Summary

• Key and Peele brought adult-based humor to cable TV, addressing social issues through risqué sketches.
• Iconic characters like Luther, Obama's anger translator, and Meegan and Andre became fan favorites.
• Key and Peele's versatility shone in their memorable sketches, showcasing their comedic range and dynamic chemistry.

The best Key and Peele skits took a more risqué approach to the news of the day than on shows like Saturday Night Live thanks to its home on cable television. Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele created Key and Peele in 2012 after they both worked on Mad TV, bringing a more adult-based humor surrounding social awareness, race relations, ethnic stereotypes, and pop culture references. What resulted was five seasons, 53 episodes, and 298 different sketches before the show ended its run in 2015.

Key and Peele episodes introduced the world to several original characters that became popular enough to warrant repeat appearances. These include Luther, the anger translator for then-President Barack Obama, the awkward couple Meegan and Andre, The Valets who have an insatiable love for movies, and more. They also brought in their versions of real characters, including several sketches involving their interpretation of President Obama. With so many great sketches to choose from, the best Key and Peele skits stand as some of the best on TV.

20 Gremlins 2 Brainstorm

Season 5, Episode 9

In season 5, Jordan Peele took on the role of Star Magic Jackson Jr., who said he was a sequel doctor and made sure that when a studio "dropped a deuce," he was there to make sure it went right. In his first appearance, he walked into a meeting where the writing team was brainstorming Gremlins 2. While he initially insisted he was just there to observe the session, he quickly took over.

He then went around the table and asked people what kind of Gremlins they wanted to see, with each idea more ridiculous than the one before (and all ending with an idea for a Hulk Hogan cameo). The best punchline is that every idea he approved actually ended up in Gremlins 2, no matter how silly they sounded. Peele's enthusiasm for the ideas makes it a hilarious sketch even for those who have never seen the Gremlins sequel.

Stream on Paramount+

19 Laron Can’t Laugh

Season 4, Episode 5

In one of the most bizarre Key and Peele skits, Peele plays Laron, a man who has no idea how to laugh. The sketch has a group of friends in an apartment sharing funny stories. While everyone laughs at the jokes, Laron just starts twitching and convulsing without making a sound. No one has any idea what he is doing, but he admits this is how he laughs.

When he starts going over the top, convulsing around the apartment, while trashing things, it just keeps growing to ridiculous levels. It makes for a hilarious display of physical comedy from Peele, making this soundless laugh an ironically laugh-out-loud performance. The more exaggerated his actions get, the funnier it is that he is doing it all with a straight face. The punchline where he reveals why he didn't want to laugh sells the entire sketch.

18 Video Game Sensors

Season 2, Episode 7

"Video Game Sensors" is a Key and Peele skit that is funny because it is really sad - but then it switches gears and turns into something quite disturbing. A group of friends is playing video games and one of them is breaking down over the loss of his ex-girlfriend. At one point, he goes into his bedroom, and he is still wearing his gaming sensor, so everyone watches him have a breakdown through his avatar on the TV.

He has no clue when he returns, but then he sees a photo of his ex and goes back in, and they all watch him pleasure himself, with everyone gathering around the TV to watch his avatar replicate his body motions. Once the gimmick of the sketch is introduced, it is easy to see where it is heading, but it still delivers some great cringey laughs followed by a gross-out punchline.

17 Obama’s Anger Translator: Meet Luther

Season 1, Episode 1

Jordan Peele mastered President Barack Obama in his mannerisms and dialect, but the best of the Presidential sketches came when Key began to play his anger translator Luther. The joke was that many people said that Obama was too laid back and didn't show enough emotion. This caused him to bring in an anger translator, who said what Obama might have really been thinking as he gave his measured politically correct answers to questions.

This is a perfect sketch to show the versatility of the two comedians and how well they work off each other. Peele's spot-on impression is further elevated by Key's simmering rage and hostile outbursts, and vice versa. The sketch was so beloved that the real President Obama invited Key to reprise the role at the 2015 White House Correspondents' Dinner.

16 Manly Tears

Season 2, Episode 9

"Manly Tears" was a low-key sketch that packed a punch at the end. The success of this was building to that final punchline at the end. Peele was a gangster whose best friend had died. Key was a member of the crew, and he told everyone that they needed to hear what he had to say. However, when Peele's tough gangster can barely hold it together as he talks, Key's right-hand man cannot contain his laughter.

Some of the funniest Key & Peele sketches show them having fun with the tough guy personas of the gangster world. The sketch is set up perfectly with Key giving a stern warning to take this man's emotions to heart and see it as true strength only for Peele to be a blubbering mess that it too much to handle.

15 School Bully

Season 2, Episode 7

This is a great sketch because it touches on so many real issues – bullying, child abuse, the education system – in hysterical ways. It gets down to the deep-rooted psychological issues behind so many different mentalities in a high school setting that it makes the viewer's head spin from the exploration of the different perspectives involved while also making the audience laugh.

Peele plays a school bully who confronts Key's nerdy outcast. With his cronies behind him, Peele begins picking on him, but when questioned about why he bullies, he launches into an honest confession about his own insecurities. It’s one of the most emotionally invested and hilarious sketches in Key and Peele's history. Plus, the sketch gets bonus points for featuring Andre Royo – a.k.a. Bubbles from The Wire – as the bully’s dad.

14 Insult Comic

Season 3, Episode 6

Season 3 of Key And Peele introduced Keegan-Michael Key as an insult comic at a comedy club who begins his act by tearing into the crowd members, though he quickly meets his match when he comes across Jordan Peele's character, who has been visibly burned. The comic moves on to the next potential target, though Peele's character insists that he get roasted just like the rest of the comedy fans.

The sketch quickly turns uncomfortable as the jokes fail terribly and Peele's discomfort, pain, and cries through his electrolarynx were not only darkly hilarious but also touched on the delicate balance of appropriate comedy decisions. Peele's performance really sells it with his enthusiasm for being roasted only to immediately start crying. As an added bonus, there is a small cameo from Paul Walter Hauser as one of the audience members.

13 Text Message Confusion

Season 4, Episode 3

In most of their sketches, Key and Peele either play friends or enemies. Their chemistry is so incredible that they can either play characters who love each other or characters who hate each other. However, in this sketch, it’s like Peele is playing one of the friendly characters and Key is playing one of the contentious characters who found themselves in the same sketch due to confusion over the meaning of a text message.

This is a hilarious sketch because it’s a situation that people find themselves in every day. The duo play friends texting each other about making plans that night. However, while Peele sees the texting as being laidback and considerate of what each of them wants, Key keeps reading them as being a hostile and rude back and forth to the point that he is ready to kill his friend.

12 Gay Wedding Advice

Season 4, Episode 1

Key and Peele always know the perfect way to use the “straight man” trope from sketch comedy. In fact, in this case, ironically, the “straight man” is the only gay man in the room. Peele plays a mildly homophobic guy with a gay co-worker and a gay cousin who’s getting married. So, he recruits the gay co-worker – played by Key – to explain the ins and outs of a gay wedding to Peele’s homophobic family.

All he’s trying to say is that it’s basically the same as any other wedding, but they keep asking questions like, “When do we get to sing ‘It’s Raining Men’?” and wondering if instead of throwing rice, they throw couscous or Skittles. There are so many hilarious small details like one of the family members diligently taking notes while another cannot even make eye contact with the gay man. The sketch is also a star-studded affair with the likes of Romany Malco, Gary Anthony Williams, and the late Lance Reddick appearing.

11 Wendell's Pizza Order

Season 2, Episode 5

A recurring sketch from Key & Peele sees Jordan Peele as the obese pop-culture fan Wendell, who first appeared in the "Pizza Order" sketch from the second season that saw him attempting to hide the fact that he was ordering a large amount of food just for himself when questioned by Keegan-Michael Key's order-taker Carlos. Wendell pretends he is in a room with close friends which backfires when Carlos becomes interested in one of his fictitious female friends.

While it is a very simple premise, Peele creates such an entertaining and fully realized character with Wendell. His manner of speaking makes him all the more fascinating to watch and it is hilarious to see his plan spiral out of control with him feeding into the lie in some surprising ways. Wendell would continue to return in hilariously uncomfortable situations that included a fantasy-heavy music video and a sex addicts meeting.

10 The Andre & Meegan Saga

Various Sketches

It’s impossible to pick just one Andre and Meegan sketch because the characters work so well in every scenario the show puts them in, and their relationship develops over the course of several sketches, so their whole romantic saga gets a mention. From their first date to the whole jacket debacle to all the beatings Andre had to take on account of Meegan’s big mouth, Andre and Meegan comically represent a specific type of couple that everyone knows – the couples that probably shouldn’t be together, yet couldn’t live without each other.

It is another wonderful instance of these two actors playing off each other effortlessly. Subtle looks they share as these characters are hilarious. They nail the voices and the mannerisms perfectly and seem to enjoy playing the dynamic, making it unsurprising they became recurring characters.

9 East/West College Bowl

Season 2, Episode 2

There’s no way to quite describe what makes this sketch work, but it’s pretty clear that it does work. One of the most simple ideas on the show, the sketch just plays on the strange names of the athletes that pop up in college football games. It’s just one setup (East Coast) followed by about 30 punchlines, and then another setup (West Coast) followed by another 30 punchlines. And then there’s the final punchline: a white guy with the hysterically generic name Dan Smith.

The names of the football players in this Key and Peele skit get more and more outlandish, going from double-barreled to Biblical to bilingual to just sound effects. Even the names of the colleges they’re from become stranger and stranger. The structure of the writing works wonders for the comedy because it’s just one punchline after another.

8 Obama Meet and Greet

Season 4, Episode 1

Barack Obama has actually said that Jordan Peele does his favorite celebrity impression of himself. Peele played Obama in a few sketches, taking him from his college years to teaching Malia to drive to hiring an anger translator. However, it’s “Obama Meet and Greet” that is arguably the funniest of the bunch, as Peele plays Obama at a meet and greet in which he’s very reserved and professional with white people and very informal and affectionate with Black people.

When he reaches Key, he’s not sure what to do – until one of his aides informs him he’s one-eighth Black, and he says, “Afternoon, my octoroon!” Even those who didn't watch the sketch show before have likely seen the sketch play out as a now popular meme that allows people the opportunity to share their favorite and least favorite opinions on everything from MCU movies to Jay-Z albums.

7 Valet Movie Fans

Various Episodes

Key & Peele's hardcore action movie fans appeared in a number of sketches as they hyped each other up over their favorite films and actors including "Liam Neesons" and "Bruce Willys" while working as hotel valets who occasionally encountered their celebrity heroes. It is a joy to watch for any fans of these types of movies as their enthusiasm for recounting the best moments is infectious.

The sketch touched on typical conversations between friends at the water cooler but amplified to the extreme pure Key & Peele fashion as each subsequent appearance of the Valet Movie Fans escalated further and further like the very films they enjoyed discussing with so much passion. Also like typical Key & Peele sketches, they always rise to a level of absurdity as the duo's excitement eventually peaks to the point where they literally explode.

6 A Cappella

Season 5, Episode 2

What makes “A Cappella” work so well is that it’s a light, fun examination of a real racial issue. The sketch begins with Peele's character in an acapella group (led by comedian Bo Burnham) only for Key to show up as the new recruit. The characters both know that for whatever reason, the group of white guys can only have one Black guy in it, so they engage in a Highlander-like “There can only be one!” struggle to be that guy.

Everything in the composition of the sketch is considered. As soon as the white guys leave, the bright color palette switches to a darker, bleaker, grittier one. The characters’ voices change to a deeper, more sinister tone. Plus, everything they do to fit in adheres to stereotypes to win over white people. It is a biting satire with a bold punchline.

5 Alien Imposters

Season 4, Episode 1

“Alien Imposters” expertly uses a premise seen in a million sci-fi action movies – the alien invaders disguise themselves as humans – to point out racism and microaggressions. Key and Peele play two survivors using their race to determine if other survivors are actually human. While a redneck insisting he can help them is obviously an alien in disguise, they correctly guess a white woman who immediately brings up the fact that she has Black friends is human.

The set is decorated with post-apocalyptic debris and graffiti that advises all survivors to “Trust no one,” the shots are angled and color-graded like a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster, and the special effects make it look like a real movie. That helps to sell the satire of racism because it puts us in a real movie and then starts doling out the jokes.

4 Continental Breakfast

Season 3, Episode 7

Jordan Peele shone as an enthusiastic hotel guest enjoying the newfound luxuries of the included complimentary breakfast that truly touched on some of the stranger comedy elements of the series while eliciting gut-wrenching laughter due to Peele's reactions to the bountiful offerings. The entire joke is that he mistakes a "continental breakfast" for a breakfast featuring food from different continents. That simple idea gives Peele plenty of room to play around with this eccentric character.

The traveling guest's incorrect assumptions continue with his suggesting Froot Loops come from Rome and Danishes come from Belgium. All while exuberantly sharing in his delight with the fellow patrons of the hotel who do not seem as impressed. It is all capped off with a hilarious nod to the ending of The Shining only further cements this sketch as one of the best of the series.

3 "I Said, B**********."

Season 1, Episode 1

Along with the many subjects the sketch show touches upon, this sketch is a hilarious look at relationships and guys' attempts to look like they call the shots. Key and Peele played two married friends as they toured a new house together with their wives before the men split away to talk on their own, which soon turned towards typical complaints about their marriage that were geared around a particular phrase.

Each complaint began with an increasingly hilarious rendition of "I said, b****" that they went to greater and greater lengths to prevent their wives from hearing as they challenged one another. The comedians are always very good at playing characters who act tough but have a lot of insecurities. That is at the heart of this sketch as the sight of them hiding up a tree and still making sure their wives aren't around to hear their disrespect is hilarious.

2 Substitute Teacher

Season 2, Episode 4

This sketch proved to be so popular that there was even interest in adapting it into a feature-length movie about Key’s character Mr. Garvey in various other school-based scenarios. On the surface, it just seems like a silly sketch where a substitute teacher mispronounces all the students’ names and gets angry when they try to correct him.

However, it’s actually a very clever race-swapping satire, as the no-nonsense black substitute teacher who has taught kids in the inner city for 20 years comes to a school with a predominantly white student body and can’t pronounce any of the white kids’ names. The character returned for another hilarious sketch in which he is skeptical of several students having to leave early for school clubs he insists are made up. Each sketch is capped off with the hilarious moment of Key connecting with Peele as the one Black student.

1 Aerobics Meltdown

Season 4, Episode 9

The best Key & Peele sketches are the ones that are filmed and edited in a cinematic way, with convincing acting and engaging writing to back up the visual style. “Aerobics Meltdown” is a prime example of that, as it’s a dark take on perhaps the corniest subculture ever popularized. It also highlights the show's willingness to embrace surreal and completely outrageous ideas.

Initially, the sketch simply seems to be poking fun at the over-the-top and very dated dance routines of the aerobic competitions with Key and Peele showing off some hilarious moves in grainy video while wearing leotards. However, drama unfolds off-camera as the cue card man gives Key news on his wife's accident while also being consciously told to keep dancing. The switching back and forth between the high-energy dance video and the thriller-like story unfolding behind the scenes gets funnier the more it is dragged out.

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  Key & Peele

  Summary:

  Comedians Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele showcase their comedic and improvisation skills in Key & Peele, a sketch show produced for Comedy Central. Airing for 5 seasons from 2012 to 2015, Key & Peele pokes fun at a large number of topical and timeless issues with satirical humor.

  Cast:

  Jordan Peele, Keegan-Michael Key, Peter Atencio

  Release Date:

  2012-01-31

  Seasons:

  5

  Genres:

  Comedy

  Story By:

  keegan-michael key

  Writers:

  Keegan-Michael Key

  Network:

  Comedy Central

  Streaming Service(s):

  Hulu, Netflix, Prime Video, Paramount+

  Directors:

  Peter Atencio

  Showrunner:

  Keegan-Michael Key