What were the top Key & Peele creepy shorts and sketches? In this article, we’re looking at the comedy gold that combined the laughs and the thrills – often in equal measures.
Were you surprised by Jordan Peele’s turn to directing horror darlings? We had that coming a long time before, folks. Comedy has many faces – from flat-out simple romance comedy and situation-based giggles to Monty Python and their deliberately confusing, abstract understanding of it.
Then, there is dark humour.
Dark humour uses all kinds of twisted, disturbing ideas and makes us laugh by turning them around and showing the off-beat side of those. When it comes to filmmaking, some of the more modern masters of dark humour are Coen brothers and Quentin Tarantino.
There is, however, another big player in that game. Jordan Peele, set to becoming a marvel of horror’s new wave, has been practicing edgy, dark jokes long before deciding on a directorial career.
Along with long-time friend and collaborator Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele has been successfully running the show Key & Peele. The comedy bits of their making were usually entered around race jokes, but the duo liked going some truly weird places too. And in this article, we’re looking into their most bizarre trips.
The Most Creepy Key & Peele Sketches
When going through dozens of Key & Peele videos on Youtube, I found a few to be particularly perturbing and unnerving, however still making me laugh.
Take a deep breath and let’s into the world of the weirdest and creepiest that Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key have ever created. This will, most likely, make you stop wondering how come Peele directed Us (2019) and Get Out (2017).
#7 Psycho Clown by Key & Peele
Psycho Clown perfectly represents what both Peele and Key are capable of pulling off when it comes to setting the mood in their bits.
The praiseworthy set design is a straight-out nightmare from Saw franchise. The sketch brings two guys imprisoned by a painted-face killer, who vividly explain why dying next to each other is pure joy. Frankly, that’s what drives the psychopath more insane and turns his self-confidence into dust.
#6 Key & Peele – Andre & Meegan’s First Date
If you’re familiar with Key & Peele, you know that they don’t often come back to characters they create. Therefore, Andre and Meegan, the ultimate couple of heavy-thinking morons, is a different side of the show.
The first date of Andre and Meegan is filled with double-edged sword in form of Meegan’s blackmails. The innocent idiot she pretends to be turns into a vicious snake when the waiter’s poor service pisses her off. It’s the way she threatens the guy that shows the unstable character of Meegan, thus making her a perfect psycho for a horror movie.
#5 Key & Peele – Insult Comic
I was hesitant about putting this one in the list of the creepiest sketch, but its undeniably offbeat, disturbing feeling convinced me.
The piece is about a night with a stand-up comedian, who roasts randomly picked people from the audience. At some point, he finds that guy… sitting in a wheelchair, with burns on his face, robotic voice and cancer. Upon seeing the man, the comedian tries to steer away from the obvious landmine, but wouldn’t that be more offensive?
The sketch goes pretty dark with Peele’s character, plus it makes a perfect point of the borders we cross in dark humour. Key & Peele make you feel guilty for laughing here, and that’s what makes this concept creepy.
#4 Key & Peele – Sex Detective
A crime scene, a typical whodunnit setting and a detective with a rather unusual way of doing things.
This is one of the first Key & Peele sketches where the two cross a certain border and there is no coming back after that. It’s hilarious to observe Key as he loses his shit over the uncanny methods that Peele’s mysterious character puts in motion.
The whole sketch is pretty disturbing when you think about it deeper though. In the end, it’s about being aroused by brutal crimes. If that’s not creepy, then I don’t know what is.
#3 Key & Peele – Black People Telepathy
I like to think of that sketch as something that could easily be part of either Get Out (2017) or Us (2019). Maybe, it’s something that Jordan Peele will elevate in his third movie…
Either way, the idea behind this sketch is simple but powerful. A new, black employee visits his future office and gets to meet his co-workers. One of them uses telepathy to communicate with the newbie and things go awry from that point.
The very idea of people being able to communicate by telepathy within the same race is totally weird and what takes place then gets even more bizarre.
It’s What Women Want (2000) reinvented.
#2 Key & Peele – Aerobics Meltdown
My favorite sketch from Key & Peele is their famous workout routine that takes a terribly dark and unexpected turn.
This is pure gold when it comes to dark, dark humour. Two dancers participate in what’s glamorously called Jazz Fit Championship. The attention of one of them is brought to a set of whiteboards and the tragic information concerning his wife and kid. However, since this is live tv, Key and Peel’s workout session cannot be stopped.
It’s Key in particular who deserves every goddamn award for this performance. The comedian nails an artificial smile for the 80s camera with the genuine dread that’s brought by the news. The bizarre atmosphere is amped up by the perfectly catchy tune playing in the background, as well as the faultless smile of Jordan Peele. While it didn’t top my list, Aerobics Meltdown by Key & Peele is pure, pure fun.
Keep dancing!
#1 Key & Peele – Baby Forest
Can you hear the fanfares already?
Baby Forest is just pure horror part of the duo’s brain. I can’t even imagine how did they come up with this sketch. Because how do you conceive a baby that speaks with a rusty, but still babyish voice, and terrorises the guy that’s supposed to be its nanny? And, on top of that, this baby has a terribly VFX-ed face of Jordan Peele.
This is, by far, the most disturbing piece from Key & Peele. From Forest’s face that is basically Peele’s, cut out in the possibly worst VFX you can imagine, to the open ending which makes you shiver, Baby Forest lands on the very edge of comedy and horror.
This kid belongs to the horror icons gallery and I’d love to see Peele develop Baby Forest into a short movie.
What are your favourite sketches from Key & Peele? Share them in the comments!
Click here to read about the top 5 moments when comedian Bill Hader cracked up on live appearances on Saturday Night Live.
