Keegan-Michael Key
Keegan-Michael Key
Keegan-Michael Keyis an American actor, writer, and comedian. He starred in the Comedy Central sketch series Key & Peele and co-stars in the USA Network comedy series Playing House. He spent six seasons as a cast member on MADtv and has made several guest appearances on Whose Line is it Anyway?. In 2014, he also starred in the first season of the FX series Fargo and the final season of the NBC series Parks and Recreation. He has had supporting...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionComedian
Date of Birth22 March 1971
CitySouthfield, MI
CountryUnited States of America
I have always, or for the most part, identified myself as a biracial person. Much to the chagrin of a lot of African-American people that I meet, because it's almost like there's a betrayal, an intrinsic betrayal: "Don't do that, brotha, we need you. We need you here, in this fold."
I want people to say, "Oh my God, I'm laughing out loud at television."
I think the reason I went into theater, ultimately, was because that was one of multicultural groups. Because you identify with other people that share similar passions to you, so it didn't matter how much melanin was in their skin.
I have this little thing that people call Keegan-ese, where I don't speak English words at all. I just say stuff like, "You gotta toish the doish and you gotta maloish the hoish."
You can not have comedy unless people are behaving badly. You can't have it.
A poet can feel free, in my estimation, to write a poem for himself. Or a painter can paint a painting for himself. You can write a short story for yourself. But for me, comedy by its nature is communal. If other people don't get it, I'm not sure why you are doing it.
I'm racist against non-black people.
For me, as a child, I certainly thought that there were more black people in the world than white people.
Being a melting pot is what I think is great about being American, and also that we get to do something that other people don't get to do, we get to be a hyphenate. That's a good thing.
[Adoption] could turn you into an exquisite comedian. Ask Richard Pryor's ghost.
We[with Jordan Peele] wanted to do something with [Barack] Obama because we actually felt that Obama was kind of responsible for us even getting a show in the first place because there's this biracial person who might, you know, have to ride the divide between two different races.
My father has passed away. He was African-American. My mother is white. So I was adopted by a couple that was of a similar dynamic as my biological parents.
Like every human we have to categorize ourselves, so you kind of start to build a mythos 'cause I had no information about [ biological mother]. So you have to build a mythos around yourself. And so my mythos included me not being wanted or me being a wretched person, which is just great fertilizer for comedy.
There is no top. You are never going to reach the top if you go for success. That way lies madness.