[MUSIC PLAYING]

KEVIN VLK: Hello, everyone.

Welcome to Talks at Google.

I'm Kevin Vlk.

And today, you guys know the two from the hit

show on Comedy Central "Key and Peele,"

and they have their new film coming out on April 29,

"Keanu."

So let's welcome Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele.

Hi, guys, how you doing?

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Good.

All right.

JORDAN PEELE: Happy faces.

This is cool.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Good working environment.

Not nary a suit to be found.

I love it.

KEVIN VLK: So welcome.

So tell me about "Keanu."

Tell us about the film.

JORDAN PEELE: OK, so "Keanu" is a film from a script.

This is very rudimentary the way I'm

going to be going through this process.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: You write characters using words.

JORDAN PEELE: There's words.

The English language is on-- OK, so a "Key and Peele" writer

named Alex Rubens and myself wrote this

a few years ago with the idea that at some point,

someone would come asking for a "Key and Peele" movie.

So we wrote the most fun movie we could think of.

And it is this movie that we were originally

inspired by "Three Amigos," and "Raising Arizona," and "True

Romance."

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: "Thelma and Louise."

JORDAN PEELE: "Thelma and Louise,"

movies that had this heart that takes us through it,

and putting our characters-- Keegan and my characters--

in the fish out of water scenario, this world

of high stakes crime.

But we wanted to give them a reason that

would ground this journey and make it feel real.

So we put a kitten with a do-rag on as the centerpiece

of the movie.

And eventually somebody caught on

that this would be a good idea, and it was New Line Cinemas,

and Warner Brothers made the film for us.

KEVIN VLK: Was the idea always to involve a cat?

A lot of people obviously haven't seen the trailer of it.

It's absolutely ridiculous.

And did it always involve a cat?

Was it like, let's make a comedy action movie?

Or what was the genesis of that?

JORDAN PEELE: It was actually the second one.

We wrote a draft of the script that

didn't have the kitten in it.

And then we realized you know what?

I know we are the two biggest box office draws of all time,

but--

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: We do amazing business

in Europe and Israel.

JORDAN PEELE: Say this goes to somewhere like

Thailand, where maybe the people don't know us as well.

Put the cat on the poster.

Boom, boom, signed, sealed, delivered.

We didn't expect that the kitten poster would just

be would be here as well.

We thought maybe we would--

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Maybe we'd be on the poster

maybe here in the States.

JORDAN PEELE: Not the case.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: But, I mean, you can't really

lose with a kitten named Keanu.

I mean, just walking down the street in Nairobi. "Oh, Keanu."

You know what I mean?

JORDAN PEELE: It's the kitten movie.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: I've got to go see this movie.

JORDAN PEELE: There's black people in it too.

KEVIN VLK: And Keegan, I read that you actually

didn't know that he was actually working on the film.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: I didn't.

I was at work one day, and we were just at work.

And he came up and said I've been working

on this thing with Alex.

And he's such a prolific writer, I was like, oh, that's good.

Good for you.

And he's like, no it's kind of pretty much a movie.

It's a "Key and Peele" movie for us.

And I was like, oh.

He was like, we're going to do a table read on Friday.

And I was like, do you want me to be there?

He's like, yes, yeah, Keegan, I wrote a character for you.

It's a "Key and Peele" movie.

And I think that first draft that we read,

the draft I read we read at that table read,

didn't have the kitten in it, right?

JORDAN PEELE: That's right.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: That very first draft, yeah.

And having the kitten also-- and it kills about six birds.

It's like a neutron bomb.

It kills about six birds with one stone,

which is a pretty weak neutron bomb, but that's just stones.

That's really just a big rock.

JORDAN PEELE: Six stones really.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Not a lot of technology involved at all.

So the kitten also serves to go-- I mean,

pets are so close to our hearts, and pets

are members of our families.

So it helps it helps justify a lot of things in the movie.

These two guys, what propels them,

the trigger that gets them into this fish out of water

situation is that we've got to save the life

of this innocent animal.

KEVIN VLK: You had talked about working

with Alex Rubens and Peter Atencio,

and you guys have both worked with them pretty much

all the way through with "Key and Peele."

So were they really the only choice

like, you're directing it, and you're writing it?

JORDAN PEELE: The writing of it started more

as a passion project.

Let's see if we can make our favorite "Key and Peele"

movie--

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: It was a spec script, right?

JORDAN PEELE: It was a spec script.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Yeah, so they weren't

commissioned to write it.

JORDAN PEELE: It wasn't very official.

It was like, hey, we're kind of in this position

where we can sell an actual movie at some point.

So that was that.

When they did decided they were going to make the movie,

Peter was absolutely our first choice.

We've developed a real rapport with him,

and he knows when to push us further,

and he knows how to rope us back in.

And he's also a master of genre.

I mean obviously if you look at our sketch show,

he's done a short film in every genre of film imaginable.

And this, in a way, is a genre film

in that we wanted to point to some of those movies we

were talking about.

That kind of early to mid-90s action comedy with substance

and heart where the bullets hurt, where the bullets are

real, as Keegan says.

So yeah.

KEVIN VLK: You have a lot of references like "Boondock

Saints" and "Heat"--

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Yeah, and things like "Boondock Saints"

and "Reservoir Dogs," but then also more commercial

stuff like "Speed," and movies that hark into an even earlier

time, like "Beverly Hills Cop."

It's the same thing.

Like, the violence has to be real,

and you're still laughing hysterically.

And nowadays what we just call that is being grounded,

so it's just like, keep it as grounded as possible.

It's the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard of,

so let's try to keep it as real--

have the acting be as real, have the violence be

as real as it can be.

KEVIN VLK: You guys have talked about where the name

Keanu has come from, and there's an obvious reference to it.

We know who it's about.

I mean, we know where the name came, right?

It's Keanu Reeves.

But was there ever a different name for the film

or for the cat?

JORDAN PEELE: There was a point where early on, we

talked about the title "New Jack Kitty."

One guy groaned back there.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: And that's all we need.

We just need one black guy to groan,

and that was never going to be the name of the movie.

JORDAN PEELE: But no, as soon as we

came up with that the kitten's name was Keanu, it was clear.

Keanu.

We love the idea of giving the audience a taste,

and having their imagination go what the fuck?

What's this Keanu business?

And hopefully there would be this word of mouth

and this discussion that would help

people answer the question, what's this "Keanu" movie?

That's the "Key and Peele" movie.

Who's Key and Peele?

Oh, you don't know Key and Peele?

Well, shit, look.

This is fucking substitute teacher!

So the word of mouth would kind of help

be a discussion, just like our sketches.

One of the great things about getting to work on our show,

it's this time where we make the perfect-sized comedy

for the era that we're making content for,

where people can share-- literally

share-- our bits with each other.

And so the fan base of "Key and Peele"

is really a familial fan base.

We always hear my brother turned me on to your show,

then I gave it to my dad, and my dad is now a fan.

And there's always this line of love that kind of

comes with our fanship.

So it's really awesome.

KEVIN VLK: Can you talk about your beginnings

of starting all the way back from "Mad TV" and "Key

and Peele"?

What made this work?

What made you guys say, you're my writing partner.

We get each other.

What clicked?

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Well, all of it, we met in Chicago in 2003.

And a mutual friend of ours, who was a member of the writing

staff at "Key and Peele," she said,

you guys have to meet each other.

You guys were raised in similar situations, come

from similar backgrounds, see comedy in a very similar way,

and she made sure that we met.

And just serendipitously, Jordan was working at a theatre

in Amsterdam, an English-speaking improv comedy

theatre in Amsterdam, like you do.

And they came to the States to visit us,

and so he was performing at the Second City

when I was performing, and that's how we met.

But so really what it comes down to is

that our training is the same, our training

comes from the same place.

So we were speaking a similar language before we even met.

So then we met.

So you add those two elements together,

having similar backgrounds, similar point of views

on the world, it does.

It means something to be biracial in the world.

Because you become this kind of racial referee,

and you're looking at the world sometimes very subjectively,

but sometimes very objectively.

And that is what fed the partnership,

is having the same nomenclature about how we do process,

or how we do comedy, the process of how we do comedy,

and then also having a similar worldview.

KEVIN VLK: So what influences did you guys

have growing up and establishing your brand of humor and sense

of comedy?

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: A lot of it is

we're both big fans of "In Living Color,"

and that's been a touchstone for us, that television show,

which, in a way, changed our lives comedically.

And the people that were doing the comedy,

it was amazing to see faces that looked like our faces.

But in the midst of that, another ingredient in the stew

is I grew up in Detroit very close to Canada.

So I used to watch lots, and lots, and lots

of British comedy, and Jordan is very well-versed

and enjoys British comedy.

So that's in our comedy too, but then

also, there are other influences.

We would be disingenuous to say that we're not

standing on the shoulders of Dave Chapelle.

Because to watch him, it's like, oh, there it is.

That's what we're going for, something in that solar system

right there.

But on top of it, Jordan, what I've always loved

is that you're a big fan of "Martin,"

and I would love if you just explained why you

like Martin Lawrence so much.

I love why he likes Martin Lawrence.

I like Martin Lawrence.

JORDAN PEELE: That's isn't to say you don't like him.

I was right at that perfect age for "Def Comedy Jam"

and for "Martin" to come out.

What I loved about him, the character that he played,

Martin Payne, on his show was so flawed,

and I love playing flawed characters.

I love this idea.

It was kind of a new idea.

I grew up with Eddie Murphy, of course.

And Eddie Murphy is like the guy who can get away with anything.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Eddie Murphy is Bugs Bunny.

He always bounces back.

He never gets loses.

JORDAN PEELE: And he's always on top of the game.

And Martin Lawrence, he was Daffy Duck,

who was always my favorite.

Because that's the guy who has been put through it.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Pronoun trouble.

JORDAN PEELE: And the guy who brings

about his own demise and humiliation.

And so I loved the way that Martin, as an African-American,

played that comedic archetype.

And it was this high status-low status

that he would get what he deserved.

And the whole time you love the character

even though he's flawed.

So, yeah, "Martin."

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: And then in the same realm, people

like Richard Pryor.

Richard Pryor had no qualms about being the one who lost,

or no qualms about telling stories about his life.

Most people who were raised in a whore house

are probably not going to make that be the front and center

thing they're going to talk about in their comedy,

or their life, or ever mention to anybody ever.

Yet it was a big part of what he did on stage,

and what he did in his life, and what his work ethic was

and his worldview was.

But Richard Pryor, to me, the perfect comedic monster,

the perfect comedic machine, is a cross between the actor Peter

Sellers and Richard Pryor.

If you mix them together, that would be it.

But all the British stuff too, "Fawlty Towers,"

and "Monty Python," "Mitchell and Webb," just yeah.

KEVIN VLK: So once you get to set for "Keanu," was there

a lot of room for-- obviously there's

a lot of room for improv-- how did scenes shape?

Did you do multiple takes of the same thing

with different things?

Trying different things, and oh, I have this idea for this?

JORDAN PEELE: Yeah that's where the experience

we had, and the style we developed on our show

came in handy, and that short-hand with Peter.

Because yeah, that's exactly how we would do it.

We would do any scene three, four, five times.

Once we have a sort of standard pass on it,

then we go crazy for three, and then we

do one called a 5K, which means we're just going for it.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Just do a fun run.

JORDAN PEELE: It's a fun run.

One for us.

Can we have one for us, Peter?

And he's go, uhh.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: I don't know, guys.

Is it going to be 12 minutes long?

JORDAN PEELE: Yes, it will, my friend, yes, it will.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: We can't afford

any 12-minute takes, guys.

I don't know why our director--

JORDAN PEELE: Turned into Marge Simpson.

Check-check.

Here we are.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Check-check.

JORDAN PEELE: Checkity-check.

One two, one two.

But the thing that we found on our show

is that whenever we're on the cusp of laughing or breaking

ourselves, those moments leading up to that are gold.

And the audience doesn't even necessarily know that we're--

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Not consciously.

JORDAN PEELE: About to break, but you can just

tell when we're having fun, when we're

setting each other a little off balance.

So we try to get into that world.

KEVIN VLK: What was the hardest thing to shoot for you guys?

Or the hardest scene to get right?

JORDAN PEELE: A lot of action.

It was very hot.

We were in New Orleans in the summer.

Whole thing was very hot.

The scene he's talking about where we're in the chairs.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: That might have been the toughest scene.

JORDAN PEELE: For some reason, yeah,

we were there for, I'm sure it was like, a 12, 13-hour day.

And just literally the exhaustion of being tied up,

and playing exhausted, playing hurt and drained.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: And screaming, and screaming,

and just screaming, and screaming, and screaming.

Every take.

Peter sometimes, got a little bit more?

You know what I mean?

JORDAN PEELE: So yeah, that was it.

KEVIN VLK: Got you.

We're going to start taking audience questions,

if you guys want to start lining up at the mic.

You guys spent so many years on "Key and Peele,"

and it was awesome.

So what did you guys learn most from that show?

Because you did, obviously, mostly sketch comedy,

so you're taking those little bits,

and now you're expanding into a full-feature film.

So what did you learn from there that you're

able to use in your feature-length film?

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: I was just going

to say that any given scene in the movie

has to have a beginning, a middle, and end.

And we had been doing all of these small, tiny movies,

so that's what you can that's what you can

glean from the shorter form.

The short form allows you to go, well,

every scene should have a purpose.

Clearly, there has to be a thread through the film,

and every scene has to have a purpose serving the one story.

But then it also, I think, naturally

makes you make every scene have a beginning, middle, and end,

so that the scenes aren't just going to go "bleh" at the end,

and you move on to the next scene, and you lose momentum.

And I'd like to think that we've manufactured a film where

the momentum keeps building, and building,

and building, and building until it gets to its proper climax.

KEVIN VLK: Got you.

And is there anything TV, or film, or Broadway,

or whatever that you guys haven't done,

and you guys want to do.

What's next for you guys?

JORDAN PEELE: All sorts of different things.

I just directed a movie.

I directed a horror film called "Get Out"

that I'm very excited about.

I'm editing it right now.

And I love writing-directing so take it!

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Oh, no.

It didn't come.

JORDAN PEELE: It didn't come.

That's going to hurt later.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: That's going to catch you.

That's going to jump on your back at 3 AM.

JORDAN PEELE: That is going to be a really sloppy fart.

That's how the biology human works.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: When you have a sneeze,

and it doesn't come, later it's a fart?

So if it doesn't come out immediately,

it becomes a butt fart?

I mean a butt sneeze?

A butt fart.

JORDAN PEELE: That's redundant.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: That's redundant.

[LAUGHS]

I had it all teed up in my head, butts sneeze.

I'm gonna go slay at Google.

Butt fart.

More of this, more of what I'm doing right now, more of these

is what I want to do in my future.

No, I'm going to be doing a lot of theatre,

a lot more theatre in the future,

and a lot of classical theatre.

That's my training.

My entire career has pretty much been a 19-year detour

from check-off, which is what my plan was

to do for the rest of my life.

So a lot more theatre, and a lot of the projects that are coming

my way now that I'm working around and picking our dramatic

projects.

It's lots of drama, so yeah.

AUDIENCE: Hi, there.

Thanks for coming.

This is fantastic.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Thanks for wearing those bitchin' shorts

is what I have to say about it.

AUDIENCE: Trying to be as bro-ish as I possibly can,

so I think I'm succeeding.

And also thank you for liking David Mitchell.

David Mitchell and Robert Webb, no one ever likes that.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Love Mitchell and Webb.

I love Mitchell and Webb.

AUDIENCE: I was wondering.

Is there something that you like or dislike

about like TV versus movie and vice versa?

JORDAN PEELE: As actors, there's a lot

of waiting around in both, which sounds like a dream job,

in a way.

But there's a strange stress involved because you're

putting yourself out there on the line,

and you're doing it within this collaborative process.

And if things go great, you get to celebrate it.

If they don't, you're the face of the disaster.

So that's present in both things.

I think the big difference, obviously,

with film than our show is it's like, we're

in there for two months, and then we're out, and it's done,

and it was this isolated thing.

So I prefer-- I think we both prefer-- the film

pace at this point.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Yeah, I agree with him,

but the advantage, some will tell you

from an actor's point of view, that television has is

that you can explore a singular character for longer.

If you're doing the long-form narrative,

it would be a wonderful thing.

It was a wonderful thing for Bryan Cranston

to be able to be Walter White for all of that time.

And for him, and Vince, and the rest the creative team on that

show to let Walter grow in different ways

and show different facets of his being.

Because when you have a 57-hour movie,

you're just going to have more chance

to show different facets of a human than you can

in a movie, which is why I think movies are harder to write too.

So that's my one little pro for television over cinema.

But I think you're right.

In regard to pace and work, you just kind of give it your

all, and it comes across as if it's a shortened sports season.

So you give 110%, and then you're done.

AUDIENCE: Thank you.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Thank you.

AUDIENCE: I'm a big fan.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Are you now?

I would have never guessed that.

AUDIENCE: Really?

I've been waiting for a long time.

I was wondering.

Can you talk about that casting process for "Keanu"?

JORDAN PEELE: Yeah, we did it old school.

We had auditions.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: And a lot of catnip.

JORDAN PEELE: We, as far as the actual cats,

there were three types of cats, and we

knew we were in for the whole litter when we picked them.

We went with the smoky gray.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Smoky gray over the tuxedo.

JORDAN PEELE: Family.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: We were going

for a domestic short black-haired tuxedo,

but we didn't pick him ironically.

JORDAN PEELE: As far as the actors go,

Method Man came in and auditioned for this movie.

You can imagine a couple years ago,

you write this movie like, maybe we'll get to do this someday,

hee-hee.

And then Method Man comes in and goes, put down the script.

Let's improvise.

Let's do it.

And he came in, and we literally jumped up,

and we improvised with Method Man.

And he's just holding it down, and he's grounded.

He knows all his lines enough to jump off and follow us if we're

doing different things.

And he already had the role as far as I was concerned.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: We never had the heart to-- well,

we were terrified to tell him that he did not

need to audition.

JORDAN PEELE: I came all the way out here from New York.

Flight was horrible.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: We really want

to see what you bring to the table, Method Man.

KEVIN VLK: Do you call Method Man, or did he call you?

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: We call him Cliff.

We call him Cliff.

KEVIN VLK: No, did you call him?

JORDAN PEELE: No, we didn't call him.

KEVIN VLK: So he wanted to audition for it.

JORDAN PEELE: Yeah, he came in, and the moment we

heard that he wanted to audition, it was like,

bing-bing, and he's here.

So that was super cool.

And then the gang in this movie, Tiffany Haddish,

Jason Mitchell, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Jamar Neighbors.

They all auditioned, and each one of them

brought this feeling of reality.

They're kind of like the "Bad News Bears" of gangs.

It's like, it's the Blips, the guys

kicked out of the Bloods and the Crips.

And so they're kind of extreme characters,

but at the same time, they really ground the thing

and make it believable when we're

talking to these street-hardened criminals.

They make the situation believable.

It's just such a talented ensemble.

KEVIN VLK: You have Will Forte too.

JORDAN PEELE: And he was kind of-- I

think as soon as we started looking for people,

we went oh, Forte, he is Hulka.

He is this character, so that was a no-brainer.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: He was the easiest.

He was definitely the easiest.

JORDAN PEELE: And then Nia Long wanted to come and play,

so that was also a dream come true.

Just very, very surreal, getting to put together this movie out

of people you've admired.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Yeah, like just a mosaic

of people that you admire, just opening up a box of chocolates,

like oh, we'll have this one.

Yeah, it was great.

AUDIENCE: So you guys have touched on this a lot

about how building on other ideas

is the basis of escalation, like the movie,

and also in the show.

So as a new improviser, it's really easy

to trash-talk an idea.

So I'm wondering how you build on an idea

without saying oh, this idea is wrong.

My idea is better.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: The first thing

to do is just always know that the rules that

have been established have been established for about 70 years

or even 80 years if you go back to Neva Boyd.

Neva Boyd was Viola Spolin's hero.

And then you have Paul Sills and all the Second City people,

and then here, we have the Committee

that was here in San Francisco.

So you have to worship the rules above your ego.

And now there's a bunch of different techniques

a human being can use to block ego that we can't really

go into right now, but that's the most important thing.

The most important thing to remember

is really, really brilliant people

have been doing this and going about it this way

for such a long time.

My big thing has always been like, I don't like that idea,

but then I go if it was good enough

for Mike Nichols and Alan Arkin, then

I guess it's good enough for me.

Because you never know what's through that door

if you don't open it.

So if your scene partner shows you the door,

it's not only your job to open it.

It's your job to open it with verve.

And so that's the thing.

The thing is, every mistake is a gift in improvisation.

Every mistake is a gift.

Every challenge is an opportunity.

So if you think of it that way, then

know that you're doing the art-- I

hate to make it sound scientific--

but you're doing the art correctly.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah, so don't worry about it.

Your idea might find its way into their idea

if you just keep yes and, yes and, yes and.

For those of you who don't know what improvisation is,

I've been speaking Mandarin for the last two minutes,

but these are life skills.

AUDIENCE: Thank you.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Mm-hmm.

AUDIENCE: Hi, guys.

A question about Keanu.

When you pet Keanu, did he prefer to be pet with the grain

or against the grain?

[LAUGHTER]

JORDAN PEELE: Come on, brother.

You ain't never met a cat, brother?

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Brother, any cat, man, any cat.

You got to go with the grain!

JORDAN PEELE: Like we got the one cat in the world talking

about fuck my fur up.

Do it.

Tuss it up.

Give me a little zhoosh.

Yeah, we had a bunch of kittens.

They're all with grain.

They're all with grain.

AUDIENCE: Thank you.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Great question.

Great question.

AUDIENCE: Hi, thanks for coming.

I'm a huge fan since your days on "Mad TV."

My question is about the movie title.

And when you guys were in the creation process,

did Keanu Reeves know that you guys were making it?

And did you guys talk to him?

Did he have a certain reaction?

JORDAN PEELE: Every day.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Yeah, we just spoke to him right

before we walked in here.

No, as far as we know, he's known about it

for about a month, maybe a month and a half since the trailer.

When the red band trailer came out,

his sister saw the trailer, and then she

sent him a link of the trailer, and then

Keanu was like, that's fantastic.

And then I read an article-- I don't

know if you've seen the article this morning--

I read an article this morning that they said that somebody

interviewed Keanu about the movie, and he said,

those guys are wacky.

And I can never even imagine him uttering the word wacky.

The man said wacky, and said it several times.

This is the third time my man's said wacky in this article.

JORDAN PEELE: Like the packages?

That kind of wacky?

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Those guys are wacky.

AUDIENCE: Thank you.

JORDAN PEELE: It's the ultimate compliment.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Wacky.

AUDIENCE: Hey, so I love the anger translator sketches.

I was just wondering for the White House Press

Correspondents Dinner, did you get the chance

to practice with Obama for a very long time?

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Yeah, well, I think in his world,

10 minutes is a long time, so yes, yes, I did.

I mean, given everything he has to do in a day.

So I was in the West Wing, and was

waiting in a room in the West Wing called the Map Room, which

was FDR's room.

And I was staring at this framed map

on the wall that FDR had made about where the Allied

troops were going to land, and all this kind of stuff.

It was really amazing.

And then on the wall, just racks, and racks,

and racks of maps from the 30s back ad infinitum.

And then he just walks in.

He's a very tactile guy.

And so you're just kind of there, and he's just on.

Just this, like, there he is.

Let's go.

JORDAN PEELE: Hey, how's it going, Mr. President?

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Yeah, then you're just like,

I didn't hug him!

He did it.

No red dots please.

He ran up in here.

He just ran up on me in here.

And then we rehearsed.

And we rehearsed for about 10 minutes, and then they left.

And the first thing he said to me

was that we're going to go through this now,

and you have to really keep it together.

You've got to keep it together.

I was like, yes, sir, absolutely.

So he says his first line, which is--

and he's reading off the script and he

goes-- I thought I'd bring out my anger translator, Luther.

And then my first line is hold on to your lily-white butts.

We're two lines into the rehearsal,

and he goes, oh, brother.

I gotta keep it together.

Yeah, motherfucker, you've got to keep it together.

Your career is locked in.

This could be the biggest day of my life.

Don't fuck it up!

It was great.

No, he was great.

What a amazing straight man.

And he was terrific because at the end,

the last thing he said to me before we finished

the rehearsal was he just kept on asking about Jordan, which

I thought was so sweet, and he was just like--

JORDAN PEELE: What?

JORDAN PEELE: He said, how's Peele feel about it?

So he was great, and he just kept on asking about him,

so it was terrific.

You can't have a better fan.

And not about who he is in the world so much as a person

that you are doing homage to them, and they know about it,

and then this character gets to become-- I don't know that this

has ever happened in the history of television--

I don't even know how to articulate it correctly.

That a fictional character with a person doing an impersonation

becomes a real tool in the real world.

It's mind boggling because he used Luther.

He literally used Luther because he's like, they can't fire me.

Fuck it.

It was amazing.

It was really quite amazing.

AUDIENCE: Thank you.

KEVIN VLK: We can do these quick.

AUDIENCE: Hey, when you guys are writing,

do you find that you cycle through hundreds of ideas

until you go, that's the one.

That's the one we're going with?

Or is that you have some that you're not sure about,

but you try it out, and then eventually work it

into something that's really good?

JORDAN PEELE: We definitely overwrite.

We come up with a lot of premises.

We write a lot of drafts.

So that at the end of the day, when you get to the point

where you're like, oh, man, we can only afford one more sketch

in this episode--

[SNEEZES]

[APPLAUSE]

That was a nose fart, people.

You're welcome.

That was a nose fart.

Thank you.

Sorry about that.

But yes, to answer your question, we write a ton,

and then we only pick the cream of the crop.

AUDIENCE: I foster kittens, and I've learned two things.

One, they grow up extremely quickly.

And two, they have no sense for ever doing what you want.

Were there moments where you regretted the choice

of having a cat in the movie?

JORDAN PEELE: Yes.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Absolutely.

And we had two sets of kittens.

One day, I literally reached into the thing

like, growth spurt.

Done.

We're using Teddy!

JORDAN PEELE: Eventually you have

to figure out to tell the kitten to do something you don't want

to do, and then and only then will you

get the shot you're actually looking for.

But yeah, very, very tricky, and you don't think about that.

You think it's just a prop.

It's another actor you have to be mindful of.

AUDIENCE: How you doing, gentleman?

JORDAN PEELE: Hey.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Hello.

AUDIENCE: Key, you mentioned you about to do theatre now

or start moving towards that.

Are there any artists that we need

to look for that you're mentoring,

or any proteges out there that we need to be on the lookout

for?

Anyone that's come to you that said hey,

look out for this guy.

He's going to be the--

JORDAN PEELE: Hint, hint.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: I see what you did there.

AUDIENCE: Well, for anyone that knows, you know that.

That's how we do it.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: There's this brother

that I saw at the Google, and he wasn't

afraid to ask for what he wanted.

Nice cap, had on a t-shirt with a colloquialism on it.

No, it's something that I know Jordan and I have both

been approached with our reps about,

is curating or help curating and mentoring other artists.

And so I'm kind of in the process of doing that now.

But we've been so busy, I've not had the time

to dedicate to looking at people's work.

And there is a group of guys that I like a lot that

are on Comedy Central.

They're on comedycentral.com, and they have a web series

right now called "Six Guys, One Car."

And it's amazing because they're African-American sketch guys,

but they're not trained at the Upright Citizens Brigade.

They're not trained at Second City.

They're not trained at Improv Olympic.

But they have an aesthetic that's close to our training,

and I'm really fascinated by them.

And so I may or may not work with them in the future.

I'm trying to figure out where I fit, or how I can benefit them.

And that is something that I really

do want to do more in the future, it is.

It's near and dear to my heart, and it is to Jordan too.

It's been a big thing for us to want

to mentor young African-Americans who

want to get into improvisation.

AUDIENCE: Thank you.

KEVIN VLK: Last question.

[AUDIENCE GROANS]

KEVIN VLK: Ah, dang it.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Get him up there.

Come on.

[CHEERING]

JORDAN PEELE: Easy crowd.

This is good.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Democracy!

JORDAN PEELE: You guys are a very positive group.

AUDIENCE: I have my own opinion on this,

but which of you makes the better looking woman?

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Oh, it's Jordan 100%.

Look at these luscious lips.

JORDAN PEELE: It's debatable.

It's debatable.

We have different assets.

Mine is here.

Keegan's figure is--

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: But I lack curves.

I don't have a child-bearing hips.

JORDAN PEELE: We could debate this all day, but--

JORDAN PEELE (AS MEEGAN): You're beautiful!

KEEGAN MICHAEL KEY (AS ANDRE): Meegan, seriously.

JORDAN PEELE (AS MEEGAN): No, not seriously.

KEEGAN MICHAEL KEY (AS ANDRE): No, I am saying seriously.

JORDAN PEELE (AS MEEGAN): Shut your mouth.

I don't want to talk to you right now.

KEEGAN MICHAEL KEY (AS ANDRE): How are you

going to get home, Meegan?

JORDAN PEELE (AS MEEGAN): I'm gonna walk!

KEEGAN MICHAEL KEY (AS ANDRE): You're going to walk 37 miles?

JORDAN PEELE (AS MEEGAN): Yeah, one foot in front of the other.

How are you going to get home?

KEEGAN MICHAEL KEY (AS ANDRE): I'm

going to drive in this fucking automobile.

JORDAN PEELE (AS MEEGAN): More power to you.

KEEGAN MICHAEL KEY (AS ANDRE): You were complaining

about shoes all night!

JORDAN PEELE (AS MEEGAN): No!

KEEGAN MICHAEL KEY (AS ANDRE): Yes, you were.

JORDAN PEELE (AS MEEGAN): No, I wasn't.

KEEGAN MICHAEL KEY (AS ANDRE): You were!

Now we're wasting the Google people's time.

JORDAN PEELE: Look what you did.

KEEGAN MICHAEL KEY (AS ANDRE): We're

going to screw this guy out of his question.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: All right.

But sweetheart, you agree with me, right?

Right?

It's him.

It is him.

AUDIENCE: He's right that it's debatable.

It's debatable.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: That was your opinion?

Is that it was debatable?

JORDAN PEELE: You did start with "I have an opinion."

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: I know my definite opinion about this.

It's that it could be either one.

JORDAN PEELE: I will unveil it at the end of this question.

AUDIENCE: I was hoping for Meegan.

Thank you.

KEEGAN MICHAEL KEY: Sorry, brother.

A lot of shenanigans up here at your expense.

AUDIENCE: Now I feel weird because I was going

to ask a serious question.

So you guys talk a lot about race.

It feels like that's what a big part of what

your comedy is about.

That's what I really like about it.

Do you bring that to "Keanu"?

Or are you trying to say let's focus more on just making

a movie that's like what you said before, just funny,

this kind of style of-- this is a bad question.

JORDAN PEELE: No, it's good.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: It's not a bad question

because I will say this.

And this is something I think I haven't said in a while,

but I do believe it has validity.

If you have melanin in your skin, the movie is about race.

Because we just don't live in a world that's that evolved yet.

Because-- now I'm going to do it.

I'm going to do it.

Because we still have a limbic system,

we're still categorizing.

Because remember when we had to categorize?

That's a saber tooth tiger.

That's a poisonous plant.

This is wheat.

And so the limbic system worked.

It was effective, and now we use it for the wrong reasons.

Now we go that's different than me.

Must be bad.

And so until we find a way to short circuit

that fight or flight, lizard brain part of us,

I think if you are a person of color,

it just is about race whether you want.

Now in this film, I do think we still,

we're deliberately sending up stereotypes, social and

cultural stereotypes 100% with consciousness.

JORDAN PEELE: Absolutely, absolutely.

The satirical element of this movie

is that we haven't seen guys like us as leads of a film.

And so part of that is asking the question

about the stereotypes of black men, of Hispanic men,

and women in movies up until now.

And what happens when we place ourselves

in one of these heightened genres?

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: And we're definitely

lampooning the concept of machismo in the movie,

and what place it has in African-American culture,

and just in the culture of being a male.

And are you black if you don't display a lot of machismo?

How black are you if you-- it's that.

That's all being explored.

Fantastic question.

AUDIENCE: Thank you.

JORDAN PEELE: Well done.

Don't sell yourself short.

KEVIN VLK: Thank you guys so much for being here.

"Keanu" comes out April 29, so go see it.

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: April 29.

Thank you guys.

Please.

What a great time.

[APPLAUSE]

[MUSIC PLAYING]