Keegan-Michael Key, half of the “Key and Peele” comedy team with Jordan Peele, opened up Wednesday about working with President Obama for the “anger translator” bit at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
For the uninitiated, Luther the anger translator originated on Comedy Central’s “Key and Peele,” where Peele would play the level-headed Obama and Key would play Luther, whose job was to communicate what Obama was really thinking.
Key reprised the character at April’s Correspondents’ Dinner with the real Obama. He described the experience to Entertainment Weekly’s Shirley Li, saying that the sketch allowed Obama to show flashes of real frustration with Washington and the political process.
“… [T]here was some joke about not being able to get something through Congress,” he said. “The president used an expletive, and it was hilarious, because he said something to the effect of, ‘This isn’t even a joke. I mean this s— is ridiculous.’ And you could just see a flash of frustration, like, ‘This is literally what I deal with every day.’ It was really funny to get a little glimpse of insight.”
One of the highlights of the bit was Obama faking intense rage and Luther being forced to cut him off mid-sentence. Key said that Obama really got into that particular joke.
“… [I]t was funny, he was ready to go with the angry part, where Luther gets taken aback,” he said. “I was like, ‘Oh, he’s doing it! Here he comes!’ And he was like, ‘Self-serving, shortsighted.’ He did it real loud, and I was like, “Okay, coooooool!”
Key said that Obama has never been one to express visible anger, and that was the case here too.
“The most I saw was during that moment, and I would say he was perhaps mildly perturbed,” Key said. “He was amused and perturbed simultaneously, if that makes any sense.”
Key also revealed that Obama’s favorite joke from the sketch was a “Game of Thrones”-themed one about the president’s plans for his last few years in office:
Check out the full interview with Entertainment Weekly.
