Comedy Central Extends 'Key & Peele'

Comedy Central has extended its comedy sketch series Key & Peele and have given the series stars Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele a development deal to expand develop characters from the show into an animated series, the network announced Wednesday.

Comedy Central has extended the fourth season of the Emmy-nominated series from 12 to 22-episodes – 20 original shows and two “best of” episodes, according to network officials. The third season of Key & Peele, averaged 2 million total viewers and was the most watched show in its Wednesday 10:30 p.m. timeslot among Men 18-34, said network officials.

In addition, the network will create an animated project based of Key and Peele’s “Vandaveon and Mike” characters, who will be set as 12-year old monitors navigating their way through middle school.

“Keegan and Jordan keep generating such a limitless supply of funny, inventive sketches, I’m starting to think they are not only 1/2 black and 1/2 white, but also 3/4 alien,” said Kent Alterman, President, Content Development and Original Programming, Comedy Central in a statement.

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.