This week’s episode of Key & Peele is noticeably sharper than last week’s offering, but isn’t quite on par with the season’s pretty damn wonderful opener. Regardless, we have a few top-notch sketches, a Mad Max reference or two, and a Corbin Bleu a la High School Music wig at play. Shall we?
“What If I Told You That All It Took Was One Beard?”
The opening sketch spoofs the instantly recognizable ChildFund International commercials. Here, Key is Alan Sader, or an alternate version of him, walking towards the camera with an expression of utmost sincerity. The gag here plays on the “you can save a child by…” suggestion, purporting that all it takes is a costume beard to spare youth from being taken as child soldiers. This theory is tested with the arrival of a warlord (Key), whose cronies mistake the bearded children for elderly people. It’s one of those out-of-left-field jokes that Key & Peele puts into practice often, and a play on a very serious narrative that most television-watching Americans are familiar with. Admittedly, it’s hard to watch this bit and not think of a fairly recent SNL sketch, in which Bill Hader’s spokesman claims that “39 cents a day can save a child.” No doubt there are obvious differences, but the tiny details—most obviously, the Sader character—demonstrate that both shows’ writers had a similar joke in mind while mining this area for content.
Best Line: “That’s right, just one beard. And for a little more, you can give them a cane.”
Black on Black Violence: A Public Service Announcement
This sketch begins with Troy (Peele) wowing his all-white a cappella group with a “Motown outro thing” during practice. The introduction of Mark (Key) to the session quickly pits the titular characters against one another, as they fight for the seemingly exclusive role of “black friend” in stereotypically white scenarios. The juxtaposition of these uber cheery situations and their participants make Mark and Troy’s private, expletive-laced exchange all the zanier, even considering the larger joke and implications about tokenism. Specifically, the roles adopted by Troy and Mark—something that is exemplified through their character shifts in the group versus when they are alone—exists primarily for their white classmates’ consumption and entertainment. The humor then plays upon on a heteronormative aloofness that is harmless at surface level, but which ultimately excludes students of color by categorizing individual experiences in an across-the-board manner.
Best Line: “You think I’m gonna roll over like some falsetto ass mother fucker?”
Where It All Began: Meegan and Andre’s First Date
I feel pretty certain that some folks out there are over the recurring Meegan and Andre bit, but I dig it. For those that aren’t familiar with the sketch, it goes like this: Meegan is vain as hell and easily tempered; Andre is her submissive boyfriend, always attempting to reunite his beloved with her jacket. In this episode, we get a little backstory. During the couple’s first date, Meegan is characteristically detestable, and her thinly veiled attempt at being a decent person is a total failure. Although this sketch has a repetitious set up, this dip into the duo’s history makes it more fun than redundant. It dually refutes the argument that Meegan is a misogynistic character (a fairly hard sell to begin with) by leaving no doubt that she’s a—wait for it!—caricature. The specific characterizations that Peele employs, from that Kardashian-like vocal growl, the superficial, saccharine sweetness, and how she punctuates her personal digs with a disgusted smile, is absolutely delightful to watch. We all know a Meegan, and we’ve all seen a submissive, big-hearted buffoon like Andre dote on her. There’s also a hell of a lot of punchlines and clever quips (“I think we really complement each other well.” “We just did it right there.”) that make this sketch one of the episode’s finest.