Redefining lines with a mixed perspective
Good sketch comedy is not just something to make you laugh. To be a ground breaking sketch comedy show and widely revered, you need to have great timing and social impact. Key & Peele’s comedic insights are brilliantly creative and well-polished due to many years of practice. Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele have been a dynamic duo in sketch comedy for over a decade now, and are just now peaking at their craft. The show Key and Peele is the product of said peek. Denotatively, its meaning is a successful sketch Comedy Show on Comedy Central which has brought in tons of viewership and money for the network. Its connotative meaning is somewhat of a cultural icon for the new “standard” for a sketch comedy show, something that blends racially conjoined comedy well. With sketches relatable to our everyday lives, such as Obama and Luther, Mr. Garvey the substitute teacher, ridiculous football player names, it’s hard not to watch and way an opinion on it. The sketches have gained much notoriety via internet, some having over 50,000,000 views on YouTube. As a show, it has been compared to the greatness that is Chappelle’s show, some saying it will never reach that level, some say it’s there, and some say it can get there. Whichever way your opinion sways, you can’t deny the cultural relevance of the show.
Why do people gravitate to Key and Peele? Why did it blow up the way it did? Because they stick to what they know. What they know is the modern day struggles of biracial people. In an interview with the two on NPR, they explained one of their sketches, the Obama and Luther skit which has President Obama, played by Keegan-Michael Key, speaking to the people with an angry black translator, Jordan Peele. Inspired by a state of the union address where Obama was called a liar for not showing proof of his birth certificate, they felt Obama cannot rightfully defend himself in that situation the way a normal American could. That’s where Luther comes in, he is Obama’s anger translator, he takes the angry part of Obama, the part that wants to speak but can’t, and amplifies and exaggerates it. Majority of his rants (because it’s a recurring sketch) pertain to race, also a lot to do with the 2012 presidential election at the time. The sketches were up-to-date in the election, with actual topics relevant at the time. Their political viewpoints were something a lot of people could agree with, as well as a way to put certain viewpoints into an easier way to understand. This is what I meant by timing, because their biracial perspective goes perfectly with our biracial president.
Traditionally, sketch comedy is not a form that’s been overly concerned with how it looks. Jokes and punchlines are the point, not visual flair — it’s rare that you even think of the person directing things from behind the camera. Cinematography also sets Key and Peele apart from other sketch comedy shows. Director of the show Peter Atencio has strong feelings about the behind the scenes work, as he should because of the amount of effort he puts into it. In an interview with Atencio by the website Splitsider, he said he’d “rather direct short films than sketches, so [the creative team] approache[s] each one in the show like a self-contained movie.” He feels every sketch should inhabit a world and should be created and constructed with an individual focus on each aspect, such as lighting, costumes, production design, camera angles, etc. There is an emphasis on having each one stand alone in such a way that as quickly as possible from the beginning of the sketch you know where you are and what the tone is — it sets up your expectations.
Key and Peele has changed perspectives. It’s pushed the envelope of being called a “black comedy” to being a new standard of comedy. Calling Key and Peele a black comedy does the show a disservice. Nowadays, funny is funny, race aside. In the days of In Living Color and Chappelle’s Show, those comedies brought a black perspective to the table that wasn’t there before. Now Key and Peele brings another one to the table, being a show about race that doesn’t take just one particular side. The show prefers to point out the ignorance and hypocrisy and stupidity that exists in all races, using race to make universal points.
Reflective Piece
With this semiotic analysis, I wanted to reiterate basically what the team responsible for Key and Peele are trying to say: that the lines can be a little blurred now. I read that the director, Peter Atencio thought TV networks care more about race then people do. My interpretation of that is that networks always have a specific agenda and audience in mind per show, and the entity of Key and Peele is trying to alter that. I think the creative team of the show would agree with me when I say funny is funny and racial humor doesn’t always need a solidified perspective racially, but can be molded and mushed together.
I think I explained my points in detail and you can understand what I am trying to say. From my thesis: that there are different aspects that make it so culturally relevant, to my conclusion, I feel I follow a pattern. However it may be scattered possibly.
Works Cited
“Chappelle’s Show – The 15 Funniest Sketch Comedy Shows.” Complex. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2014. <http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2012/02/the-15-funniest-sketch-comedy-shows/16>.
“For Key And Peele, Biracial Roots Bestow Special Comedic ‘Power’.” NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2014. <http://www.npr.org/2013/11/20/246311451/for-key-and-peele-biracial-roots-bestow-special-comedic-power>.
Vargas-Cooper, Natasha . “Talking Key and Peele with Series Director Peter Atencio | Splitsider.” Splitsider. N.p., 31 Jan. 2012. Web. 13 Oct. 2014. <http://splitsider.com/2012/01/talking-key-and-peele-with-series-director-peter-atencio/>.
MLA formatting by BibMe.org.
Its all about perspective 