What’s in a (badly mangled) name?
EW asked the stars to share their memories of that very tense roll call in Mr. Garvey’s classroom.
Everybody had an example of a name that they thought could work.
Comedy Central
SHELBY FERO (DENISE/“D-NICE”):I was super lucky.
[Key & Peeledirector] Peter Atencio, who I kind of knew through comedy stuff, called me.
It was just, “Hey, we need someone for this.
Do you want to come do it?”
Thank God they didn’t make me audition for it, because I would have blown it.
I was just starting the ability to grow a mustache and a beard.
SERGI:We were basically told to play it super serious.
It was the job of the students to be normal students who were dealing with this psychotic substitute teacher.
PEARLMAN:I was coming down from double pinkeye.
I thought it would be funny if I had the glasses on the entire time.
Read more fromEW’s2021 Happy Lista collection of pop culture pleasures to make your year even better.
She doesn’t like getting in trouble, so that’s what I tried to [get across].
Like, “Yeah, I can dish it, but Icannottake it.”
KEY:They didn’t know I was going to improvise.
I mean, Shelby didn’t know I was going to say, “Say it right!
Say it right!”
She’s an improviser.
I think in the actual [sketch], it’s four or five [exchanges].
FERO:We did it for a solid minute I would guess.
PEARLMAN:Not laughing around those guys is an insane challenge.
What have I done?"
PEARLMAN:They let me kind of go off the rails.
I wanted him to grab me by the pants and take a stab at throw me.
KEY:I improvised that line, “insubordinate and churlish.”
I cannot tell you where it came from.
I don’t know how that came out of my mouth.
It just came out of my mouth.
FERO:Jordan [Peele] wasn’t actually supposed to be in it.
Is “present” enough of a joke?
His name is already “Tim-OH-thee.”
I was like, “Does it hurt us if we do a double button?”
And it got real academic.
That was like a 10-minute discussion.
I’ll give you a little [insight into] the inner workings ofKey & Peele.
And he’s like, “Oh yeah?
Well, yo mama is so fat…” In that sketch, my name is Dr. Rajeev Gupta.
I might go Gupta."
And the other three [exec producers] would always say, “You only get one per season!
People were like, “Dude, your face is on a sweater!”
I was like, “Whoa, okay.
Well, if I’ve done nothing in my life, I am J-Quellin.”
FERO:That sketch definitely got me through dropping out of college with my parents, good will-wise.
And so every single female that I know tagged me.
It’ll be stuff like that that comes up.
It’s maybe all I’ll ever have.”
KEY:All four of them were stellar in this sketch.
Some of my favorite sketches onKey & Peeleare ensemble sketches.
They identify the sketch as “A-A-Ron.”
That’s my unscientific, unproven theory as to why it continues to bring joy.
