We’re rolling through every episode of Key and Peele on Pop Thruster. Here we go with “Bone Thugs-n-Homeless,” Season 2 Episode 5. Follow along on the journey!
Also: check out ALL 351 Key & Peele Sketches Ranked (In Painstakingly Funny Detail)!
Luther, Obama’s Anger Translator #5
“Hey, loosening up a little bit over here.” – Obama
This edition of the President Obama (Peele) and Luther (Key) pairing comes in the wake of an Obama vs. Mitt Romney debate during the 2012 president election season. It’s the fifth outing of Obama cooly opining with Luther translating/raging, and while it’s always fun, this one suffers a bit under the weight of expectations and the riffing off of specific things that went down during what I believe to be the final debate of the 2012 election season (I’m as big of a political nerd as anyone I know, and I don’t recall much about that one!).
Bone Thugs-n-Homeless
“We so hungry, we eat a bone.” – Key
This one is a Bone Thugs-n-Harmony parody that uses the word play of Bone Thugs-n-Homeless to pose the crew as homeless dudes who have fantastic harmony while expressing their unhoused plight. The sketch works much more on a musical level versus a comedy one, however.
Brock Favors: Substitute Reporter-at-Large
“And I’m 100% safe, correct?” – Brock Favors
Local reporter Brock Favors (Key) is back, this time “filling in for Chad Armstrong.” He’s broadcasting live from the police K-9 training facility, and seeing Peele as a mustachioed, macho cop standing next to him immediately cracks me up. And that’s before Brock plays the “assailant” to show off the training the police dogs get to attack baddies on command. Hilarity ensues. Example: “He’s eating my junk, get ‘em off me!”
Celebrity Name Game
“I’m not a Latin pop star.” – Peele
K&P and their respective ladies play a game where you have to name a celebrity based on clues (that doesn’t involve the celeb’s actual name). The fellas, who are teamed up, go on a little run of correct answers, and then Key throws out a clue about a celeb who pretends he’s straight. Peele blurts out, “Me!” Awkwardness ensues… for cast and audience a bit here. This is one that doesn’t play nearly as well today as it might have in the early 2010s.
Front Hand, Back Hand
“I mean, you literally asked for it.” – Lawrence
Tyrell (Peele) approaches Lawrence (Key) and his friends, who are hanging out outside of a store. Lawrence proceeds to goad Tyrell into playing a fake game called Front Hand, Back Hand, which is really an excuse just to slap the unsuspecting participant across the face. Except… Tyrell wants to complete that game. He wants to win, see? This one messes around with the weird games and tricks that people play on one another, but mostly it’s just silly and fun.
Dunk the Vote
“You’re telling me our votes don’t matter?” – Peele
A commercial designed to get basketball-loving young voters to get out and make their voices heard quickly goes awry when Key gets tangled up in trying to explain the Electoral College. From the perspective of the mid-2020s, this feels relevant. Too relevant if you can dig.
Mario’s Pizza
“You know what, let me gauge the room.” – Wendell Sanders
The very best comedy sketches start out hilarious and then ramp up another notch or two throughout (an example from another show: the iconic goddess of compensation sketch from Kids in the Hall). In this one, Wendell Sanders (Peele) is a heavyset dude ordering pizza over the phone from Carlos (Key), a pizza store manager. The first ingenious reveal is when we learn that Wendell’s massive order is all for him, and that he uses his geeky action figures around him as a proxy for the “party” he’s supposedly having (and to serve as a reason for the gargantuan amount of food he’s ordering). The next level: Wendell’s offhand reference to Claire (the action figure) intrigues Carlos, who suddenly imbues this name with all of the qualities he’s looking for in a romantic partner… but little did he know that that would put her (inanimate) life in peril. Straight up genius.
The Original Free Runner
“Then hike up your britches, and follow me to freedom!” – Harriet Tubman
The year: 1852. Key and a group of escaped slaves on the Underground Railroad meet up with Harriet Tubman (Peele). She gives an inspirational speech and tells the group to follow her, but it turns out that this version of Tubman is more of a parkour/free runner than the group can handle. It’s a cute idea that plays with the tropes of movies meant to teach/preach and inspire us about the Black experience, but the sketch doesn’t quite work.
Some stats and info about Key & Peele, “Bone Thugs-n-Homeless”
TV SHOW – Key and Peele
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 2, Episode 5
AIRED ON – October 24th, 2012
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – Comedy Central/Hulu
GENRE – Comedy, Sketch Comedy
CREATED BY – Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele