As half of the Comedy Central sketch duo His partnership with Jordan Peele began at another sketch show: MADtv. Key told NPR's Ask Me Another host Ophira Eisenberg that "Jordan's brilliant tactical mind" came up with the idea of working together: "'What if we just write all of our scenes together, or the majority of our scenes together, and then we're indispensable?' And I went 'you are a genius.'" Key said they'd also rehearse their sketches in their shared apartment, so they could fully perform them at table reads to better sell their ideas. TV comedy wasn't always the goal for Key. After he graduated from Penn State with a Master of Fine Arts in theatre, he originally intended to stick to the stage. "In '96 I wanted to move to Seattle, where there was a booming theatre scene, and I was going to start a theatre with friends and only do comedia and absurdism... that'll fill the seats!"