Keegan-Michael Key reflects on 'Key & Peele' legacy and evolution

Keegan-Michael Key recently opened up to People magazine about his iconic partnership with Jordan Peele, revealing that despite their past success, they "don't see each other that often anymore."

Key reminisced about meeting Peele, "It was a thrilling time in my life."

The duo trained at Chicago's Second City before joining Fox's MAD TV in 2004.

"We lived together for a few months and would write and talk about comedy — who we liked and why we liked them and how that worked in the architecture of what we were trying to build comedically," Key recalled.

Their comedic dynamic led to their own sketch comedy series, Key & Peele (2012-2015), which won two Emmys.

"When we were on camera, it was alchemy," Key said of Peele. "It was just like, 'Why is this working?'"

However, since Key & Peele ended, Key admitted, "We don't see each other that often anymore, which is, to me, a tragedy."

Despite collaborating on projects like Keanu, Fargo, Toy Story 4, and Wendell & Wild, Key explained, "Your lives start to evolve and move in different directions."

Peele resides in Los Angeles with wife Chelsea Peretti, while Key and wife Elle Key are based in New York City.

"Our evolution, I think, is tied to both of what our desires are," Key added. "His desire was to start exploring the horror genre, and my desire was to do more dramatic work like I had been trained in school."

Key noted that fans can see their evolution in Key & Peele, "I was playing the clown more and doing more physical comedy in the beginning of our time together, and then I found myself evolving into playing more of the straight roles and teeing up Jordan to play the clown."

"Both of us jumped to another platform — but we needed that first platform."