Keegan-Michael Key Reveals His FavoriteKey & PeeleSketch of All Time — and It's Perfect for Halloween (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Keegan-Michael Key in 2023; Michael Jackson in 2002.Photo:Maarten De Boer/Contour/Getty; Vince Bucci/Getty

Maarten De Boer/Contour/Getty; Vince Bucci/Getty

Keegan-Michael Keyhas a ton of options when it comes to picking a favoriteKey & Peelesketch. But he has a clear winner — and Halloween is the time to revisit it.

“It’s such a silly sketch,” Key, 53, tells PEOPLE exclusively. “It’s called MJ Halloween.”

The 2012 sketch, from season 2 of his and co-creatorJordan Peele’s Emmy-winning Comedy Central series, features Key as Noah, a man who shows up at a Halloween party in fullMichael Jacksongarb. He proceeds toenact the King of Pop’s most famous moves and vocalizations— ad nauseam.

“I’m dressed as Michael Jackson, like ‘Thriller’ Michael Jackson,” recalls Key. “And I just spend the next four minutes — there’s no script, I’m just trying to make Jordan laugh.”

Peele, 45, plays the party host eager to welcome Noah in, until the Jackson impersonator overplays the performance. “I’m just trying to waste time and screw up the takes and do whatever I can to make him laugh,” says the actor with a laugh. “That’s the whole damn sketch.”

And, Key adds, Peele “never breaks!”

The “Michael Jackson” sketch ends with Peele’s annoyed character cutting Key’s Noah off, telling him the impersonation is played out especially years after Jackon’s death in 2009. “He died?” asks Key, lip quivering in dismay. He proceeds to sing “boo-hoo” in Jackson’s voice while moonwalking sadly away.

‘Key & Peele’.Netflix

Netflix

“There was something Jordan declared in our first season, that the writing had to be bulletproof,” remembers Key of the sketch show’s evolution. “So if you watch the first seasons ofKey & Peele, it’s interesting, you’ll see there’s not a lot of improvising.”

Key as a silly Halloween version of Jackson was one of the sketches that signaled the show’s turning point. From around that time onward, says theTransformers Onestar, “We wrote some sketches that were just very strange and weird. And it was fun! That was a fun part of the evolution.”

‘Key & Peele’.Comedy Central / courtesy Everett

Comedy Central / courtesy Everett

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“We shared a creative language the very first time we met,” he says. “When we were on camera, it was alchemy.”

source: people.com