Emmy-award winning writer duo and former housemates Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele aren’t as close as they once were, Key told People in an interview published Sunday. He explained, “We don’t see each other that often anymore,” before he added, “Which is, to me, a tragedy.”
Key described the pair’s time together as writers on “Mad TV” as one during which they “shared a mind.” He added of his former housemate, “We lived together for a few months and would write and talk about comedy — who we liked and why we liked them and how that worked in the architecture of what we were trying to build comedically.”
The duo went on to launch their hit comedy series “Key & Peele” in 2012. They also worked together on 2016’s “Keanu,” appeared on “Fargo” during the show’s first season and voiced characters in 2019’s “Toy Story 4” and 2022’s “Wendell & Wild.”
But eventually, life got in the way of their friendship and professional collaborations. Peele lives in Los Angeles with his wife Chelsea Peretti and Key lives with his wife Elle in New York.
“Key & Peele” ended in 2015. Key said at the time, “This is our final season – and it’s not because of Comedy Central, it’s us.”
He added, “It was just time for us to explore other things, together and apart. I compare it to Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. We might make a movie and then do our own thing for three years and then come back and do another movie.”
“I’m thinking we could do that every three years — take a year, go bang out a movie. That’s the plan right now,” Key said.
The show won a Peabody Award in 2013 and was nominated for an Emmy the same year. The series received four more Emmy nominations in 2014 and eight in 2015.
