Good morning ladies and gents, what’s poppin’? Today on the countdown, we have one of the first Key and Peele sketches I ever saw, and it’s one of my favorite. With 18 million views on YouTube, it’s also quite popular. I should warn you that while it is censored, it’s not exactly hard to figure out what they’re saying. Also, “ass” is uncensored, because that’s not a swear word unless paired with hole. So take that into consideration. This skit doesn’t provide really deep social commentary (although there is a bit about the gay community), but it does heavily satirize former professional boxer Mike Tyson.
Via Comedy Central; Key and Peele
Mike Tyson is one of the greatest boxers of all-time, with 44 wins by knockout in 58 total matches. He is also known as one of the most eccentric and controversial. He has a huge tattoo on his face that makes him quite distinctive, once bit off the ear of his opponent during a match, and was known for his brazen and frankly odd trash talk. On top of these things, he had one of the funniest voices ever, characterized by an extreme lisp. All of these things made him a cultural icon.
Image via Famous Biographies
In this sketch, Peele portrays a boxer who sounds nearly identical to Mike Tyson, lisp and all, trash-talking his opponent in a Mike Tyson-esque manner. This sketch might be a little off the wall, but before you watch it, note some of these actual Tyson quotes, and you’ll realize this sketch is hardly an exaggeration:
“I’ll put your mother in a straightjacket.”; “I’ll eat your a**hole in the lobby, b***h.”; “I’ll f**k you ‘til you love me, son.”; “I’ll f**k you in the a** in front of everybody.”
You let me know if you see the parallels in the character Jordan Peele portrays.
Via YouTube, Comedy Central/ Key and Peele
If you go back and watch some clips of Tyson trash talking, you’ll see the parallels. Key and Peele obviously take it up a notch, as Peele takes it from the obscene trash talking above to describing forming an actual relationship with Key. Perhaps the best part of the whole sketch is when Key has had enough of the perverted trash talk and gets up to fight Peele and both have to be physically restrained while Peele claims that the two of them “Are gonna spend the golden years together” and even when Key runs for city council and is tired the two of them “Are still gonna find the energy to go antiquing on the weekends”. In the end, it turns out that four months down the road the two are actually a very happy couple.
It’s a tremendously well done skit and I highly recommend you watch it.
On a side note, since I won’t be posting blogs 9 and 10, I’m just going to post the videos for my top two sketches next week, and if you care you can come watch them.
This is a really good sketch, and a really good blog! I thought you did a great job of setting up the sketch and providing context to the situation. Your description of Mike Tyson is not only extremely accurate, but it also helps those who have never seen Tyson before to better understand the clip. Definitely some of your best work in this blog.
I can’t say that I know anything about sketches nor Mike Tyson. I thought, however, that your blog was well written and lively. Even though I had (and still have) no idea what I was reading about I was able to easily follow along. I thought you provided ample context and if I were to watch the sketch, I would have a much better idea of what was going on after reading this blog.
I had no idea how prominent homosexuality was in the boxing world, or d***s were in assh***s, before watching this orifice opening documentary. As Claudius stood there, angrily listening to his future partner describing their final moments together, I started violently ejecting fluids from my body. I bemoaned the loss of a good pair of pants until I heard the astute political commentary, equating the artificial nature of margarin and the plight of the LGBTQ community. As I wiped the effluence of tears from my cheeks and other things from my other cheeks, I knew I would never be the same again.