Obama Wanted 'Key & Peele' to Make an Obamacare Sketch with Him

In a last ditch effort of get young people to sign up for Obamacare and save the defining policy initiative of his presidency, earlier this year President Obama appeared in a very awkward episode of "Between Two Ferns," Zach Galifianakis' Funny or Die mock talk show. But, as is the case with most Americans, President Obama's first choice for the job was the duo behind Key & Peele.

In a new interview for Entertainment Weekly, Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele said they didn't have time for the president. "We had to turn him down,” Peele told EW. “We were making the season.” Key added that, "We literally couldn’t fit it in to our schedules.”

And that's unfortunate. As Key & Peele's anger translator skits show, the two are particularly good at referencing key political moments in a way that's both funny and somewhat substantive. Here, Luther (Key) translates Obama's (Peele) reaction to Mitt Romney's 47 percent video:

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(Then again, we can't imagine Luther anger translating for the real Obama.)

In March, Obama used the "Ferns" episode to market the Affordable Care Act during the final weeks of its first enrollment period. During the episode Galifianakis asked Obama a series of awkward questions like "What's it like to be the last black president?" and referred to the Affordable Care Act as "the thing that doesn't work. Why would you get the guy who created the Zune to make your website?"

The episode received well over 5.4 million views the day it aired (it's currently at 24 million) and was the top referrer to Healthcare.gov that day:

In other words, it worked out pretty well for the White House. At the same time, with another enrollment period coming up, Obama should maybe give Key and Peele a call.

This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/09/obama-wanted-key-peele-to-make-an-obamacare-sketch-with-him/380725/

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