Sam Robinson · Follow
7 min read · Mar 9, 2018
--
Key & Peele - Pizza Order
What was the last lie you told? Maybe you told your boss that you were too sick to come in to work, or maybe you lied to your friend about liking that song that they recommended, or perhaps you even lied to a complete stranger. “Guys the pizza is here!” you yell into your empty house as you tip the pizza delivery boy. You tell yourself “It’s not hurting anyone. Besides, he will never know.” However, this poses a interesting question; Why do people tell white lies? Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele investigate this intriguing aspect of human nature in their skit “Pizza Order”, which demonstrates how vulnerability and false pride lead people to embellish their true identities.
This sketch begins with a hispanic pizza worker named Carlos (Keegan-Michael Key), answering the phone to take a delivery order. The scene then changes to a close up shot of a long haired man named Wendell (Jordan Peele). Wendell starts his order with by enunciating “WE would like a large pie, with pepperoni, pineapple, and cheesy crust.” He goes on to order another large pizza and again puts heavy emphasis on the “WE” and “…cheesy crust.”
When Carlos asks if that will be all for Wendell’s order, Wendell responds “You know what, let me gauge the room.” The camera shot then changes to a wide angle view of Wendell, who is enormously obese and sitting alone in a room filled with action figures. At this point in the sketch, there is a great deal of dramatic irony because only the viewers are aware of the position that Wendell is in. For some reason or another, Wendell has decided to lie to the food-industry worker who has no idea what is actually happening on the other end of the line.
As Wendell pretends to count the hands of his made-up friends, Carlos laughs and asks if he is having a party; to which Wendell replies “Yup, pretty big one too.”
After Wendell decides to “play if safe” and order another pizza, Carlos asks him if he would like cheesy crust on the third pie. Wendell pretends to ask the people at his “party” if they would like cheesy crust on the third pizza, and then responds yes, adding “Claire says you read her mind.” At this point things begin to get interesting.
As if he has forgotten about his job, Carlos pauses and begins to ask questions about Claire. Carlos begins to show great interest in Claire, and the camera shot changes focus from a nervous looking Wendell in the background, to a female action figure, Claire, in the foreground. Wendell, realizing that his lie could be discovered, frantically tries to dissuade Carlos from trying to talk to Claire.
When Carlos asks if Claire is cute, Wendell replies “Her body is like a four….let’s just say, she’s kinda a big girl.” At this point, the sketch is dripping with irony. Wendell, who is lonely and overweight himself, tells Carlos that Claire is unattractive due to her large size. Carlos responds by saying that appearance is superficial and he is attracted to Claire because of what’s on the inside. All the while, Carlos has no idea that Claire does not exist and the man whom he is speaking to is very large himself.
Finally, Carlos asks Wendell to put Claire on the phone. Wendell panics and tries to cover his first two lies with another one. “I got to level with you man… I [bleep]-ed her.” However, Wendell then realizes that he just admitted to having sex with Claire who he just called fat and unattractive. To protect his pride in front of a complete stranger, he then says “T’was a while ago, before she blimped up. My current girlfriend is Liv. Body, ten. Face, ten.”
The fact that Wendell makes up another fake character, who he claims to be currently dating, sheds light on one of the main catalyst for lying. Many people lie to protect their own pride. When communicating, people often embellish details about themselves to appear better than others. In fact, some scientist believe that lying can actually be tied back to natural selection. Robert Trivers, an evolutionary biologist and anthropology professor at Rutgers, has a theory that states: “We often deceive ourselves because it then becomes easier to deceive others.” In other words, by lying to others, we not only appear superior to our peers, but our brain also starts to believe the lies that we are telling, thus making us feel better about ourselves.
Wendell goes on to tell Carlos that Claire has also had sex with many of his friends. The camera pans to multiple male action figures as Wendell lists off the names of the other “men” that Claire has slept with. Carlos, who seems to be a genuinely kind-hearted man, asks Wendell if he would mind if he asked Claire out. Seemingly trapped by his own web of lies, Wendell pretends to ask Claire out for Carlos.
After Wendell tells Carlos that Claire said no, the mood of the sketch begins to change. As the camera cuts to a determined looking Carlos, a soft but uplifting piano tune begins to play softly in the background. The camera slowly zooms in on Carlos’s face as he delivers a passionate speech for why he believes that fate has brought him and Claire together. As Carlos finishes explaining his romantic feelings for Claire, the music has graduated to a full symphony of instruments playing an inspirational chorus that draws the audience into the highly emotional moment. The effect of the camera zoom, in addition to the music, is so effective at creating a feeling of love, that the viewers almost forget that they are watching a comedy sketch about a pizza delivery order.
What makes Key and Peele’s sketches so mesmerizing to watch is their skillful use of camera angles and music scores to captivate audiences. By zooming in or out, they are able to control where the audience is focusing. Likewise, by adding music, they have the ability to heighten the emotional suspense of a scene. It is through this skillful composition of emotional music and camera techniques, that they are able to productively create irony.
Symbolism is also a large part of this sketch, and much of that is demonstrated in Carlos’s profession of love for Claire. The repetition of “cheesy crust” seems to be of minimal significance at first, however, the cheesy crust actually symbolizes personality. People enjoy cheesy crust on pizza because all of the flavorful cheese is stuffed inside. Likewise, a person’s lovable (or unlovable) personality is inside of their body. Carlos and Claire had a connection when Carlos read Claire’s mind about adding cheesy crust to the third pizza. Later on, Carlos explains how he doesn’t care about Claire’s body weight or appearance and it’s what is inside that Carlos is attracted to.
Another powerful example of symbolism is the numerous action figures that Wendell accompanies himself with. Wendell is no doubt a lonely man, and thus he must lie to himself to feel better. The countless action figures that he surrounds himself with, represent the countless lies that he has created to distract himself from his unhappiness.
At the end of Carlos’s speech, the emotional tension is at it’s peak. Without warning, the camera quickly changes to a wide angle shot of Wendell. In a quick motion, Wendell throws a glass vase to the floor, loudly shattering it. “OH MY GOD! CLAIRE JUST GOT SHOT!”, screams Wendell through the phone. The camera shot quickly returns to a visibly panicked Carlos who exclaims “What?! No!” The view returns to Wendell who cries out “OH, IT JUST CAME THROUGH THE WINDOW! IT WAS A BULLET! IT HIT HER IN THE NECK! OH, SHES DOWN! SHE’S DEAD! SHE’S DEAD! I’M CALLIN’ THE COPS! SHE’S DEAD!”
Wendell abruptly hangs up the phone and the camera returns to Carlos one last time as he dramatically calls out for Claire in agony. As the sketch comes to a close, Wendell begins to dial another number into his phone and exhales; “Well, Chinese it is…”
