We’re rolling through every episode of Key and Peele on Pop Thruster. Here we go with “Alien Imposters,” Season 4 Episode 1. Follow along on the journey!
Also: check out ALL 351 Key & Peele Sketches Ranked (In Painstakingly Funny Detail)!
The Getaway
“We’re doing it at the same time is the problem.” – Key
On top of so many other outstanding qualities, K&P have the rangy ability to find comedic material in both the big picture and the minutiae of everyday life. We get a short, sweet look at the latter here in the form of that thing we’ve all gone through when someone is trying to unlock a car door just when someone else is trying to open the same door on the other side. Except here, they up the ante by way of a getaway car moments after a bank robbery.
Key & Peele On the Road: Part One
“You’re talking about a hedgehog!” – Peele
I know I’m not the only K&P superfan who deeply enjoys moments when it feels like the “real” Keegan Michael-Key and Jordan Peele are chitchatting as they might in real life (IRL, as the kids say… a generation or two back, anyway). Here we get the boys on a road trip somewhere Out West in a series of interstitial scenes (instead of the live show set-ups that were featured during K&P’s first three seasons) simply musing about the existence of aliens, homophobia, country music (and electronica!), and it’s all fun, funny, and great.
Alien Imposters
“Redneck wants us to move into his community? Us?” – Peele
In the post-apocalyptic world that K&P exist in,these aliens are scary good at pretending to be humans, although they have one fatal flaw. This sketch does a great job at comedically posing the question of, “What if aliens with ill intent came to planet Earth but had zero clue what racism was all about?”
Basic Training
“I’ll probably end up homeless out in the dark, to get played onscreen by Marky Mark.” – Drill Sergeant
Key is a drill sergeant who enjoys doing those call-and-response military cadence-type songs with his troops, but they may not be totally down for where he’s headed.
Gay Wedding
“When do we sing YMCA?” – Lance Reddick
Cousin Delroy, who happens to be gay, is getting married so Larry (Peele) brings in his gay co-worker Gary (Key) to take the Johnson family through the particulars. Poor Gary is put into a position of kindly but firmly explaining that a gay wedding is exactly like a “straight wedding,” even in the face of ever more baffling questions from the family – which features great guest stars, including Lance Reddick (it’s a shame he didn’t do more comedic work in his career!) and Romany Malco of Weeds fame) – such as “Where do you get the Euros to buy gay gifts?”
Bring It In, Bring It In
“What’s up fam? You know this!” – President Obama
Peele is back as President Obama, with the simple but hilarious premise that he handles greetings and handshakes with Black constituents a little bit more enthusiastically. Sidenote that from the perspective of the early days of Trump’s second administration, it’s painfully nostalgic to look back on an era where presidential satire is based on a person who is so clearly competent, good natured, and wise.
Hillbilly Bar Chatter
“They worked their asses off, and they got strong family values.” – Peele
K&P are two super hillbilly-looking dudes – Peele sporting a Confederate flag hat – at a country bar who talk about various racial groups in the U.S. in a surprisingly fact-based, supportive, and positive manner. While the joke here is clear and cleverly executed, it reminds us from the vantage point of the mid-2020s that Trump saw a shocking surge in support in 2024 across an array of minority groups versus how he performed in 2016 and 2020.
Hits Countdown Live
“Miracle, next question!” – Mother Majesty
It’s a TRL-style MTV-ish show set in Hollywood, with host Scratch Jackson (Peele) interviewing Mother Majesty (Key, in multi-colored purple wig and pink tutu). While Mother Majesty is all about girl power and female empowerment, the message of owning one’s sexuality doesn’t necessarily translate to her Girl Army of preteen superfans. This one has a real message and is well produced, but the comedy gets a little lost in translation.
Some stats and info about Key & Peele, “Alien Imposters”
TV SHOW – Key and Peele
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 4, Episode 1
AIRED ON – September 24th, 2014
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – Comedy Central/Hulu
GENRE – Comedy, Sketch Comedy
CREATED BY – Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele