It is with a heavy heart that I write this review, as it is fresh on the heels of Keegan-Michael Key’s announcement that the current season of Key & Peele will be its last. Ugh! While this positions us safely in the last leg of this show’s commendable run, allow me to pep up and proceed with a recap that feels much more bittersweet than usual.
OH, DEAR LORD—WHERE IS CHARLES?
This sketch follows a church chorus that falls to pieces in the absence of their choirmaster, Charles. I don’t know what about this sketch is funnier: the reason for Charles’ absence (he boarded the wrong bus and ended up across town), or the outrageous presentation of musicians needing a conductor to reach full potential. The conflict is set off when Key’s character notices that his neighbor (Peele) is singing the same note as him. Perhaps due to ego, both men can’t admit if they are at fault. This spirals into a disastrous practice that ends with the choir yelling at one another. It works well as an opener, although it’s a mostly tame offering that acts more as a mood establisher than a stand-alone, knock out sketch.
HOW TO HANDLE (AND SHOW OFF) A SEVERED HEAD
I gotta say, this sketch just doesn’t do it for me. I can appreciate the Dothraki-like costuming and cinematic visuals, but, regardless, it’s the least luminous of the batch. The joke here is that there is a decency threshold regarding gloating over a kill. Peele’s warrior flaunts an enemy’s severed heard, spinning it, waving it, and holding it high. It isn’t until he becomes crude with it (i.e.: pantomiming humping it, birthing it, etc.) that his fellow fighters groan in disgust. I do appreciate how Peele’s character attempts to test the limits, finding an obvious double-standard regarding severed appendage etiquette when he sets the thing on either one of his shoulders. And I did get a genuine laugh at the final image, when the head is placed upon a pair of sandals and manipulated so that it appears to be walking. Low-brow? Totally. But damn if it doesn’t get a laugh out of you.
THE WORLD’S MOST INCOMPETANT PRISON GUARD
This is where the show starts to pick up. This is a quirky bit that pits an incarcerated criminal (Peele) against an extraordinarily incompetent, totally nerdy guard (Key). Essentially, by way of intense gullibility and a low IQ, the guard releases his prisoner again and again upon request. Unfortunately, the prisoner never makes it far from his cell before being recaptured by more functional guards. This constant failure finally prompts the prisoner to share a hilariously pensive—and totally bullshit -quip (set to sappy strings music) about losing the desire to take advantage of his dull counterpart. Although it’s fairly repetitious and runs the risk of wearing itself thin, this sketch is overall exciting to watch, thanks to two polar opposite characters and an initial sense of unpredictability.