We’re rolling through every episode of Key and Peele on Pop Thruster. Here we go with “Das Negros,” Season 1 Episode 3. Follow along on the journey!
Also: check out ALL 351 Key & Peele Sketches Ranked (In Painstakingly Funny Detail)!
Professional Basketball Mascot
“Blip… blip blip.” – K&P
Just two dudes, hanging on the corner, catcalling women. “Why don’t you come on down here, ‘cause daddy want a snack!” Key shouts. “Brisket. Brisket-y,” Peele concurs. This goes on for a bit, but… it’s not what they thought it was. “And that is a professional basketball mascot,” one notes. “That is a man in an orange rhinoceros costume,” the other agrees. Punch line: “Hell, I’d f— that rhino.”
Auction Block
“I mean at a certain point, it’s like, do they even know what they’re looking for?” – Peele
Savannah, Georgia, 1848. K&P are on the slave auction block during slave times in the South. Peele is on block B, Key block C, and the slave placed on block A keeps getting sold off quickly, with the increasingly baffled boys wondering why they’re not getting attention from the slave purchasers. Eventually, their initial stoicism yields to indignation of the “what’s wrong with us/what’s going on here?” variety. This is classic K&P, undercutting the searing tragedy of human bondage with absurd and hilarious satire.
Black Jeff
“Actually you don’t have to ask us to leave… ‘cause we’re gonna see ourselves out, and we ain’t never comin’ back again!” – Jeff
Jeff (Key) is out at a nice dinner with a white woman (played by Emily Maya Mills). I mention the “white” part because she wonders where “Black Jeff” is after he’s overly polite, in her view, when a server is a bit snippy with him. When dating a biracial guy, she argues, she should get the best of “Black Jeff” versus “White Jeff,” depending on the situation. When a different server comes over and nicely asks if they’d like bottled or tap water, Jeff counters with, “How ‘bout I bottle your ass and kick it down the stairs, man?” The rest of the sketch has Jeff toggling wildly between his “white” and “black” personas. Not only does this one smartly and succinctly satire what being biracial means in the U.S., it’s also very funny thanks to Key’s dynamic performance.
Das Negros
“He left the cat toy, man!” – Peele
Germany, 1942. Ty Burrell of Modern Family fame shows up at someone’s door and introduces himself as Colonel Hans Muller of the S.S. Much the same as Christoph Waltz’s brilliant portrayal as Hans Landa in Inglorious Basterds, Burrell is all friendly and smiles as he explains that he and his Nazi fellas were “combing the area for Jews,” but then discovered “that two negroes have escaped.” The camera turns around, and K&P are done up in 1940s era costumes and clown-like white face. The visual plus reveal alone is hilarious, as are their reaction of, “Negros here? Hell no!” In fact, everything about this one is a crack up, down to Muller tinkling a collection of little spoons hanging on the wall. “Ooh, that’s fun!”
Movie Theater Critics
“I loved that shot the first time… when it was in Nosferatu!” – Peele
Key is in a movie theater by himself, and he’s sporting an enormous diamond ring. He’s talking very loudly at the screen, which upsets the (white) patrons around him. But what he’s saying isn’t your stereotypical talk-back-to-the-movie stuff. Example: “Do not go into a crane shot right now, you kidding me?!” Then we see that Peele is sitting several seats away, and doing the same thing: “This movie’s got an inconsistent visual language!” The writing is exquisite as the two trade highbrow movie critic-y lines. Bonus example: “It’s a visual medium, man – enough with this My Dinner With Andre bullshit!”
Roll Up Or Roll Home?
“Don’t judge.” – Peele
A car cuts its lights and rolls into an alley. “You ready, homie?” “Hellz yeah.” K&P cock their guns, ready to hop out and smoke someone, but then Peele hesitates… “Hold on, we gotta go back. I just pooped my pants.” An argument ensues about whether or not that would happen to “a real gangster,” and whether or not a real friend would “make such a big deal out of it,” and so on. They get carried away, until those that might have gotten dropped get the drop on them. This one is more cute (if scatologically cute is a thing?) versus funny.
Some stats and info about Key & Peele, “Das Negros”
TV SHOW – Key and Peele
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 1, Episode 3
AIRED ON – February 14th, 2012
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – Comedy Central/Hulu
GENRE – Comedy, Sketch Comedy
CREATED BY – Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele