Jordan Peele Talks Great Improv & Meeting Actor Keegan-Michael Key

Jordan Peele has enthralled movie audiences with NOPE, Us, and Get Out (a film that earned him several Oscar nominations). Though Jordan Peele movies are known for their Twilight Zone vibes, his entertainment career all started with improv comedy.

Before he had the public asking, “When is the new Jordan Peele movie?” Peele met actor Keegan-Michael Key at The Second City. Peele has since been a frequent collaborator on multiple Keegan-Michael Key movies and TV shows, including the Comedy Central sketch show Key & Peele and the side-splitting movie Keanu. Here are some interview highlights from Peele’s talk with The Hollywood Reporter.

Jordan Peele talks Improv Comedy

“I like to think that any one of us can train and become a great improviser. It’s almost like if you would imagine being born with a musical instrument that’s unique to you, that no one’s ever seen before. You know, someone can train a bunch of people how to play music, but you can only learn what your specific technique is and your style is…The really good improvisers, and there are some really amazing ones out there, are listening, are engaged with their partner and are really trying to craft something beautiful in its spontaneous collaboration.”

Jordan Peele talks Meeting Actor Keegan-Michael Key at Second City

“…all of a sudden, I am performing in the next room from Keegan-Michael Key, who I had heard about, but I had never met. And all I heard is you have to see this guy….he just has this energy like no one I had ever seen and since in all of comedy. It’s like, you know, there’s a couple people who have that kinetic energy that somehow still feels true. And he had that. And, I was just in awe, and you know, maybe a little bit of like, ‘Oh, this motherfucker is good.'”

Learn more about Second City at https://www.secondcity.com/courses/chicago/adult/.

Watch Peele & Key compete in the workplace long before they were “Key & Peele”: