Sports help inspire Season 3 of ‘Key and Peele’

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LOS ANGELES, Calif – Do sports matter to Americans more than having a good laugh? It’s an interesting question. For comedians Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, sports jokes give their fans the best of both worlds.

The Comedy Central duo were recently renewed for a third season for their hit show sketch comedy series, “Key and Peele,” which will debut in September. Key and Peele attended this year’s ESPY Awards in Los Angeles and revealed the role sports will play in their third season.

So what is it about sports that give comedians so much fodder for the stage?

“When you watch an athlete do something amazing on the court, you’re like ‘Well, he’s a genius,'” Key said. “‘Yea, he’s a genius in that. In that thing he’s doing he’s a genius.”

The genius doesn’t necessarily translate off the field or court of play, the comedians insist.

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Take their hit sketch “East/West Bowl,” which boasts more than 15 million views on You Tube. Key and Peele took a simple concept – NFL player introductions before big games – and made it laugh out loud funny.

“In comedy, what you want is to hit on something that everybody knows is true,” Peele said of the sketch, which pokes some serious fun at the way players introduce their “unique names.”

The latest season of “Key and Peele” will revisit the “East/West Bowl,” in perhaps more hilarious fashion. Knicks forward and former NBA Champion Metta World Peace (Ron Artest) will also make appearances.

“It’s always funny with Metta,” Peele said. “He’ll go there, he’ll do stupid stuff. We got him…saying some really stupid stuff.”

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Peele, whose Obama impression caught the attention of the president last year, admitted some sketches in the new season tested his endurance – particularly on the soccer field. He said Key is the more “in-shape” of the two, but the laughs happened regardless.

I guess comedy doesn’t require fitness. Neither does laughing.

Follow theGrio’s Todd Johnson on Twitter @rantoddj