Behold, Key And Peele Are Our New Feminist Bros Thanks To These Comedy Sketches

key-and-peele

If you aren’t already fan of the hilarious duo Keegan-Michael Key and and Jordan Peele who are the creators and stars of Comedy Central’s series ‘Key and Peele’, then you will be after this!

Fresh off his badass performance at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner where he gave a brilliant performance as President Obama’s “anger translator”, Keegan-Michael Key and his comedic partner in crime has released a sketch that has been featured on websites such as The Mary Sue and Jezebel, being hailed as part of the new wave of feminist comedians.

The sketch we’re talking about is called ‘Pirate Chantey’ and it is a very awesome spin on the typical pirate chantey scenes we are used to seeing in films like ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ which are rife with lyrics about whores, wenches and women they use as sex objects, essentially.

Instead, they take a popular fantasy scenario of a group of possibly drunk pirates singing songs about the high seas at their local tavern, and inject some feminist content into it.

It starts off like a typical pirate ditty, but then the lyrics start to take an empowering turn, talking about how important consent is, and pleasing your lady is a must. Say what?!? Yep, it’s for real, and it’s amazing.

Behold, your new favorite male feminist comedy duo take things up a notch:

It’s unusual to see these kinds of topics being tackled in comedy, a medium where women are typically fair game. Complaining about women seems to be a common theme in comedy which is why it has become very hard for women to break through.

But we have seen a whole new generation of female comedians create paths of their own and show the world that comedy is not just a man’s game. Chelsea Handler, Amy Schumer, and Whitney Cummings are just a few names who can draw crowds like the dudes can. Shows like ‘Broad City’ have sparked a whole new wave of female comedy duos following in their footsteps and creating content online that are gathering followers in the masses.

Elsewhere in the world of comedy we are seeing a diverse array of comedians being added to writing teams (‘Saturday Night Live’)and appointed correspondent roles (‘The Daily Show’) which is effectively rendering useless the argument that women can’t be funny.

So it only seems natural that ‘Key and Peele’ make content about women that is less objectification and subjugation, and more “hey perhaps we should tackle normally taboo subjects and turn this into a teaching moment”. At least that’s what it feels like to us.

For instance, take a look at their send up of a TED Talk in ‘Menstrual Orientation’ where they tell men why feeling grossed out about periods is not only inappropriate, it’s extremely selfish:

Another reason we love these feminist bros is because of their ability to make fun of themselves, and that they don’t feel threatened by the thought of elevating the status of women in their comedy. That’s the essence of why humor that attacks women is so bad. At the end of the day it just makes the guy look like an insecure person who can’t handle a strong women.

Not when it comes to Key and Peele! In 2012 they released a sketch called ‘I Said Bitch’ where the two talk about putting their wives “in their place” when they give them trouble. We see the duo walking around the house recalling imaginary stories of how they told their wife “bitch” but make sure their wives don’t suddenly walk in on them using that language.

The word “bitch” can be very problematic when it comes to describing a woman. Discussions about whether it is not a big deal, whether it is empowering, or whether when women use it, it is like “reclaiming” the term often don’t allow for an exhaustive list of reactions.

Instead of trying to take this issue head on, Key and Peele have done a great job of using the word in their sketches as a way to highlight the ridiculous aspect of it. Following on from the 2012 ‘I Said Bitch’ sketch, in 2015 they did a round two of that sketch, but flipped the roles.

Featuring R & B superstars Tboz and Chilli from 90s group TLC, this time we see two women talking about their husbands and recalling situations where they put them in their place.

Folks, this is the future of comedy. If Key and Peele can encourage a whole new generation of young men to subtly rethink the women’s issues that often cop a beating by other older comedians (or just flat out ignorant and misogynistic ones) then we have hope!

Take a look at the feminist version of ‘I Said Bitch’:

Leave a Reply