When Key and Peele was renewed for a fourth season of 22 episodes (well, 20 + 2 “best of” specials), it came to no surprise that the show might need to change its format moving forward, something the pair later announced would be happening on Twitter. As well as the show worked during its first three seasons, interspersing bits of stand-up with random amounts of sketches (ranging from 30 seconds to five minutes or longer) would be a difficult formula to replicate, just given the sheer amount of writing it would take to create enough material for 22 episodes. So far, season four of Key and Peele certainly feels like a different show, given the creative and production changes – but is it any better?
This might be a cop-out answer, but it’s neither better or worse; it’s just different. Obviously, changing the pacing of the show is going to give it a different comedic rhythm- and early on, the fourth season of Key and Peele has struggled to find itself. Early sketches (“Gay Wedding Advice” and “Hits Countdown Live”) had lots of promise, but relied on thin societal revelations and a lot of improvisation to stretch out a much shorter per-episode sketch count, ending with the typical left-field ending K&P has made their trademark, but without the lasting impact of whatever broader point the two were trying to convey.
I’m not saying these always need to be complex revelations to society’s big problems: sometimes, K&P was great at generating contemplative moments out of ridiculous things, like farting or trying to have a Skype conversation with a crappy Internet connection. But the foundations of many sketches early on in season four suffered from their landings – events and dialogues were still hilarious, however things never reached deep enough into ideas or cultural norms to feel as impactful as say, “Black Republicans”, “Sexy Vampires”, or any other handful of sketches you can name from the show (“Positive Racists” is a great example of a lacking sketch this season).
That, combined with the fact the new show format makes the audience feel more separated from the duo – the lack of stand-up eliminates the semi-live feel of the show, and gives it a much more produced, arranged atmosphere – made at least this TV viewer feel a little detached from the show. There are still solid sketches – “Strike Force Eagle 3” from last week’s episode, for example – but there are still times where the show’s changing comedic vehicle felt… off, for lack of a better word.
However, this trade-off in comedic delivery has held benefits in other, weaker areas of the show. The cinematography is much more polished this season, throwing down homages to films like Boogie Nights and in general, feeling a lot more cinematic than seasons past, where most sketches were traditionally blocked and shot in previous seasons. Maybe it’s because Key and Peele are writing movies left and right at the moment, but whatever it may be, Key and Peele simply looks better – and as the season has gone on, has used that style to bring the True Detective-like interludes into the fold, making those new segments (themselves quite cinematic, in their simplicity) feel more and more at home as the season continues.
In the end, it’s simply a matter of preference: those who enjoyed Key and Peele‘s rapid-fire delivery of sketches and stand-up interludes may long for a time when Key and Peele didn’t spend six or seven minutes in a single story. Others may prefer the build-up of these longer sketches to their home-run jokes, which inherently makes the show’s hit-to-miss ratio a little more even (the more moving cogs a joke needs to work, the easier it is to throw it off the rails) than it used to be. Regardless, Key and Peele remains one of TV’s funniest shows – and at the end of the day, isn’t that what matters most?
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