Host Keegan-Michael Key Shares Love Affair With 'SNL,' Then Takes On The Muppets

Sketch comedy veteran Keegan-Michael Key couldnt quite believe he had made it to Saturday Night Live to host the program for the first time ever.

Key, a longtime star of MadTV and Key & Peele , sweetly recalled the hours he watched the show as a boy in Detroit, never dreaming he would one day be on the stage.

Key called himself a super fan of Saturday Night Live even as a little kid.

I grew up a block south of 8 Mile Road in Detroit and I used to sneak downstairs to watch SNL every week. If you had told that kid that one day he would be standing here on this stage ... he recalled, apparently beginning to tear up. Then he quipped: He probably wouldve been too busy stealing your wallet to have heard what you said.

But Ive come a long way since then and I am so honored to be here. And because of that, I am going to make the most of it, he added before breaking out in song.

Key appeared in a number of sketches, including one playing a security guard in a theater with Kenan Thompson who repeatedly told off Muppets Statler and Waldorf for heckling Melissa Villaseors Lily Tomlin and Kermit the Frog during a performance.

We dont give a hot damn for the show, explained Thompson.

We work for the venue, Key said before repeatedly punching Statler.

Then the two discover the Muppets dont have any legs when they try to eject them.

Sorry, we didnt know yall were veterans, Key apologized. Thank you for your service. Thats when they join in the heckling.

Check out Keys monologue up top, and the Muppets sketch here:

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