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One of the most talented filmmakers of our time turned 46 today. To celebrate him and his legacy, check out a gallery of the best sketches from his legendary show
Key & Peele.
Jordan Haworth Peele was born in New York City. He last saw his father at seven years old, subsequently being raised by his single mother on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Peele was passionate about film since he a young child and at 12 years old, he decided that he wanted to be a film director. Once he graduated from high school, Peele eventually went on to attend Sarah Lawrence College, where he majored in puppetry. He dropped out after two years in order to form a comedy duo with Sarah Lawrence classmate and future
Key & Peele writer Rebecca Drysdale. After spending time doing stand-up, Peele joined the cast of
Mad TV for its ninth season in 2003. Although they had previously met during a Comedy Swap between Boom Chicago and the Second City theatre in Chicago, Peele and Keegan Michael Key’s chemistry shined on the sketch show. Although Peele left the cast at the end of the 13th season, he and Key would soon reunite.
In January of 2012,
Key & Peele aired for the first time on Comedy Central. The critically acclaimed show ran for five seasons through September of 2015. During its run, the show won a Peabody Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards. It was lauded for its superb writing, the fact that it touched on such a variety of societal topics and the performances of Key and Peele themselves. Even after the show ended, the two continued to work together. In 2016, Key and Peele starred in and produced the buddy action comedy
Keanu. The following year, Peele’s first film,
Get Out, was released. The psychological horror film made over $255 million on a $4.5 budget. In addition,
Get Out was nominated for four Oscars, with Peele winning for Best Original Screenplay. He became the first African-American screenwriter to win in this category. Since then, he has been on an incredible run. He followed up
Get Out by co-creating the TBS comedy series
The Last O.G. (2018-2021), co-producing the Spike Lee film
BlacKKKlansman (2018), co-writing and co-producing slasher film
Candyman (2021), producing the HBO series
Lovecraft Country (2020) and also released
Us (2019) and
Nope (2022), amongst a lot of other work.
Peele has already solidified himself as one of this generation’s greatest filmmakers (and entertainers in general). Whether it be comedy or horror, seeing that Peele is attached to any project is always a gift. We can’t wait to see what he has in store for us next. To celebrate what he has already done though, we put together a gallery of some of the best sketches from the show that introduced him to a lot of the world,
Key & Peele. Let us know which ones are your favorites and if you think we forgot any. HAPPY 46TH BIRTHDAY TO JORDAN PEELE!!!
