Keegan-Michael Key Quotes

I’m a firm believer in the idea that there are a limited amount of human stories that we tell – there’s about seven of them – and of course, there’s variations on those stories, and they can take place in infinite places.

I would play just about any role, male or female, in the Anton Chekov play ‘The Cherry Orchard,’ which I love.

Success isn’t measured by the amount of people that watch you unless you allow it to be.

I don’t know if people would be surprised by this or not, but I’m kind of into nutrition and weight lifting. I know I’m kind of a slender man, but the human physique fascinates me, and learning about metabolism.

There’s a very famous South African playwright named Athol Fugard, and I’d be in any play he’s ever did.

I want to make movies and pieces of television and pieces of art that crack everyone’s assumptions.

It was very important thousands of years ago to categorize things. I can eat that plant, I can’t eat that plant. Or this tribe, not that tribe. We don’t have to do that anymore – we have processed food now!

I’m trying every day, when I meet a new human being, to not have the first thought that comes into my mind be, ‘Are they going to like me?’ I’m allowed to say, ‘I like this, and I don’t like that.’

When you’re a child, the most important thing is to be able to live a life of comfort. You want to be sure that the moon goes up at night and the sun comes up in the morning and dad comes home from work.

I’m adopted, so I didn’t know my father, but apparently he was pretty tall.

I was raised Catholic, so guilt shackles you from acting like a complete fool all the time.

Surprise is not humor. I think that there can be a fine line there.

I would love to play a fun character. Like, I would love to be in ‘A Long Day’s Journey Into Night.’ I love that play. I’d play Edmond or Jamie. I don’t care which.

I’m from the Midwest, so I always assumed, ‘Well, I have to think badly of myself, because that’s being humble.’

I’m tall and thin but not strong, so you’re either an athlete or you’re funny.

The immediacy of improvisation is intoxicating, but there’s an intimacy that you get that’s very different when you’re doing drama.

My parents were not big sports fans, but my mother loved Barry Sanders, but she wasn’t a huge fan. Now she likes Calvin Johnson. He’s such an amazing athlete and such a wonderful, humble guy.

If you look at any successful skit comedy show, ever, there is that format of introducing you to the player in the beginning, and then going on to see those sketches.

A poet can feel free, in my estimation, to write a poem for himself. Or a painter can paint a painting for himself. You can write a short story for yourself. But for me, comedy by its nature is communal. If other people don’t get it, I’m not sure why you are doing it.

Being a Lions fan is like being a Cubs fan: you just have to keep going. You don’t have a choice. You can’t give up, because one day, when it happens – and I believe it’ll happen – then you can really savor it because you were there in the doldrums, and you get to be there in the victory.

With a lot of my comedic heroes, I’m trying to make sure that, wherever they might have gotten off-track a bit, I’ve learned that lesson.

I’m looking for human stories to do.

I love dialects and accents; they’re something that really resonate with me and that I find fascinating.

I’m very concerned with what’s going on the news, but I would not call myself a political animal, per se. I pay more attention during election years, or if I see some topic or issue that I care about. But I would never call myself a political animal or political junkie.

Bill Murray is such a tremendous talent, but the world wasn’t ready for ‘Razor’s Edge,’ for something that thoughtful and with that much depth at that time in his career.

I’m a great consumer of kung-fu movies – mid-’70s to late-’80s.

For me, as a child, I certainly thought that there were more black people in the world than white people.

To make an absolutely gross generalization, I think a lot of people feel like if you’re mixed, more often than not you’re quote unquote white. So if you’re mixed, you embrace the mainstream culture more than the African-American culture.

I would like to invest more of my brain space in understanding the history of my city, because whenever I learn about the history of Detroit, it’s always so fascinating, from a little kind of beaver-trading post to the place where automobiles were manufactured.

Some of the friendliest, friendliest people you’re going to meet are going to be in Detroit.