Substitute Teacher

Mr. Garvey is a pugnacious and volatile former inner city teacher of twenty years who is now a substitute teacher assigned to a predominantly white biology class. While taking attendance, Garvey begins pronouncing each student's name incorrectly - Jacqueline becomes "Jay Quellin", Blake becomes "Balakay", Denise becomes "Dee-nice", and Aaron becomes "A-A-Ron". As each student tries to correct him, Garvey becomes progressively angrier, refusing to accept that their names are legitimately pronounced the way they say. He proclaims he has his eye on Jacqueline, asks Blake if he wants to "go to war", breaks his clipboard while insisting Denise say her name correctly, and finally sweeps everything off his desk while chastising Aaron before sending him to Principal O'Shaughnessy's office (whose name he mispronounces as "O'Shag-Hennessy"). The sketch ends with Timothy, the only black student in the class, whose name Garvey pronounces as "Tim O. Thee" - and Timothy doesn't correct him, simply responding "present."

- As of December 2024, the YouTube video has over 228 million views, making it one of Key & Peele's most iconic sketches - The line "insubordinate and churlish" was improvised by Keegan-Michael Key - Zack Pearlman (Aaron) wore protective goggles in the sketch due to having pink eye during filming - In 2015, Paramount Pictures purchased a pitch for a feature film version of the sketch - Key reprised his role as Mr. Garvey in a November 2022 Paramount+ advertisement - The sketch has been widely praised by educators and used in classrooms - Key modeled Mr. Garvey on a vigilant and aggressive guidance counselor from his predominantly black Catholic elementary school - The sketch flips cultural stereotypes by having a black teacher mispronounce white students' names, highlighting cultural relativity and assumptions