Key & Peele’s “High On Potenuse” shows that stealing someone’s gag isn’t something to laugh about. Following the end of Key & Peele in 2015 after five seasons, the title duo has largely gone different routes in their careers. Peele moved behind the camera, surprising horror fans with instant classic Get Out in 2017; not only was it a critical and commercial hit, but it also nabbed Peele an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. He’s certainly embraced his love for the genre in the years since, from his follow-up project Us to hosting and producing CBS’ latest iteration of The Twilight Zone.

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Keegan-Michael Key has largely stuck with acting, recently loaning his voice to The Lion King and he had a major role in Netflix series Friends From College. He’s also moved towards hosting, acting as the new host of Brain Games and fronting Game On!, the U.S. version of British game show A League Of Their Own. The UK series was hosted by James Corden, who also appeared as a guest on the remake. Key & Peele fans need not despair, since they’re set to reunite as the title characters in stop-motion animation Wendell And Wild, which lands on Netflix in 2021.

Joke theft is a controversial subject in the comedy world, with several prominent comedians having been accused of stealing material. That forms the basis of Key & Peele’s “High On Potenuse” sketch, where during math class a teacher talks about the hypotenuse of a triangle, leading Peele’s dorky student to lean over to Key’s classmate to crack the zinger “I wish I was high on potenuse.”

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Key’s character repeats this joke louder so the class can hear, resulting in everybody – including their teacher and principal – cracking up. The trouble starts when Peele points out that was his joke but Key refuses to acknowledge him. His day only gets worst from there, as comedian Gabriel Iglesias visits the school and also laughs at Key’s “high on potenuse” gag while Peele desperately tries to receive his due credit, only to be scorned by teacher and classmates alike.

Key & Peele’s “High On Potenuse” skit ends with Iglesias taking Key’s student from the classroom to be his opening act, and he’s later seen being awarded by Peele’s President Obama in the White House for his joke. Even outside of comedians, everyone can probably relate to one instance of having their joke stolen and not receiving credit for it, with this skit taking that feeling and stretching it to hilariously outlandish extremes.

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About The Author


Padraig Cotter
(3485 Articles Published)

It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

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He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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