At the Tree House Humane Society, Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key sat comfortably, as if all press interviews take place in rooms crawling with cats. The poster for their new movie, “Keanu,” was set up opposite them and featured a kitten in a do-rag and a Kevlar vest.
Keanu is the name of said kitty, Rell’s (Peele) pet, who is kidnapped by a Los Angeles gang. Rell and his cousin Clarence (Key) are undeniably square and have no business infiltrating a street gang, but that’s how much the pair loves this cat.
“It’s for the realism,” Peele said, only half joking. “We knew we needed something in this movie that was going to be universal. … The idea of losing a pet is, I think, something that anybody can agree, you will go through any lengths to get that pet back.”
The concept of the kitten as the motivator came late in the screenwriting process and served as a source of ridiculousness in a culturally cognizant idea: What does it actually mean to be black?
It’s a question that the comedians dealt with frequently on their Peabody-winning sketch comedy show, “Key & Peele.” Peele has called it code-switching, and while both actors are biracial, on their show, Peele claimed, “You never want to be the whitest-sounding black guy in a room.”
When introducing a sketch on the topic, Key added, “On a daily basis, we have to adjust our blackness. … When you’re around other brothers and sisters, you’ve got to dial it up a little bit.”
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The sketches on “Key & Peele” could only fill a 22-minute show, but as a 98-minute movie, “Keanu” is able to take things much further. When Clarence and Rell step into a strip club called Hot Party Vixens (HPV for short), Clarence tries to order a white wine spritzer before Rell tells him he can’t talk like that here. So what language can they use?
“Language defines culture and vice versa, to a certain extent,” Key said. “And that’s something we were allowed to explore more in the movie. There’s a reason for pushing it that way. There’s dialogue—’I’m not going to say that word.’ ‘Well, we have to say that word if we’re going to fit in.’ ‘Well, that’s not up to me.’ And it’s like the floodgates open—they release the Kraken. And it’s just nothing but that word for the next 40 minutes.”
And it’s not as if Key and Peele didn’t swear on their show, but they were quick to point out that those words are bleeped on TV.
“In the show, we try to immerse you in a world that’s as accurate or at least as grounded as we can make it, but then beep! Beep! There’s nothing to be done,” Key said. “Then all of a sudden you realize again you’re watching TV. But in the film, hopefully you can sit, the lights go down, and then you’re in that world for 90 minutes.”
Recently, the pair said they had to sit down to record the fake swear words to be played over the movie when it airs on TV. “Mother father” is Key’s go-to because it easily fits over the more offensive term.
“And then the N-word, when you can, you turn it to, ‘Brotha,’ ” Key said. ” ‘Shut up, brotha.’ ‘Man, I hate these lazy brothas.’ “
“I put it as ‘N-word’ sometimes,” Peele said. “So ‘Tell these N-words…’ “
” ‘I’ve had enough of these N-words,’ ” Key added in his movie voice.
The chemistry that made their show and fuels “Keanu” is constant. Every interaction became a bit—every question turned into a back-and-forth joke that revealed their improv backgrounds.
“Key & Peele” aired its final episode last September, and in light of the tumultuous election season since then, it’s hard not to imagine what another season might have looked like with one of their most famous characters, Luther, Obama’s anger translator.
“Well, in my mind what I think a lot of it would have been Luther would be like taking throat spray because he wouldn’t be able to speak because he’d be all screamed out. That or packing his bags. ‘What am I supposed to do?!’ ” Key yelled as Luther. “You know what I mean? He’d have a really horrible case of laryngitis.”
“Luther is in Holland right now,” Peele said.
“Yeah, he’s chilling in Holland,” Key said. “I mean, it’s funny because we get tweets all the time from people being like, ‘Come on, Key and Peele, where are you? We need an anger translator for Donald Trump.’ We do? Why would we need that?”