Keegan-Michael Key jokes about Detroit childhood during his ‘Saturday Night Live’ monologue
Michael #Michael
Detroit’s own Keegan-Michael Key mentioned his hometown almost immediately after taking the stage for the first time as host of “Saturday Night Live.”
But if you were watching, did you get to hear him say the city’s name?
About one minute after Key made his entrance on Saturday night’s episode, he described himself as “a super fan” of the show ever since he was a kid.
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“I grew up a block south of 8 Mile Road in Detroit and I used to sneak downstairs to watch ‘SNL’ every week. And if you had told, if you had told that kid that one day he would be standing here on this stage…”
Key paused for a moment, then joked, “He probably would’ve been too busy stealing your wallet to have heard what you said. But I’ve come a long way since then and I am so honored to be here.”
You might have been distracted at this point if you among those wondering, “Did NBC just censor him from saying Detroit?”
As a flurry of tweets noted, some sort of audio glitch apparently muted or cut out the word “Detroit” during Key’s comments.
“From Second City in Detroit to the stage at @nbcsnl and we couldn’t hear Keegan Michael-Key say The Motor City’s name? I feel robbed,” posted freelance writer Karen Dybis, who’s written several books with Detroit links.
“Why did #SNL bleep Detroit in the monologue?,” tweeted Duane Matthew Becker, executive producer of WLWT-TV, an NBC affiliate in Cincinnati.
Vanity Fair magazine also noticed something was amiss, writing in its recap, “In his exuberant monologue, Key shouted out his roots as a SNL superfan from Detroit (though the response was oddly muted, as if the editors wouldn’t allow another city mentioned on New York turf) and then quickly broke into song.”
It is unclear why the problem happened or whether it was widespread or only on certain stations or cable outlets. The video clip of Key’s monologue posted on YouTube’s “SNL” channel and the official NBC site didn’t have the glitch.
Efforts to reach the network during and after the show aired were unsuccessful.
Most of Key’s monologue was reserved for a musical number that drew comparisons online to the 1991 bit where “SNL” host Steve Martin sang, “I’m not going to phone it in tonight.”
Key’s lyrics went, “I’m going to do it all tonight, every single SNL thing tonight/Sketches, and voices, and songs tonight, like the one I’m singing now.” He even did a mid-number costume change, revealing another tuxedo underneath the one he already was wearing.
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During the 90-minute live broadcast, Key played a variety of characters, including a high school correspondent doing live coverage of a prom, an aging Broadway legend who couldn’t remember his lyrics during a tribute to George Gershwin and one of the family members at a high school graduation who ignored a high school principal’s request to hold their applause until everyone was announced.
In a filmed takeoff of Netflix’s hit docuseries “The Last Dance,” Key portrayed a relentless Michael Jordan coaxing a security guard (Heidi Gardner) to make increasingly costly bets in a game of quarters.
The episode’s highlight was a sketch with Key and Kenan Thompson as security guards for “The Muppet Show” who become violent when Statler and Waldorf refuse to stop doing their usual heckling.
Key, who tweeted “dreams do come true” when his hosting gig was announced, said at the end of the show, “This was better than the dream!”
Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds at jhinds@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Keegan-Michael Key jokes about Detroit childhood during his ‘Saturday Night Live’ monologue