Key & Peele: Weed, Coffee, and Miscommunication
Have you ever read a text message one way only to realize later that you completely misinterpreted it? This has happened to me on countless occasions. One of these occurrences was when I was on the way back from a beach trip with my family. I had just woken up from a lengthy nap to the buzz of my cell phone, alerting that I had a text from my best friend Avery. My heart was racing as I read the three terrifying words she had texted me: “I hate you.” I immediately unlocked my phone to see that she had said it in reply to something funny I had sent in our previous messages. My heart rate went down significantly. Although she was just being sarcastic, I had quickly misread the situation. It happens to everyone, trust me. With texting being the main form of communication these days, less and less phone calls and in-person conversations are occurring because it is simply easier to type what you want to say instead. However, there is a flaw to this seemingly easy and fast means of communication. When you cannot hear the tone of voice someone is using to say a certain phrase, it can often be misinterpreted, leading to confusion and possibly conflict about the meaning of the text.
In Key & Peele’s popular Comedy Central sketch titled “Text Message Confusion”, they exemplify misinterpreting a text in a relatable, humorous way. The first scene begins as the camera shows Keegan (Key) in the kitchen pouring himself a freshly brewed cup of coffee while appearing annoyed as he constructs a text message to his friend Jordan (Peele) that reads:
“I’ve been trying to reach out to you all day. Are we on for tonight?”
The scene quickly changes over to Jordan, who is playing an intense football video game, sets down his controller to light his bowl in an attempt to smoke weed, only to finally notice Keegan’s text. In a more relaxed manner, he replies,
“Awww, shoot. Keegan’s been texting me. ‘Sorry, dude. Missed your texts. I assumed we’d meet at the bar. Whatever. I don’t care.’”
Once Keegan receives this text, he immediately explodes with anger at the fact that Jordan said “Whatever. I don’t care.” to him. The phrases “whatever” and “I don’t care” do not exactly resonate positively with people.
“The word ‘whatever’ can be very dismissive and rude,” (Huffpost)
Nonetheless, Jordan actually meant that he does not care about where they meet, not about whether or not they’re still going to the bar together. Miscommunication such as this is so common in modern day, which adds to Key & Peele’s ability to relate to their audience. Texters are so quick to misread a conversation and immediately result to anger that they do not stop and think: what if the person did not mean what they were trying to say in a rude or harsh way? If this conversation would have happened in a face-to-face setting, the tone of Jordan’s voice most likely would have given off the impression that he was not trying to be rude to his friend Keegan.
The conversation between Keegan and Jordan intensifies throughout the sketch, but only for Keegan. The camera frequently switches back and forth between Key in his kitchen and Peele sitting on his sofa. Keegan is enraged by the texts he is receiving due in part to the tone he is reading them aloud in and his setting. He is standing up, drinking coffee, and is not very relaxed — even from the moment he sent the first text to Jordan. Additionally, the camera angles intensify these moments by getting close up on these reactions and farther away to show him physically angry about these texts. Contrarily, Jordan is playing video games, smoking weed, and relaxing on the couch. The conflicting states these characters are in-on edge and relaxed- definitely play a part in altering their reactions to the texts.
The reactions that Keegan and Jordan are having to each other’s texts could also be based on the drugs they are taking- as stimulating as coffee and as hallucinogenic as marijuana. Coffee, a very tasty and popular stimulant drug, increases alertness and decreases fatigue. As a result, Keegan has a lot of energy and reads his texts aloud very vocally (though no one can hear him since he’s texting alone in his house). He energetically jumps around his kitchen in an aggravated manner to show his frustration about how uninterested Jordan’s texts come across, while Jordan thinks nothing of it because of how differently he read the text. Jordan was smoking marijuana, a hallucinogen that relaxes your body and alters your mood, and in real life, Jordan Peele actually does religiously smoke marijuana, which he has admitted it on many accounts. Peele told Vulture that many sketch inspirations come from a little known author,
‘“Mr. Weed.” Peele goes on to explain, “He’s an amazing writer.”’
Since the drugs they were both “taking” in the sketch were so different, the video shows how not only different personalities can have an affect on misinterpreting a text, but also the drugs that are in your system can very well alter perceptions and emotions in your body. The tension between the characters continues as Keegan tells Jordan,
“Jesus, you… (calmly) ..are fucking priceless”
And Jordan replies by reciprocating his same words, but in his mind meaning that Keegan is the good kind of priceless. Naturally, he gets mad and asks Jordan if he “wants to go”, in which he means “go” as in fight and Jordan means “go” as in meet at the bar. The way they both think about the situation differs so significantly to the point that Keegan shows up to the bar holding a baseball bat with nails sticking out of it. Jordan, however, was graciously in the middle of ordering drinks for them both, thinking nothing was wrong the entire time.
The way Key & Peele influence laughter from all audiences in this funny, confusing texting situation is that they use a story and phrases like “Whatever”, “I don’t care” and “You wanna go?!”, which are all easily misunderstood phrases in today’s society. Additionally, these comedians bring factors of their own lives into the sketch to make it come alive, which they’ve also done in other sketches. Keegan Michael Key has been drinking coffee for most of his life, which he also does in the sketch. Jordan Peele has been smoking weed for years, which in fact positively influences his sketch motives. The fact that they bring personal connections to the sketch makes it that more personable and easy to connect with. The main takeaway from their sketch is to think twice about what a text message might mean before initially jumping to conclusions — Or even better — just have a conversation in person.