Top 5 'Key And Peele' Sketches

TV & Film

Feb 8

In the pantheon of comedy sketches, the top of the list is, of course, Monty Python. Arguably the most influential comedy group of all time, comedy wouldn’t be the same without them. However, that doesn’t mean that they’re the only ones. The comedy duo of Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key have created some of the most hilarious skits that you can find now, and they’re also worth taking a look at. From 2012-2015, Key and Peele brought laughter to the world from their show on Comedy Central, and it’s worth looking at their top five sketches. I will say that as a man who sold mattresses for over four years, I have to put the mattress sales sketch as an honorable mention. That aside, in no particular order outside of the top spot…

5. Inner City Hogwarts

Like any good comedians, the duo knows how to take something familiar and completely turn it on its head. Case in point, we’ve all seen/read the Harry Potter series, so the idea of a magic school is familiar to us. The duo combines the familiarity of Hogwarts with the stereotypical underfunded inner city high school, with Peele playing the put-upon headmaster who is trying to downplay how crazy things are, and Key playing a sort of Mad Eye Moody character who has a far more realistic and pessimistic outlook on everything. Every time Peele’s headmaster forces a grin on his face and insists that all of his students are good kids, Key’s security officer shoots it down, to hysterical results. The dichotomy is a joy to watch and showcases how well they play off of each other. The wand with the silencer, the student turned into a cat, and kids playing quidditch on mops and swiffers are highlights.

Though, as several commenters on YouTube noted, it’s still probably a safer school than Hogwarts.

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4. Prison Guard

In every bit of media involving guards and prisoners, the prisoner inevitably asks the guard to let them go. In this sketch, we finally get the answer to “what if the guard said yes?” The answer is hilarious. Naturally, it gets crazier the more the guard lets the prisoner out, to the point where even the prisoner is asking the guard if this is really what he wants to do, while he is wondering how he can possibly use this odd scenario to actually escape. It’s also a great showcase of how the two of them completely morph into their characters, especially Key as the dumb security guard. The end should be predictable, but it isn’t, and it definitely sticks the landing.

3. Drug Deal

A lot of humor often comes from a setup of “what if we changed how this scenario plays out just a bit”, and this sketch is the perfect example of that. Set during a stereotypical drug deal in the Mexican desert, the skit sees the pair as the sellers who ask to count the money before they turn the drugs over. The buyers agree, and in a twist, the pair take the money out of the truck and begin counting it one bill at a time instead of in the stacks, causing much confusion and irritation from the buyers. Realizing that it’s taking too long, the pair decide to cycle through various methods to count things faster before ultimately landing on the Rain Man technique and tossing the money in the air. I dare not spoil what happens from there, but it’s awesome. Hank from Breaking Bad in a ludicrous fake mustache as the drug kingpin is also a delight.

2. East/West Bowl

This is probably the duo’s simplest sketch. It’s just three sketches of a college football bowl game, where each player (most played by Key or Peele themselves) says their names and what school they’re from. As the list goes on, the names get more and more absurd, including ones that aren’t even names, such as construction noises. According to Key, the idea for the skit came from when one of them was playing an older Madden game and saw Jets offensive lineman D’Brickashaw Ferguson’s name, and it blew up from there. The skit also does an amazing job showcasing the amazing makeup and hairstyling that the series always nailed. Somehow, despite having dozens of players that they portray, each one of them looks completely different. Each one feels like a unique character, all by changing a few mannerisms and the hair. It’s brilliant. The fact that somehow they did three of these and the joke never got old is a testament to the writing and creativity of the team. The third one actually features several actual NFL players who would fit in this, including the aforementioned D’Brickashaw Ferguson and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix.

1. Substitute Teacher

Substitute Teacher A-A-Ron — Image Source: YouTube

Let’s be real here, everybody knows that this would be number one. If you’ve never even seen a Key and Peele sketch, you’ve doubtlessly heard the mad substitute teacher’s “inner city” pronunciations of his new students’ names.

It ruined the lives of people named “A-A-Ron” forever. I would know: I’ve asked several. People named Blake, Jessica, Denise, Jacqueline, and Timothy didn’t fare much better, though A-A-Rons probably got the worst of it. If somebody named Aaron ever runs for president of the United States, he will have to endure A-A-Ron jokes throughout the entire campaign.

The star of the show is obviously Key as the psychotic substitute teacher Mr. Garvey, but the unsung heroes of the skit are the students who have to play off of him. It’s a testament to the writing and the acting that you get a feel for each of their personalities in just a few sentences. Every line here hits, from the increasing rage of Mr. Garvey to the growing fear of the class. Frankly, it’s a pair of perfect skits. It’s hard to get one skit this good, and the fact that the follow-up is, while nowhere near as iconic, still just as funny. It’s one of the major classics in all of sketch comedy for a reason.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get a ton of the duo. At only 53 episodes, their run was fairly short, all things considered. Maybe that’s for the best, though. Nobody would like it if, in ten years, they were still producing content but clearly phoning it in. Least of all the duo themselves. Either way, we have some A-tier comedy to look back on and a YouTube rabbit hole to go down for anyone who wants to binge on them.

Though anyone named Aaron will never forgive them.

Worth it.

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