Since Key & Peele ended its epic five-season run on Comedy Central again in 2015, its titular stars “don’t see one another that always anymore,” Keegan-Michael Key lately advised PEOPLE. “Which is, to me, a tragedy.”
In case you’re in search of the juicy particulars on a messy comedy feud, you’ll must look elsewhere. The explanation Key not works a lot with Jordan Peele is principally on account of logistics. “Your lives begin to evolve and transfer in numerous instructions,” Key mentioned. “Shifting in numerous instructions” is literal — he lives in New York Metropolis whereas Peele lives in Los Angeles with comedian/actress spouse Chelsea Peretti. Residing a number of time zones away makes impromptu meetups impractical.
When the 2 comics met on MADtv, “it was an exhilarating time in my life,” Key defined. “We lived collectively for a couple of months and would write and speak about comedy — who we favored and why we favored them and the way that labored within the structure of what we have been making an attempt to construct comedically.”
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He credit their shared Second Metropolis background for his or her comedian mind-meld. These improvisational classes meant they “shared a inventive language,” Key mentioned. “Once we have been on digital camera, it was alchemy. It was similar to, ‘Why is that this working?’”
The work on MADtv was good, however it went up a stage when the 2 broke off on their very own. They caught to the script within the first season of Key & Peele however leaned on these Second Metropolis chops because the present progressed. “It wasn’t until the second season, third season that (we’d) loosen up and improvise,” he mentioned. “And we wrote some sketches that have been simply very unusual and bizarre. And that was a enjoyable a part of the evolution.”
The 2 comedians’ efficiency types additionally developed over the course of its 5 seasons. “I used to be taking part in the clown extra and doing extra bodily comedy to start with of our time collectively,” Key defined. “After which I discovered myself evolving into taking part in extra of the straight roles and teeing up Jordan to play the clown.”
The comics labored collectively on extra initiatives after the present ended — 2016’s Keanu and offering voices for Toy Story 4 and Wendell & Wild — however it’s been a minute for the reason that two appeared on display screen with one another. “Our evolution, I believe, is tied to each of what our needs are,” Key continued. “His want was to start out exploring the horror style, and my want was to do extra dramatic work like I had been skilled in class.”
None of it, although, would have been attainable with out Key & Peele. “Each of us jumped to a different platform,” Key mentioned, “however we wanted that first platform.”
