The actor, comedian and writer boasts high expectations after last season’s run to the NFC championship game—and he isn’t the only one.
Keegan-Michael Key is among the Detroiters eager to see their hometown franchise play for a Super Bowl for the first time this upcoming season. / Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
Keegan-Michael Key acts, does comedy specials, produces and writes. He co-created and co-starred in Key & Peele and acted in Mad TV, Playing House, Friends from College, Fargo, Parks and Recreation and dozens of movies (Wonka, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Horrible Bosses 2).
While his work may be sprinkled all over Los Angeles, and the wider, viewing world, Key is also a Detroiter at his core. Born in Southfield, Mich. Adopted by two social workers from Detroit. Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Detroit-Mercy. This means, of course, he’s also a Lions fan and he spoke with Sports Illustrated for the NFL preview cover story on his favorite team and its evolution.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
Sports Illustrated: Were there points in your Lions fandom where you thought, legitimately, that a run like this run would never happen?
Keegan-Michael Key: Typically, I try to be a hopeful person. I fall under the camp of, I thought it … might happen. [Laughs]. I just didn’t know if it would happen in my lifetime.
SI: Why?
KMK: In the past, it always felt like there were these insurmountable, systemic problems with the team. It was like, I don’t know how we’re going to overcome this. I never had, in my mind, a route of how we were going to overcome.
SI: When did you know, with this group, that overcoming was, indeed, possible?
KMK: Between 2021 and ’22, when they went from 3-13-1 to 9–8. I really thought something was happening there. Initially, I knew this much: I knew there was going to be a culture shift, as everybody knows, from that famous first Dan Campbell press conference. You knew there was going to be a marked shift in the culture. I didn’t know if it was going to be good or bad. But I had a good feeling in Dan as a leader and also as a cheer … leader, if you will.
SI: You work in a lot of mediums where you’re conveying information in different ways, like through humor or voiceovers. What did you think, as a conveyor of such, Campbell was trying to get across in all that biting-kneecaps glory?
KMK: The tone was hopeful. There was a hopeful, if not forceful tone about it. He seemed very resolute. It’s almost as if he knew exactly, from Day 1, what he wanted to do. And somehow knew exactly how he wanted to implement it. The sensational part is the biting kneecaps stuff. Which is still exciting, because he was saying something that was more than the rote responses that you typically get when there’s a new coach or new GM. There was a genuine excitement, and there was genuine heart in what he was saying.
SI: Personally, biting kneecaps sounds like an ideal Key & Peele plot, no?
KMK: A solid, steady diet of kneecaps. Right. Lot of protein in that. Also calcium.
SI: We didn’t expect to find so many Lions celebrity superfans. Did you ever notice that? You’re like Lakers, Motor City or some such.
KMK: Oh, interesting. I don’t know that I did notice that, in a pronounced way. What I really did notice is, I would say, I’m from Detroit. And, in the last few years, right before Dan got there, during those Matt Patricia years, people would look at me, and could see a glint in [their] eyes. Going, like, I hope the best for them. Or, Oh, I’m sorry. That was always the response. But then also a little bit of admiration. That a person would be a long-suffering fan. Very similar to the Chicago Cubs, for a very long time. People go, Oh, they must have character. They stayed a fan, through thick and through thin.
SI: Have you seen closeted Lions fans come back into public view?
KMK: Recently, yes. The Lions, in a way, are the epitome of the American dream. Or they are an example of the American underdog story. Last season was amazing, because you could feel this uplifting energy from people, across the board, who were NFL fans. They were watching the Lions! That’s a great story. I’m pulling for them. I can’t count the number of people who [told me that]. And it was heartfelt.
SI: Was there a moment that really drove that home for you?
KMK: Can I say this about the Rams win? [He means in the wild-card round of last season’s playoffs, with quarterback Jared Goff facing his former team, and Lions legend Matthew Stafford coming back to town.] That was a good example of Detroiters showing that nice, Midwestern quality that I’ve loved. Clapping for Stafford. Wishing him the best. Being genuinely happy for him.
SI: Maybe it’s too soon. But how did you watch the NFC championship game last January?
KMK: I remember watching that game. Sitting with my wife and my father-in-law. And my father-in-law, his eyes just lit up. Like he couldn’t believe that this was happening, that it was actually real.
SI: What does the support locally for Goff say about Detroiters?
KMK: I have to say, I did have a snap judgment. I want to share it. It was, Well, now, wait a minute. This is a quarterback who’s actually been to the Super Bowl. This may be a better trade, in the end, for us, than we thought. That was the initial thought.
SI: How about offensive coordinator Ben Johnson?
KMK: A wizard!
SI: What do you make of the city’s resurgence, separate from the football team?
KMK: Detroit is a DIY city. That is something that I’ve always admired about Detroiters, especially over, I’d say, the last three decades perhaps. People would start to say, you know what? If we’re living in a produce desert, let’s figure out how to make raised soil beds and make our own food. Examples like that seem to come up often in Detroit. We’re out here, and we have the means, and we have the desire. Let’s do it ourselves.
SI: Isn’t that, in some ways, the story of the Lions? Maybe minus the highs?
KMK: A few more valleys than peaks, right! There are Lions who seem to be passionate about the city throughout the history of the team.
SI: Did you know that Dan Campbell wanted to bring in a real lion? Like as a pet or security guard or whatever.
KMK: I had not heard that! It doesn’t surprise me!
SI: Thoughts on the year ahead? Wanna make a guarantee?
KMK: We have all the tools and all of the weapons and, if I may, there is a fluidity and consistency that has been established. Without a guarantee, I will say this. If, indeed, we reach the NFC championship game, the majority of the players now have a sense of what that’s like. That is my way of saying it would then be possible for them to win that game and make their way to their first Super Bowl. It is highly probable. I really believe that.
