Getting to know: Keegan-Michael Key
LOS ANGELES, CA – In this edition of "Getting To Know", we bring you one of the closest persons whom Dove Cameron played alongside with. In this article, we give you some brief profiles of Schmigadoon! lead star, Keegan-Michael Key.
- Career
Born in Southfield, Michigan, on March 22, 1971, Keegan attended the University of Detroit Mercy as an undergraduate, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in theater in 1993, followed by a Master of Fine Arts in theater at Pennsylvania State University in 1996. While at the University of Detroit Mercy, he was a brother of Phi Kappa Theta.
In 2004, Keegan joined the cast of Mad TV midway into the ninth season. He and Jordan Peele were cast against each other, but both ended up being picked after demonstrating great comedic chemistry. Keegan played many characters on the show. One of his most famous characters is "Coach Hines", a high school sports coach who frequently disrupts and threatens students and faculty members. On the penultimate episode of Mad TV, Hines revealed that he is the long-lost heir to the Heinz Ketchup company and only became a Catholic school coach to help delinquent teenagers like Yamanashi (Bobby Lee). During seasons 9 and 10, Key appeared as "Dr. Funkenstein" in blaxploitation parodies, with Peele playing the monster. Key also portrayed various guests on Real **********ing Talk like the strong African Rollo Johnson and blind victim Stevie Wonder Washington. He often went "backstage" as Eugene Struthers, an ecstatic water-or-flower delivery man who accosts celebrities. There was also "Jovan Muskatelle", a shirtless man with a jheri curl and a shower cap who interrupts live news broadcasts by a reporter (always played by Ike Barinholtz), annoying him with rapid-fire accounts of events that have happened frequently exclaiming "It was crazy as hell!" Celebrities that Key impersonated on the show include Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges (who famously played Tej Parker in Fast & Furious films), Snoop Dogg, Roscoe Orman (as his character Gordon from Sesame Street), Matthew Lillard, Bill Cosby, Al Roker, Terrell Owens, Tyler Perry, Keith Richards, Eddie Murphy (as his character James "Thunder" Early from the movie Dreamgirls), Sherman Hemsley (as his character George Jefferson on The Jeffersons), Charles Barkley, Sendhil Ramamurthy (as Mohinder Suresh), Tyson Beckford, Seal (originally played by Peele until Peele left the show at the end of season 13), Sidney Poitier, Lionel Richie, Barack Obama, Kobe Bryant and Jack Haley (as the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz). He also played female celebrities, including Phylicia Rashād, Robin Antin, and Eva Longoria (as Gabrielle Solis on a Desperate Housewives parody).
Key and his Mad TV castmate Jordan Peele starred in their own Comedy Central sketch series Key & Peele, which began airing on January 31, 2012, and ran for five seasons until September 9, 2015.
Keegan-Michael Key with the then 44th President of United States Of America, Barack Obama delivering a speech.
Key was introduced by President Barack Obama at the 2015 White House Correspondents' Dinner as Luther, Obama's Anger Translator, one of Key's characters from Key & Peele.
In addition to Key & Peele, he also co-starred in the USA Network comedy series Playing House, which began airing in April 2014. Together with Peele, Key played an FBI agent in a recurring role in the 2014 FX crime drama Fargo.
- Notable film credits
Key has had roles in numerous films, including 2014's Horrible Bosses 2, Let's Be Cops and the animated The Lego Movie, as well as Pitch Perfect 2 and Tomorrowland in 2015. Key and Peele are currently working with Judd Apatow on a feature-length film for Universal Pictures.
Key is one of several hosts of the podcast Historically Black by American Public Media and The Washington Post.
Key voices the character Murray the Mummy in Hotel Transylvania 2, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation and Hotel Transylvania: Transformania. The character was originally voiced by rapper CeeLo Green in the first movie.
Key voice acted in The Star, the animated film based on the Nativity of Jesus. He later went on to voice Ducky in Toy Story 4 and Kamari in The Lion King. Key voiced "Honest John" Worthington Foulfellow in the live-action film adaptation of Disney's Pinocchio and Toad in The Super Mario Bros. Movie from Illumination.
- Hosting career
In 2017, Key made his Broadway debut in Steve Martin's comedy Meteor Shower. His hosting stint on Saturday Night Live on May 15, 2021 (which also featured his fellow Schmigadoon! co-star Cecily Strong), marked the first time a MADtv cast member has hosted SNL.
Key currently hosted popular science show Brain Games on National Geographic, which was renewed for a ninth season, his second, on January 17, 2020.
- Schmigadoon!
Keegan-Michael Key (right) with Cinco Paul (left) and Dove Cameron (middle).
Keegan-Michael Key (right) with Cecily Strong (middle) and Dove Cameron (left).
On October 2020, Keegan-Michael Key joined Cecily Strong, Dove Cameron, Kristin Chenoweth, Alan Cumming, Aaron Tveit, Ariana DeBose, Jane Krakowski and others as cast members of Apple TV+ musical comedy series Schmigadoon! created by Cinco Paul. The series began filming its first season from October to December 2020. The first season premiered on July 16, 2021 with its season finale on August 13, where Keegan plays his Josh Skinner character. He reprised his role as Josh for season 2, which filmed from June to July 2022. The 2nd season, called Schmicago, premiered on Apple TV+ on April 5, 2023 and concluded with a season finale on May 3.
- Personal life
Key was married to actress and dialect coach Cynthia Blaise from 1998 until 2017. They were legally separated in November 2015, with Key filing for divorce the following month. He married producer and director Elisa Pugliese in New York City on June 8, 2018.
So, what do you think about this handsome guy Keegan-Michael Key?
