-My first guest is an Emmy-winning actor,
writer, and producer.
He co-wrote and performs the new audio series
called "The History of Sketch Comedy,"
which is available today exclusively on Audible.
Here is Keegan-Michael Key!
-[ Laughs ] Jimmy Fallon!
-If there was an audience here, they'd be going bonkers for you.
Buddy, it's so great to see you. Thank you for being here.
-You, too, my friend.
-Last time you were on our show,
we did a thing called "Wheel of Musical Impressions."
-Yes. -And you crushed it.
And it went viral. Thank you for doing that bit with us.
I knew you could do some impressions,
but I don't think everyone knew that you could sing like that.
It was unbelievable.
-Yeah. That was so much fun that I got --
that we had the opportunity to do that together.
Because I really, I love to sing.
And a lot of folks don't know that about me,
let alone that I could sing in a style or styles as it were.
-It was Bob Marley. We did Michael Stipe.
You did Sinatra.
-"Sinatra, baby."
Yeah, that was -- Oh, my God. It was so much fun.
-Do you do any other musical impressions
that we didn't touch on?
-I can do impressions of certain musicians.
So, I can do an impression of Snoop.
Oh, you know what I can do? I can impersonate Eddie Vedder.
I think Eddie Vedder's always good, 'cause it's like
[Mumbling Pearl Jam's "Even Flow"]
You know, it's -- [Sings indistinctly]
I don't know any words to any Pearl Jam songs.
I just know --
[ Mumbling Pearl Jam's "Even Flow" ]
And you can't open your eyes. And you have to keep your eye--
-Yeah, you got to keep your eyes -- and get into it.
-The only other thing else that I do is, I can do Snoop Dogg,
not rapping, per se.
But I was in "Pitch Perfect 2,"
and he was in it, and he and I were in a scene together.
I was playing a music producer. And I remember he came on set,
and everybody was, like, really giddy.
And he walked past me,
and as he was walking past me, he looks at me,
because he knows that I used to impersonate him on "Mad TV."
So he walked past me, and he went, "You a bad, bad boy."
[ Laughs ]
-Yes!
I love that he said that.
"You're a bad, bad boy." Oh, my gosh.
-Yeah, that was it.
-How do you impressions?
Like, how do you figure out how to do them?
-Frankly, the way I get into them
is often by -- The way I started
was by listening to other people do impressions.
In fact, you, listening to you and Jordan
and a really amazing impressionist
named Frank Caliendo, who was on "Mad TV" with me.
-Oh, he's fantastic.
-Amazing, right? -He's unbelievable.
-For us, what was always interesting was, it's --
It's when somebody else found the hook,
then I could jump into the hook.
So, like with -- Think about Rich Little,
when Rich Little used to do President Reagan,
anybody can kind of do, like, "that husky voice."
But what it was, was that word "Well, well."
-It was. -Oh, that's right,
The president does say "Well."
It was like, "Well, as a nation, we are going to --"
And so, that was --
Remember that? And so, I always used to go,
that's how I would get into it is by going,
what's the little hook that you have to find?
-I know you have a President Obama impression,
and you had the chance to meet him a few times.
Have you ever done your Obama in front of Obama?
-[ As Obama ] "Uh, I've done it for him,
and, uh, a couple times, so..."
[ Laughs ] And it's --
Last year, I got to do it for him,
like, explicitly almost for him.
I was telling him a story about impersonating him.
I was telling the story about the fact
that I was impersonating him to Ethel Kennedy,
to Robert F. Kennedy's wife.
And her kids put me up to it.
And then, I got to relay that story to him
and tell him that I was doing this impersonation.
And he was giggling and laughing at the story,
and then at the end, Jimmy, he goes, "You know, um,
my register's a little bit lower than what you're doing."
[ Laughs ] -Love it!
-Duly noted, sir. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Appreciate that.
-I think I tried to do an impression in front of him,
and he was like, "Is that supposed to be me?"
-[ Laughs ]
You're like, I'll be over here.
-Yeah, exactly. What am I gonna do?
-But how do you do it?
How do you hook in to impressions?
-I just start doing people.
I had this thing when I was a kid, I think,
like I would watch "Rocky," and at the end of "Rocky,"
I thought that I was Rocky.
So I -- -Ah, interesting.
-So I started acting like him, "and talking like him
and yo, hey. Hey, Mickey, you know," you know, whatever.
I remember, like, I watched "Seinfeld,"
by the end of the episode I was talking,
[As Jerry Seinfeld] "Everything was like that!
I was doing that.
I was trying to be him," and --
-It's -- You're so good at it.
I mean, I've always enjoyed
your Dave Matthews and your Robin Williams.
Those are two that have always, like, blown me out of the water.
I'm just like, how is he -- Where did he find that rhythm?
It's just so good.
-This is so exciting. "The History of Sketch Comedy,"
how did this whole thing come about?
-So, basically, El, you know my wife, El.
-Of course, I love El.
-Yeah, my wife El and I,
we have always shared this love of comedy.
And during quarantine, she suggested
that we put our combined knowledge together
and then try to create, you know, something for everyone.
And this is what we came up with.
It happens that, you know, it's what happens
when you live with a DGA director and a PGA producer
and a brilliant writer. So I just had the opportunity.
She did it all. She was just like,
"Hey, you know more about sketch comedy than anybody I know.
Let's smack our knowledge together and do this thing."
And I was like, "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."
And then she -- She kind of created this format,
and we started doing all the research.
And then we pitched it to Audible.
And it was amazing, because the way she pitched it,
she was like, "What about this, guys?"
She was like, "If Keegan-Michael Key was a guest lecturer at NYU
and was going to give a 10-part class
on the history of sketch comedy,
I think that would be very popular.
I think he would get a lot of apples at the end of the class."
And then they bought it. -Good pitch.
-That was her pitch. That was her pitch.
-It's a good pitch. -And then, she was --
So we started doing it, and we're doing the research,
which of course was a blast for me.
I love -- I'm a nerd about this kind of stuff.
And she goes -- I said, "You know, it's fun,
because we'll be able to get the clips
and do this and that and the other thing."
And El goes, "Oh, no, no, no, there's no clips.
You're going to be performing all the characters,
and you're going to be doing all the sketches."
I was like, "I'm sorry, I'm going to be doing what, now?
I'm doing all the what to the who-who's?"
[ Both laugh ]
-Wow. -But that is what we did.
-You stepped it up. -So I do all the foley,
all the sound effects, all the characters.
I'll do two-person scenes, three-person scenes.
I'll play all three people in the scene.
And then, in the middle of it, I'll, like, analyze it.
So sometimes there will be like a sketch,
like, there will be a guy saying, you know,
from the Marx Brothers, there will be somebody saying,
you know, "We have to stop war
because it's prohibitive for our taxes!"
And then Chico Marx will be like,
"Hey, I got a uncle who lives in Taxes."
"No! Not Texas. Dollar, money, dollars!"
"Ha-ha! That's where he lives. Dallas, Taxes."
[ Mumbling as Chico Marx ]
You know?
-Dude, there's some Marx Brothers bits that I honestly,
I have to just pause it or turn it off 'cause I'm laughing --
It's too funny. There's levels of funny.
-Jimmy, it's crazy. We start at like the beginning.
I mean, I think some people might go,
"Oh, he's going to do a history of the last 30 years.
He's going to -- You know, maybe he's going to start with 'SNL.'"
But I start with the ancient Sumerians
from the 19th century BC
and work all the way up to today. So --
-That's wild. But, I mean, like, you go, yeah.
I mean, you do touch on "SNL."
Are there any sketches. now that it's done,
that you go, "Ah, we should have talked about that."
Or are there any performers -- Let's not even say performers --
any performer that you might have --
-[ Laughing ]
No, Jimmy.
No, there is no performer that I forgot,
because you're in it.
You're in the Audible series. -Where?
-Jimmy, Camp Winnipesaukee,
with you and me and Justin Timberlake.
-That's right, bud. -And Billy Crystal.
-Oh, that's right! -You are in it.
I talk about you, and there's a whole section
about variety entertainment and talk shows. You're in it.
-That's why, everyone, get out there right now.
Go to Audible, download "The History of Sketch Comedy."
Keegan-Michael Key, you are the best, buddy.
Thank you so much for being here.
-Thanks, Jimmy. Good to see you.
-Good to see you, buddy. -Jimmy Fallon is in this series!
Listen -- -We'll be right back.