Jordan Peele On His Journey From "Key & Peele" To "Nope" | Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend

I first discovered you as a lot of. people did watching Key and Peele. sketches and I would watch these. sketches and I would say okay these are. these are so well written these are such. great ideas these are such perfect. sketches and these two guys are playing. them perfectly and it made me so happy. it brought me so much joy and then you. would come on the show you guys came. together uh you came separately but you. came on the show and you would do bits. uh and we would talk and it was just a.

thrill because I think uh sketch comedy. is an underrated art and the re it's. it's so seldom that I see sketch comedy. performers that I think are just. magnificent and you guys came along and. just killed it right away was I mean. some of the sketches I I've spent years. relating them to people like you know. that one you know that one um there's. the. the the burn victim in the insult comic. that one.

a lot of comedians really connect with. this one yes yes and I I mean to that. one I mean there's so many great. sketches but but that one I have talked. about with other other comics and other. people other non-comics and said do you. know this sketch and uh comedian insult. comedian going around the audience and. then respectfully passes over someone. who clearly has been in a horrible. situation Burns all over them and is. just but passes over tries to start. heckling and uh you know doing crowd.

work with the next guy and the guy goes. do. me and he says and he says no no no sir. I I wouldn't you say I can take. it and you make him do it and then he. does it and you're like too. far I thought I could take it but I. can't yeah I I was crying when I first. saw that I've watched it m multiple.

times and you guys have many sketches. like that but I was like okay that's up. there with you know take your favorite. satv pieces take your favorite uh you. know your favorite sketch from SNL ever. take your favorite uh you know uh you. name it um uh uh Monty Python I mean. just the whole Pantheon you guys have a. bunch of sketches that slide in there. and God godamn it they amazing believe.

Alex Rubin was the writer on that sketch. as well and we had an amazing team of. writers so if I'm wrong about that I'm. desperately mortified but look I uh but. also the commitment it's the it's the. ideas and then the. performances. uh simplest idea in the world with the. Black Panther leader oh yeah Keegan is. is their Black Panther leader and he's. talking really angrily and you're just. making this kind of defiant face in the. background and then you start popping up. into the foreground and then you come in. from the side and then you come in from.

the top which is just insane and you. know I I was uh raised on Warner. Brothers cartoons and my sense of humor. has always been very cartoonish and when. you guys would go into that cartoon. world where reality bends in this. beautiful way. to to frustrate the expectation I was. just over the moon thank you look I have. to and I have to bounce that right back.

at you so much of this I mean so much of. this is born from your your work um and. your your heightening your sort of. textbook the The Simpsons this you know. and and it was a type of sketch comedy. that you see in the best sketches where. it's just kind of an aggressive and. ridiculous lightning and Mr show did it. you know um and so we were just like. okay we have this opportunity to do this. thing yeah and then I'm you know one of. the reasons I've always you know I've. chatted with you we've talked but I've. always thought okay if I get you in this.

format because you know um I've I've. spoken uh to Keegan and I'm Al like. you're here and I want to know like. where do I always want to find. out where do where do these Minds come. from where does this come from and so I. I kind of want to just talk about you. growing up in New York at what point do. you. realize I I think of very strange things. and really like comedy or was was your.

first true love film or was it comedy or. both or horror where does it where does. it all start I probably fell in love. with comedy at the same time I was. getting really scared by and I mean. scared like in the as a kid like you. know kid growing up in New York I grew. up NE next to a a building called the. statford arms that was a a a hotel for. transients is what it said on the and it. was basically it was you know PE very.

interesting characters let's just put it. that way and so I had a very uh blessed. Upper West Side you know upbringing that. was you know was cultured and that that. whole privilege but it was also it's. just like there's a creepiness to it as. well so those two things I think. developed side by side but at some point. they collided for me yeah and they did. in in film yeah so you start what are. the movies that you're watching that. terrify you when you're a kid well so.

you know if I'm first thing out of my. gate this a lot of people would say but. Nightmare on Elm Street was that that. imagery for for my. for my specific generation that was like. too young when that came out or or Too. Young it was like it was more seeing the. the posters and the and the thing that. it just evoked such Terror yeah and so. that was form that's a formative boogy. man but then falling in love with Cinema.

and stuff it's like stuff like The. Shining I know you've you've referenced. Rosemary's. Baby and what I see in in that. film that I think the best. directors uh try you know try to harness. or a similar feel is slowly turning the. dial you know because I always loved. about Rosemary's Baby and you can relate. to this cuz it filmed you know takes. place in the Dakota upper White upper. wests side blocks from where you mhm.

grew up and something's it starts out. and everything's fine and it's the. slowly turning of the knob where things. are less and less fine but it's hard to. identify the exact moment when things is. that is does that bring true for you I. love that style and I love that location. I do have this real Nostalgia and. connection with that of course that's. where John Lennon was shot and so there. there's uh there's all sorts of uh.

connotations right with that area um. that are so uh dark but I also think. that's such a big part of the horror. kind of with with comedy is the. grounding character you know the person. that ropes Us in and. reacts and it's you know with. horror it's it's the toad in the in the. pot Theory right if you if you throw a. toad into a boiling pot then that.

person's going to walk leave the scene. that character needs to get out of there. right and that's a you don't want that. as a horror film you got to keep them in. this isolated spot so you slowly turn up. the heat on the character yeah the idea. being that toad gets in it's like. lukewarm kind of feels okay and the. temperature slowly Rising things are. getting more and more uncomfortable and. you can kind of believe why the. character would convince themselves oh. well maybe it's just me you know it's so. it's so interesting cuz there's like a I.

haven't thought about this at all but. there. are their. close brothers or they're they're. related comedy and horror there's a. similar thing going on it's just because. you need to acclimate somebody to. something that's very normal and my. favorite comedies are let's acclimate to. something very normal and then you. slowly start to bend things and twist. things of course you get to this insane.

place but a lot of comedies that are. most effective work that way they get. you to buy into a reality and then uh. you then you have to start accepting a. few premises here and there along the. way but you get sort of spoonfed them. and I think it's the same thing with. probably really good horror or the kind. of horror I respond to yeah and and and. just like the comedy it's like the the. heightening the pushing the fan the the. Fantastical in the. imagination um that becomes a certain. type of um project and.

exercise but the exercise of grounding. it is always what makes it work you know. it's it's it's uh and and that to me in. horror especially is the is the hardest. part because you know how do you gr how. do you ground this idea that your. protagonist. uh would would uh stay in this situation. very long kind of always comes up how.

can they not solve this and you're. you're you're putting the audience in. this angst of wanting your character to. solve it but you're not giving that to. them and so the only way way to make. that in any way satisfying is to kind of. like honor the the the the grounded. experience as as much as possible it's. interesting because uh I was thinking of. you know when. you uh when you did get. out it's very important.

that as you said if if someone shows up. goes away for a weekend with his. girlfriend and goes to a house meet the. family if things are up right. away they're out the door so you you. have all these reasons which I can. relate to which is no no this is okay. this is all right I'm going to stay here. I'm going to stay in this okay I can. handle this and then things you you can. like you say turn up the heat on the pot. but how you do it and how gradually you.

do it is really important and that's the. the guest Who's Coming to Dinner setup. is one that everyone kind of like. connects to which is. like that anxiety of meeting your. in-laws for the first time your. potential in-laws and you want to crawl. out of your skin and leave but you can't. you're there for reason so we we. all I just left too there's like what's. that line in there and trying to. uh the who is it um the terrific actor.

oh Bradley Whitford yeah Bradley. Whitford is it Bradley Whitford who says. oh man Obama hey great greatest. president right and and you just think. okay this is I I would have voted for. him a third. time but I was just thinking like to me. that's also a funny comedy situation too. which is this white person is way over. is is pushing it do you know what I mean. like well yeah that that that was.

that was the element of and I'm sorry I. said that to you when you came in today. well yeah well that you should Obama man. right Little Tone it was it was Little. Tone de there's just such a thing as. being two color. blind you. don't I'm sorry I you I was trying to I. was trying to get in good with you right. away and it was weird good you know we. know each other yeah but then I was. saying he should be a Supreme Court. Justice and you said let's Let It Go I I. don't need yeah I don't you know I don't.

need to be cast as your. judge I don't need to be I don't need to. be president of the United. States no but look I mean we're. obviously J but it's it's um this and. you know it is in it in its Essence it's. kind of a key and peel sketch it's an. observation of being black in white. spaces and in that time I don't remember. it having sort of been uh said like that.

and so I I remember just writing that. and feeling like it was the moment I. realized I had to direct the film that I. was writing because I was like I don't I. don't know anybody who can do that who. can direct that that's a big that's a a. big leap because yes okay you write this. screenplay obviously terrific. screenplay and you're a known. quantity uh writer performer and then. you say I'd like to direct this. how was what was the reaction you know.

it was. surprisingly okay yeah um to this is sha. mckitrick to this this guy at QC. entertainment I was pitching to by the. way I pitched it like no no one's ever. going to do this movie but here's the. pitch and and pitched you know this. crazy plot and um started writing it. about a couple uh months into writing it. and again I knew the whole thing but a.

couple months into the writing and I. realized made this call and he said go. go for it and it's Bas it's just like a. $5 million movie so it wasn't like you. know it was like kind of the perfect. type of RIS a part of it was we can't. afford anyone else you know what I mean. this is like micro budget I'll I'll. direct it and I'll I'll be you can pay. me $6 I thought it would be more. controversial but he said yes way too. quick I was like well let's negotiate. tried to back check too.

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