Keegan-Michael Key Visits “The Muppet Show” on This Week’s “SNL”

Turns out comedic heckling has its dangers

SNL Muppet sketch
On "SNL," a "Muppet Show" sketch takes a turn for the strange.
NBCUniversal

Last week’s Saturday Night Live was hosted by Elon Musk — not necessarily the first name that comes to mind when you think of sketch comedy. This week’s, by contrast, was hosted by Keegan-Michael Key, who spent 5 seasons on one of the best sketch comedy series in recent memory. Not surprisingly, Key meshed neatly with the larger ensemble, making for a solidly funny episode.

One of the episode’s highlights came when riffing on another sketch comedy show of sorts – namely, The Muppet Show. The sketch featured Key and Kenan Thompson as venue security guards who take umbrage with Statler and Waldorf’s heckling during the show.

The small details are what really make this one, from Key’s character constantly calling Kermit “Kramer” to the latest in a series of pitch-perfect impressions from Melissa Villaseñor — this one of Lily Tomlin. The Muppet Show parody itself felt spot-on, as did the bit focusing on what it must be like to work for the venue where the show was regularly held.

Between this and Key & Peele‘s “Little Homie” sketch, it might be fair to say that the combination of Keegan-Michael Key and puppets is comedy gold. Who knew?

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