By Michael Stets
ALLEN PARK–Team celebrations are back in full effect this season, so Boogie Down Brown visited the Lions last week to offer up some sage advice on how the offense can be more creative after they get in the endzone.
In a hilarious new video, actor and comedian Keegan-Michael Key aka Boogie Down Brown, teaches Marvin Jones Jr., Golden Tate, Eric Ebron, Matthew Stafford, and T.J. Lang, the finer points of touchdown celebrations.
Key, a native Detroiter who rose to fame in the hit Comedy Central skit series “Key and Peele,” reprimands the players for calling a football a football and preaches to them how “It’s everything it can possibly be in the world,” including a cell phone, brick, chicken leg, black eye, and a blender.
“The dude is funny, man,” Jones told WJR on Wednesday. “He is funny. Nothing was scripted. It was just all like organic and like a call and response type of deal. It was funny. We had to keep a straight face, obviously, but a lot of stuff he was saying, on the inside I was ready to erupt.”
Jones asked Boogie Down Brown about his T-shirt logo during the skit, which prompted this funny response: “Junior. Keep your mouth shut Junior. If you was Marvin Jones. Sr. then you could say something to me.”
“I had a chance to meet him early in the season and since then we’ve become buddies,” said Golden Tate, who has also become friends with action movie star Dwayne Johnson this season. “I’ve always been a fan of him. I watch a lot of ‘Key and Peele.’ His improv is fantastic. I mean, the guy is just funny for no reason. When he’s not even trying to be funny he is hilarious. I’m a big fan. I love being around him. We were supposed to have our serious faces on and be serious, but it’s hard to do that when he is on his game.”
All of the reactions from the Lions during the skit were honest ones, Tate said. “That’s the good thing about it. We were just able to be ourselves and he just made it funny and us funny.”
Key, who is currently on Broadway in the Steve Martin play “Meteor Shower,” taught the Lions several celebrations as Boogie Down Brown, including one they used in last Saturday’s 20-10 win over the Chicago Bears: The Rockettes famous kick line. After Stafford threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to TJ Jones, Jones, Tate, Jones Jr., Ebron and Theo Riddick all got in line to recreate the iconic holiday dance.
“He was pretty excited about that,” Jones said.
Tate, who said Lions president Rod Wood saw “Meteor Shower’ and told him it was funny, was asked if Key was just riffing and ad libbing the entire time during the skit.
“That’s exactly what he is doing,” said Tate. “That’s what made it so much more funny because he was just off the top of his head. ‘In case you get traded. Also I’m in the pork sausage business.’ C’mon man (laughs).”
Tate was referring to the end of the skit where Boogie Down Brown passed out his business cards.
“Yeah, Boogie Down Brown, 555-6666,” Jones said, laughing. “So give him a call.”
