Gandhi inspired me to find balance: ‘Key & Peele’ star

By Sugandha Rawal

Anaheim, Sep 7 (IANS) If you love the comedy sketch series "Key & Peele", you are bound to be his fan. Keegan-Michael Key, along with Jordan Peele, shot to fame in 2012 with the series, through which the duo addresses a range of issues including race, ethnic stereotypes and masculinity. The show won two Emmy Awards.

The profound socio-cultural undercurrent in his humour, perhaps, owes itself to his unique inspiration. Key tells you Mahatma Gandhi has been a huge influence in his life. He credits India's Bapu for altering his world view.

"My biggest influence from Mahatma Gandhi has been that he thought globally. That is something that I try to keep in the forefront of my mind. He has inspired me to try to find the balance between thinking of people individually, and how people are from different cultures," Key, who portrayed Gandhi in an episode of web series "Epic Rap Battles of History", told IANS.

"The biggest influence is a sense of global thinking, that this action is going to affect somebody over here, or this action will influence somebody over there. We should really take time to think about how we behave. Choose our words wisely. From the quotes or the history that I have read, he seems to be a person who thought how it is affecting the group at large. He was a responsive man as opposed to a reactive man," added the actor.

Beyond his series, Key's resume also boasts of interesting roles in "Pitch Perfect 2", "Don't Think Twice", besides voiceover gigs in "Toy Story 4", "Tomorrowland", the "Hotel Transylvania" franchise and "The Lion King". He is now all set to host National Geographic's "Brain Games" reboot.

The 48-year-old star finds career satisfaction through reinvention.

"It is 100 per cent necessary to reinvent. As you grow, you evolve, and as you evolve, new things become of interest to you. You find new things that more crucial to share with the rest of humanity. It's not even actually a matter of it being difficult, as it is, 'Oh, I just, I have to do it'. I like to think of myself as a person of varied interests," he said.

The "Brain Games" reboot, which will throw mind-bending challenges in front of Hollywood's celebrities, comes in sync with it.

"This show in particular is very interesting because I get to host and be on the journey with the audience. I'm learning new things scientifically that never occurred to me," he said, adding: "My hope with the show is that it makes things more accessible for younger audience."

(Sugandha Rawal was in Anaheim at the invitation of Disney India. She can be contacted at sugandha.r@ians.in)