A gasp went through the room when a lanky bald man stepped up on stage to join President Obama at the White House correspondents’ dinner. For some it was, “Who?” For others, it was “Key!”

Keegan-Michael Key, 44, is half of the comedy duo Key and Peele, known for a hit Comedy Central sketch series. It’s actually his partner, Jordan Peele, not present at the dinner, who’s known for doing a very deft Obama impersonation. But Key played the comic foil to the commander in chief that he’s so often played for Peele’s Obama — that of Obama’s “anger translator, Luther.”