Keegan Michael Key and Jordan Peele are black and white. That's them, that is their schtick and they do well by it in this absolutely hilarious sketch comedy show. Key and Peele are fans of movies, music, generational differences, sexual tension, politics, friendship, battles of the sexes; the list goes on. The duo tackles such subjects with an enthusiastic amount of absurdity, but also careful consideration. The show is shockingly smart, and really busts barriers in its tone and mind concerning standard sketch comedy affairs these days. The writing implemented comes with a strange amount of subtext and cleverness to be found in-between the lines that requires you to actually pay attention for appropriate pay-off.
Another aspect that adds to the brilliance of the comedy is the show's style, which is constantly impressive, yet able to adapt. Certain sketches take on different attitudes or even set-ups, be it mocking a serious kind of situation you'd see in a drama, or reality TV, or a History Channel documentary, or anything else, and takes on a visual/technical medium that feels appropriate and adds to the insane humor of it all. There's a sketch in one of the later episodes which is done in one long take that has people and items coming in and out of it, combined with pages of dialogue being rattled off like an Aaron Sorkin script that was written while he was on coke- the execution of this fast paced and hilarious segment is impressive on a level of expertise you just don't see in this kind of show, let alone on television. The show doesn't let up in going for such bold ideas, as ll as contrasting attitudes, with brilliantly timed dramatic music cues or self-serious cinematography. Up against the hyper-active and goofy writing, the show slaps you in the face with its genius, and doesn't stop topping itself.
Key and Peele are charismatic and hilarious enough individual personalities, not to mention as a team, and can wring laughs alone from their demeanor and acting. Coming from MadTV and various small roles in films, most recently in excellent mini-roles in David Wain's Wanderlust, they obviously have capabilities as comedic actors. Along for the ride, they bring in their very funny friends for bit-roles, which adds to the fun and already impressive comedic edge to the show. What's more surprising is that they weren't and aren't stand up comedians. The show is introduced and pretty much hosted from a stage for the two to set up the videos and just give banter- you've seen this in Chappelle's Show, Important Things with Demetri Martin, and so forth. Though they don't have much audience interaction experience, they handle the stage like pros, as if they've been doing this for years. The rapport they share is juicy and purely entertaining in its own right. It's almost exhausting coming from a hilarious sketch to a hilarious stage dialogue, and still not stopping.
Is there anything these guys can't do? Maybe, but this show shows no evidence of downfalls, rather, their eye-opening capabilities as comedic beings. Their ridiculous delivery of often genius premises is to be marveled at, for successfully blending comedy types for something special that can't be avoided, and can be enjoyed by generally all audiences.
Like it: Love it.
Continue to watch it: Looking forward to the second season.
