Keegan-Michael Key and Elle Key on Their Book The History of Sketch Comedy (Exclusive)

Keegan-Michael Key and Elle Key teach readers about sketch comedy, its roots and possible future.

In his new book, The History of Sketch Comedy: A Journey Through the Art and Craft of Humorthe husband and wife break down everything there is to know about a sketch, which they define as “a short scene that has characters, a premise, and some sort of comedic escalation or build-up.”

Mixed with historical examples of the evolution of an art form dating back to the Sumerians in 1900 BC. Kr. Keegan-Michael’s personal anecdotes are told with the wit he brought Mad TV, Key & Peele and Schmigadoon!

In addition to material covered in their award-winning podcast of the same name, the book includes insights from comedy titans such as Mel Brooks, Carol Burnett, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ken Jeong, Mike Myers, Chris Rock, John Oliver, Tracy Morgan, Jim Carrey and Keegan-Michael longtime collaborator Jordan Peele.

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As Elle tells PEOPLE exclusively, she feels no guilt about choosing which interviews she did were her favorite. “If I say that Carol Burnett and Mel Brooks and whoever else is in the book hears this, they might agree with it!”

Married since 2018, the pair also discuss how they approach working together as romantic and professional partners.

Keegan-Michael Key and Elle Key.

ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty

PEOPLE: You two have worked together a lot, but never on a book. What were the challenges or surprises in going through that process together?

ELLE KEY: Much of the work in the book is inspired by and follows a podcast format. When I was putting together the podcast, people asked me if I would research and listen to a bunch of podcasts. And I said, “I kind of just want to do our own thing and really just use our love of comedy as the main line.” And I hope that comes true, that Keegan is so knowledgeable and so talented and so excited about sketch comedy that even though I was a fan before I met him, I became a super-fan afterward. And with our shared love of comedy, math, and the science behind what makes skits funny, I thought other people would agree if we did this the right way.

How did the then added component of these guest essays by comedy greats come about?

KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY: Well, Elle doesn’t do anything halfway. The publisher asked her for a few quotes, and then she just went out and got 35 interviews with some of the best names in sketch comedy. But that’s the way it works.

Elle, was there a favorite interview out of those 35?

EK: Carol Burnett was a huge inspiration to me, I guess partly because she’s so brilliant, and partly because it’s one of my first memories of people doing what I later learned were sketches. They were doing these elaborate costume scenes and they were cracking each other up, and it seemed like so much fun. You want to be part of that group, you want to be there. So the fact that Carol was willing to get on the phone with us and talk to us for an hour about sketch comedy was amazing.

The book details some of Keegan’s creative roots, from Bugs Bunny and the Muppets to Monty Python and, of course, Jordan Peele. Elle, who or what was your inspiration for comedians?

EK: I was a kid growing up in the New York area, and my family, Jews who told jokes, must have had a big influence on me. To this day, if I hear a funny joke, I’ll call one of my uncles or my dad or my mom. We have some shorthand for jokes. Actually, Keegan and I will hear a joke, I’ll call my dad and I’ll give him the point, and then my dad will tell the whole joke because he’s heard it before… I was really lucky in the late 70s and early 80s so that we saw Alan King and Jackie Mason, Robert Klein, a lot of standup acts in the Catskills.

I’ve surrounded myself with really good, tough joke tellers in my life and I think I’ve got Keegan in line. There are a lot of people who work in comedy and it’s very, very hard to make them laugh when they’re not at work. So one of the challenges when Keegan and I first started figuring out how to work together was, I knew that if Keegan laughed at something, it was really good. It’s the same with Mike Myers or Jim Carrey, that trying to tell a joke to someone who does comedy is a very brave task.

Keegan-Michael Key, Ken Jeong and Mike Myers.

Rodin Eckenroth/Getty

Compendium of specifically sketch comedy is quite special. Do you feel that sketching is treated as its own medium or art form with enough recognition?

KMK: I think there is more room for us to see it as our own art form. It does all the different types of comedy a bit of a disservice to just sort of lump them together. I think standup comedy is its own art. Sketch comedy is its own art. Comedy films, a film that is funny, is its own art. So somehow we wanted to illuminate only the sketch.

EK: We hope that people will put a mark in something or leave a book and say, “I don’t know Mr. ShowWhat is it Mr. Show?” And maybe find a whole new value for sketch artists they’ve never heard of before.

Many, for example, now only think that Bob Odenkirk is a dramatic actor.

KMK: Exactly, exactly! Or Hugh Laurie.

EK: Or Gary Oldman. Over the last few years, Gary is one of the people I’ll call now when I hear a new joke because he loves hard jokes…. When I told Gary I was interviewing all these amazing people for the book, Gary said, “You didn’t ask me.” And I said, “Well, it’s a comedy book.” And he said, “I love sketch comedy. I know everything about sketch comedy.” For anyone reading this, if you have a comedy and want to call Gary Oldman, you might have a chance.

Keegan-Michael Key and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

David Crane/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty

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In the process of writing this and in general, how do you two separate or merge your personal and professional lives?

KMK: How do we mix them? They are quite integrated. But our relationship started professionally. And then while we were trying to find something to work on together, and we started a production company together, later love blossomed.

EK: “Love has blossomed.” That was very charming. That was very sweet. I like to say that we worked together and he didn’t want to leave… People keep saying, “Oh my God, it must be so challenging working with your husband.” And I say it’s the other way around: “It must be really challenging to be married to your production partner.”

We’ve found that when we work together – because maybe 50 percent of the projects we do separately and 50 percent together – the ones we do together look even better.

Finally, Keegan, what’s the latest on your collaboration with Jordan Peele? It seems like every couple of projects you work together on something really different.

KMK: Yes, it happens quite randomly that we find something that suits both of us and then we want to do it. It happened by chance, it was not planned that we do something every year. We always have conversations about what to do next.

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History of sketch comedy now it’s out everywhere books are sold.

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Source: HIS Education