Key & Peele Are Selling Comedy Blacks Aren't Buying

They're either parodying aspects of black culture or, worse, “black pathology”

Key & Peele, a sketch show on Comedy Central, is peddling offensive comedy. I watched a variety of clips spanning 5 episodes, and not only were the subjects of their humor not ever a non-black group, but the jokes solely focused on either parodying aspects of black culture (think black fraternities or soul food) or, worse, “black pathology,” an all-encompassing category for any negative behavior exhibited disproportionately in urban areas for which, apparently, blacks have been genetically predisposed to for over 25 years (according to the media).

And maybe that’s why Key and Peele feel the need to remind audiences that they’re only half-black. Less chance of the pathology gene manifesting itself perhaps?

Comedy Central, the home of South Park, isn’t exactly a place known for its humility. Notching Comedy Central’s best premiere in 2 years, the Key & Peele show earned 2.1 million viewers and was recently renewed for a second season. Clearly it’s a success. The brainchild of Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, the show seeks to deal with issues of race in a fresh and “universal” way that lets the audience in on the joke.

But apparently when Key and Peele say their comedy is universal, what they really mean is that blacks will be the butt of the jokes and others will be the ones universally yucking it up. If that’s their thing, that’s fine - after all, it is their show. But they shouldn’t serve audiences horse crap and call it horseradish.

This isn’t to say that there isn’t a demand for these kinds of jokes - far from it; there certainly is. But why is that? And more important, why do Key and Peele believe they should be the ones supplying it?

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