film ''Friday' ...
*
Kristanna Loken
*
Melanie Lynskey
Melanie Jayne Lynskey ( ; born 16 May 1977) is a New Zealand actress widely known for her portrayals of complex women in several independent films and television shows and also known for her command of American dialects.
Lynskey is the recipi ...
*
Hayes MacArthur
Hayes MacArthur (born April 16, 1977) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. He starred in the TBS comedy series ''Angie Tribeca''.
Early life
MacArthur was born in Chicago to Bruce and Shelley MacArthur. His stepfather is businessman ...
*
Romany Malco Romany relates or may refer to:
*The Romani people or Romany people, also known as Gypsies
*Romani language or Romany language, the language of the Romani people
*"Romany", the pseudonym of a broadcaster and writer of Romani descent, George Bramwel ...
*
Ken Marino
Kenneth Joseph Marino (born December 19, 1968) is an American actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. He was a cast member on MTV's ''The State'' and has starred in shows such as '' Party Down'', '' Marry Me'', '' Burning Love'', and '' Chil ...
*
Alphonso McAuley
Alphonso McAuley (born April 21, 1979) is an American actor and social media personality. McAuley played Cassius Sparks on Fox's comedy television series '' Breaking In'' and played Hutch in ABC's '' The Middle''.
Early life and education
Mc ...
*
Jack McBrayer
Jack McBrayer (; born May 27, 1973) is an American actor and comedian, who gained national exposure for his portrayal of characters on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' and as Kenneth Parcell in '' 30 Rock''. For his role in ''30 Rock'' he was ...
*
Kate Micucci
Kate Micucci ( ; born March 31, 1980) is an American actress, comedian and musician who is half of the musical comedy duo Garfunkel and Oates. Some of her roles include Stephanie Gooch in '' Scrubs'', Ally in '' 'Til Death'', Shelley in '' Rai ...
*
Jerry Minor
Jerome Charles Minor Jr. (born October 4, 1969) is an American actor, comedian and writer known for his comedic roles in numerous television programs such as ''Mr. Show'', ''Saturday Night Live'', ''Trigger Happy TV#US version, Trigger Happy TV'' ...
*
Mark Moses
Mark W. Moses (born February 24, 1958) is an American actor, best known for his roles as Paul Young in the ABC comedy-drama ''Desperate Housewives'' (2004–2011) and as Herman "Duck" Phillips in the AMC period drama ''Mad Men'' (2007–2014).
...
*
Arden Myrin
Arden VanAmringe Myrin () is an American actress and comedian. Myrin was a cast member on the Netflix series '' Insatiable'', playing the role of Regina Sinclair, and starred in the world premiere of Steve Martin's play ''Meteor Shower'' at the ...
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Danielle Nicolet
Danielle Nicolet (born Danielle Diggs; November 24, 1973) is an American actress. She has made appearances on shows such as ''3rd Rock from the Sun'' (1996–2001), '' Second Time Around'' (2004–05), '' The Starter Wife'' (2008), '' Family Too ...
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Dean Norris
Dean Joseph Norris (born April 8, 1963) is an American actor. He is best known for playing DEA agent Hank Schrader on the AMC series ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–2013) and its spin-off '' Better Call Saul'' (2020). He also portrayed town council ...
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Adam Pally
Adam Saul Pally (born March 18, 1982) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is best known for starring as Max Blum in the ABC comedy series '' Happy Endings'' and as Dr. Peter Prentice in '' The Mindy Project''. He also starr ...
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Keke Palmer
Lauren Keyana "Keke" Palmer (born August 26, 1993) ( ) is an American actress, singer and television personality. Known for playing leading and character roles in comedy and drama productions, she has received a Primetime Emmy Award, five NAACP I ...
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Metta World Peace
Metta Sandiford-Artest (born Ronald William Artest Jr.; November 13, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player. He was known as Ron Artest before legally changing his name to Metta World Peace in 2011 and later to Metta Sandifor ...
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Mekhi Phifer
Mekhi Phifer (; born December 29, 1974) is an American actor. He portrayed Dr. Greg Pratt on NBC's long-running medical drama '' ER'' until 2008 and had a co-starring role opposite actor/rapper Eminem in the 2002 feature film '' 8 Mile''. He was ...
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Lance Reddick
Lance Reddick (born December 31, 1962) is an American actor and musician. He is best known for playing Cedric Daniels in ''The Wire'' (2002–2008), Phillip Broyles in ''Fringe'' (2008–2013), and Chief Irvin Irving in '' Bosch'' (2014–2020) ...
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Retta
Marietta Sirleaf,Jung, E. Alex Vulture.com, May 23, 2018. rchived https://web.archive.org/web/20180523214634/https://www.vulture.com/2018/05/retta-has-a-story-to-tell.htmlon 05-23-2018
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Kim Rhodes
Kimberly Rhodes (born June 7, 1969) is an American actress who is known for portraying Cindy Harrison on the soap operas '' Another World'' (1996–1999) and ''As the World Turns'' (2000–2001), Carey Martin on the Disney Channel sitcoms ''The ...
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Rob Riggle
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Jason Ritter
Jason Morgan Ritter (born February 17, 1980) is an American actor and producer. He is known for his roles as Kevin Girardi in the television series ''Joan of Arcadia'', Ethan Haas in '' The Class'', Sean Walker in the NBC series '' The Event'', ...
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Charlie Robinson
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Rebecca Romijn
Rebecca Alie O'Connell (née Romijn ; born November 6, 1972) is an American actress and former model. She is known for her role as Mystique in the original trilogy (2000–2006) of the ''X-Men'' film series, as Joan from '' The Punisher'' ( ...
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Andre Royo
Andre Royo (born July 18, 1968) is an American actor, producer, and writer. He is best known for his role as Reginald "Bubbles" Cousins on the HBO crime drama series ''The Wire'', and his appearances on ''Fringe'', ''Party Down'', ''How to Make I ...
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Will Sasso
Will may refer to:
Common meanings
* Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death
* Will (philosophy), or willpower
* Will (sociology)
* Will, volition (psychology)
* Will, a modal verb - see Shall and wil ...
*
Richard Schiff
Richard Schiff (born May 27, 1955) is an American actor and director. He is best known for playing Toby Ziegler on ''The West Wing'', a role for which he received an Emmy Award. Schiff made his directorial debut with ''The West Wing'', directing ...
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Jason Schwartzman
Jason Francesco Schwartzman (born June 26, 1980) is an American actor and musician.
Schwartzman made his film debut in Wes Anderson's 1998 film '' Rushmore'', and has gone on to appear in six other Anderson films: '' The Darjeeling Limited'' (2 ...
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Brenda Song (born March 27, 1988) is an American actress. Born in California, Song began her career at the age of six, working as a child model. She made her screen debut with a guest appearance on the sitcom '' Thunder Alley'' (1995), and ...
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Kevin Sorbo
Kevin David Sorbo (born September 24, 1958) is an American actor. He had starring roles in two television series: as Hercules in '' Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'', and as Captain Dylan Hunt in '' Andromeda''. Sorbo is also known for actin ...
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Paul F. Tompkins
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Malcolm-Jamal Warner
Malcolm-Jamal Warner (born August 18, 1970) is an American actor. He rose to prominence for his role as Theodore Huxtable on the NBC sitcom ''The Cosby Show'', which earned him a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series a ...
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Michaela Watkins
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Vernee Watson
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Stephnie Weir
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Gary Anthony Williams
Gary Anthony Williams (born March 14, 1966) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He voiced the character of Uncle Ruckus on '' The Boondocks'', and a number of video game characters. He also appeared on the television series '' Weeds'' ...
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Tyler James Williams
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Cedric Yarbrough
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Carlson Young
Carlson Elizabeth Young (born October 29, 1990) is an American actress. She is known for her roles on Disney Channel's ''As the Bell Rings'', the film ''Premature'', Comedy Central's '' Key & Peele'', and as Brooke Maddox in the first two seas ...
Reception
Critical
The first two seasons of ''Key & Peele'' received positive reviews, maintaining a score 74 of 100 by the review aggregator site
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
. The third season of ''Key & Peele'' received critical acclaim, receiving a score of 82 on Metacritic. The series won a
Peabody Award in 2013 "for its stars and their creative team's inspired satirical riffs on our racially divided and racially conjoined culture". On April 24, 2012, during an interview on ''
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'', President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
told the story of how he had watched the ''Key & Peele'' sketch on himself with 'Luther, his Anger Translator,' saying that "It's pretty good stuff – It's good stuff." Additionally, on April 25, 2015, during the
White House Correspondents Dinner
The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the president of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914, by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor t ...
, Key reprised the role of Luther, President Obama's anger translator during the event.
Dave Chappelle has accused the show of copying the format he established years prior for ''
Chappelle's Show
''Chappelle's Show'' is an American sketch comedy television series created by comedians Dave Chappelle and Neal Brennan, with Chappelle hosting the show and starring in the majority of its sketches. Chappelle, Brennan, and Michele Armour were ...
'', but states that he is still a fan of the show.
Awards and nominations
Extras
Vandaveon and Mike
Key & Peele have also created a
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
commentary of their episodes under their alter-egos Vandaveon Huggins and Mike Taylor. Vandaveon and Mike analyze an episode, and suggest that low brow humor would make it funnier. These videos were also added to On Demand offerings of ''Key & Peele'' episodes. On March 12, 2014, Comedy Central announced the network was developing an animated spinoff starring Vandaveon and Mike as 12-year-old hall monitors, in association with Key and Peele.
Home media
On September 25, 2012,
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programmin ...
and
Paramount Home Entertainment
Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, and originally Paramount Home Video) is the home video distribution arm of Paramount Pictures, a division of Paramount Global.
The division oversees PPC's home entertainme ...
released "''Key and Peele – Season 1''" on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
and
Blu-ray Disc. Both formats feature
bloopers, outtakes, a "Poolside Interview," audio commentary with Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, "Backstage," "Split Their Pants," Key & Peele live at the South Beach Comedy Festival, and an
easter egg
Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tr ...
of the show's theme song.
Broadcast
''Key & Peele'' airs reruns frequently on Comedy Central and
VH1.
The show
generally airs on international
localized versions of Comedy Central. It premiered in
Australia on
The Comedy Channel
The Comedy Channel (promoted on air as comedy) is a defunct Australian subscription television channel available on Foxtel, and Optus Television. The channel ceased broadcasting on 1 September 2020.
History
A joint venture between Artist Serv ...
on August 9, 2012.
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Key and Peele
2010s American black television series
2010s American satirical television series
2010s American sketch comedy television series
2012 American television series debuts
2015 American television series endings
Comedy Central original programming
Cultural depictions of Barack Obama
English-language television shows
Peabody Award-winning television programs
Primetime Emmy Award-winning television series
American comedy duos
Television series created by Jordan Peele
Television series created by Keegan-Michael Key