I honestly hate comparing artists. Especially when I have the utmost respect for all of these guys. So this will more be about how Key & Peele deserves more credit for how great their show was.
Dave Chappelle is a comedy legend. One of the greatest of all time. And this is in part due to his widely loved sketch show “Chappelle Show”. He famously left the show at the height of its popularity and I believe this is the reason why his show is held in such high regard. He ended the show when it was at the top and fans were left imagining what could have been had the show went on for more seasons. Obviously, they assumed nothing but the best from Chappelle. Thus, the show is canonized forever.
Rating and comparing comedy is tough. It’s obviously all so subjective. So the only meter that I think is valuable to bring up is the sheer breadth of good material. In sketch comedy it’s nothing but home runs and strikeouts. There’s nothing in between. And while it’s possible to argue that Chappelle’s home runs went further (sticking with the analogy here I guess), I believe that Key & Peele hit home runs more consistently. The best Chappelle show sketches are immortal. But Key and Peele have a larger number of brilliant sketches.
You could argue that it’s because Key & Peele stayed on the air for five seasons and ran 53 episodes compared to Chappelle’s 3 seasons and 28 episodes and thus they had more at bats but I actually think this argument favors K&P as well. It’s way easier to miss on sketches and K&P stayed consistently good throughout their five seasons. People forget that while they didn’t move to Africa, they too ended the show on their own terms when it was at its height.
Both shows will forever sit in the halls of comedy greats. But it’s about time we stop fantasizing about what else Chappelle could have done and be more thankful for what Key & Peele did do.
