While he stood out as a talent to watch in the hit Fox and Comedy Central comedy sketch shows MadTV and Key & Peele, respectively, no one would have guessed that, in the span of a few years, we would be mentioning Jordan Peele’s name as one of the best horror/sci-fi filmmakers of the last decade. Hailing from New York City, Peele’s first break came in 2003, when he was cast as a performer in the ninth season of MadTV, alongside fellow comedic performer Keegan-Michael Key. The two had previously met, and became fast friends, at Chicago’s Second City Theater. Following his departure from the show in 2008, Peele made a few appearances — in the 2009 Ben Stiller comedy, Little Fockers; the 2010 Fox comedy pilot The Station; the Adult Swim series Children’s Hospital; and the 2012 David Wain film Wanderlust — before reteaming with his good friend Keegan Michael-Key, later in 2012, for the sketch series Key & Peele.

Key & Peele, which ran for five seasons, was an instant hit with critics and viewers alike, and even went on to receive 18 Emmy nominations, winning one, in 2016, for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series. Featuring a healthy dose of satire and social commentary, the series' skits often employed horror and sci-fi tropes to get their points across. To the astute viewer, this was an early sign of Peele’s affinity for the aforementioned genres that would ultimately lead to his run as a celebrated film director, and as the producer/host of the revamped classic anthology series The Twilight Zone, which ran for two seasons, from 2019 to 2020, on CBS All Access. Here is a list of Key & Peele skits that foreshadowed his eventual foray into horror/sci-fi.

10 Season 2, Ep 6: Racist Zombies

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Comedy Central

In keeping with director George A. Romero’s theme of the living dead as a metaphor for society, Key and Peele play two Black men trying to make their way through a suburban neighborhood infested with zombies, following the death of their white friend, played by Kevin Sorbo (in an unforeseen bit of ironic casting, considering his eventual right-wing leanings). The friends soon realize that, not only are the zombies not interested in biting them, but they are, in fact, afraid of them because they’re Black. The story culminates with the duo coming upon an oasis of Black people taking full advantage of the apocalypse by having a huge backyard cookout.

Related: Key and Peele: The Best Comedy Sketches, Ranked

9 Season 3, Ep 7: Freddy Wong as Asian Ghost Roommate

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Comedy Central

In a nod to the J-Horror Boom of the 90s and 2000s, as outlined by The Guardian, four roommates sit down for a meeting to discuss which one of them is responsible for the rather annoying occurrences that have been happening around the apartment, things normally attributed to your typical ghost or poltergeist. Unbeknownst to them, the perpetrator of the occurrences, a spectral fifth roommate, does his best to disrupt the meeting.

8 Season 3, Ep 7: Sexy Vampires

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Comedy Central

Riffing on tired, old tropes seen all too often in modern vampire films, Peele plays the head of a clan of leather-clad, over-sexualized vampires as they initiate “new blood” Tyrell (Key) into the family. However, before the ceremony can begin, Tyrell poses a few questions to the clan that makes them rethink their gratuitous ways.

7 Season 3, Ep 7: Zombie Extras

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Comedy Central

The duo plays extras on a zombie film. Key’s character, an experienced background performer, attempts to advise Peele’s character, who has revealed that he’s never done background work before. Much to Key’s dismay, the director chooses the inexperienced Peele over him to be bumped up to a featured performer. Key’s frustration intensifies as, upon take after take, Peele can’t seem to get the direction right, which ultimately results in a furious Key being ejected from the film.

6 Season 4, Ep 1: Alien Imposters

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Comedy Central

Aliens have invaded Earth, leaving, in their wake, a decimated landscape, peppered with survivors and alien infiltrators capable of taking human form. As two armed friends (Key and Peele) attempt to navigate the decimated landscape, they occasionally come across survivors, who express relief to have found another human, and attempt to join them. However, before they let their guards down, the two friends devise an interesting method of ascertaining whether the people they come across are, in fact, human.

5 Season 4, Ep 3: Georgina and Esther and Satan

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Comedy Central

As two old friends Esther (Key) and Georgina (Peele) kneel in their pews, waiting for Sunday service to begin, they share stories about their family members who have given in to the throes of Satan (doing drugs, giving in to sexual urges, etc). As the pair make colorful threats about what they’d do to the devil if they could get their hands on him, they are visited by Satan himself, who attempts to possess the women. He quickly learns that, in the two old friends, he has bitten off much more than he can chew.

Related: 10 Scariest Scenes in a Jordan Peele Movie, Ranked

4 Season 4, Ep 6: Scariest Movie Ever

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Comedy Central

The scariest movie ever has just ended. Two friends (Key and Peele) exit the theater, seemingly unimpressed by what they’ve just seen. However, their actions speak differently. Despite their dismissal of the film, they decide to walk back to Peele’s car together rather than chance being alone — not because they’re scared, of course. Along the way, the pair do their best to avoid innocuous objects/scenarios (a trash can, a puddle of water, a car parked on a dark street) that represented some detail used to an underwhelming effect in the film they’ve just seen.

3 Season 4, Ep 9: Aerobics Meltdown

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Comedy Central

It’s the live taping of the 1987 Jazz Fit Championship. Two competitors, Flash (Peele) and Lightning (Key) dance for the cameras, when, suddenly, the director, played to perfection by genre vet Clint Howard, uses cue cards to deliver some tragic news to Lightning. Apparently, his wife and daughter were involved in a hit-and-run accident on their way to the taping to surprise him. Despite Lightning’s dismay, he is instructed via the hastily-scribbled cue cards to “Keep Dancing.” As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that Flash, his competition, may have had a hand in the “accident,” in this skit that simultaneously encapsulates the gleeful cheesiness of the 80s aerobics craze, while conveying a rapidly intensifying sense of dread.

2 Season 4, Ep 6: A Serial Killer is Thwarted

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Comedy Central

A detective (Key) confronts a serial killer by the name of Carlo (Peele) in a house of mirrors. As Carlo attempts to use the mirrors to his advantage, the detective ultimately gains the upper hand. Holding Carlo at gunpoint, the detective rattles off a list of Carlo’s victims and demands to know where “the girl” is. Unwilling to admit defeat, Carlo tries to convince the detective that he is, in fact, another reflection in the mirror, and not the real Carlo.

1 Season 2, Ep 6: Shining

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Comedy Central

New hire Ray (Key) is being shown around the office by his supervisor, who introduces him to a fellow Black employee Dick (Peele), in a play on the Dick Hallorann character from Stephen King’s The Shining. Ray soon learns that Dick, and every other Black person, possesses the ability to shine. However, in order to unlock this ability, you must first be shined at by another Black person. Ray then reveals that he grew up in a white neighborhood, and then went to Dartmouth, suggesting that he’d never encountered another Black person to shine with. As he familiarizes himself with this new power, Ray finds that he is able to communicate with various Black celebrities, including Kobe Bryant, Denzel Washington, Lil John, Samuel L. Jackson, Barack Obama, and Billy Dee Williams. Just as he learns to control the shining, thanks to some help from Morgan Freeman, Dick shines at him, and orders him to kill his white supervisor.