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Barack Obama’s must-see 'Key & Peele' moment with NBA icons

The USA Basketball Men’s National Team’s meeting with former President Obama was accidental comedy gold

Alan Goldsher

Barack Obama, sketch comic?
Barack Obama, sketch comic? / Billy Kingsley / The Tennessean via
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These days, Jordan Peele is best-known as an Oscar-winning auteur. But back in the day, he was celebrated for his devastating impersonation of Barack Obama.

That’s why it was such a delight to see Barack Obama channel his inner Jordan Peele.

In a surprise appearance at a shindig celebrating the USA Basketball Men’s National Team’s 50th anniversary, the former President referred to himself as, “...the Hooper-in-Chief,” a moniker that could’ve come straight from the pen of Peele and his partner-in-sketch-comedy-crime, Keegan-Michael Key.

The Barack Obama Comedy Hour didn’t end there. He gave LeBron James, Steph Curry, et al a playful challenge: “I just want to come here to help send off the soon-to-be gold medal winners. We invented this game, and I don’t like it when we don’t win.”

But the highlight of Obama’s visit was his trip down what we’ll call “the dap line.” After giving Steph, Bron, and some of their ’mates a standard bro hug, Obama offered traditional (read: boring) handshakes to several non-players.

The contrast in greetings reminded the interwebs of an iconic moment from Key & Peele Emmy-winning Comedy Central show.

Full disclosure: We ran this story in part as an excuse to revisit K&P’s East/West Bowl epics.

Sure, Jordan Peele is one helluva filmmaker—Get Out is straight-up brilliant—but it’s doubtful he’ll ever top his sketch comedy classics.

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Alan Goldsher
ALAN GOLDSHER