--- description: The comedian told this year's host to have a few drinks before he gets on stage to roast President Obama. title: Keegan-Michael Key's Hosting Advice for Larry Wilmore image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdf7cea0badde481e/698891485f570f6da5b20b61/gettyimages-526211490.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [White House](/tag/white-house/) ## White House Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Here's Keegan-Michael Key's Advice to Larry Wilmore on the White House Correspondents Dinner by [Daniel White](/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 30, 2016 1:39 AM CUT  Actor Keegan-Michael Key attends the Google/HBO celebration of "All The Way" during White House Correspondents' weekend at the Renwick Gallery on April 29, 2016 in Washington, D.C. Actor Keegan-Michael Key attends the Google/HBO celebration of "All The Way" during White House Correspondents' weekend at the Renwick Gallery on April 29, 2016 in Washington, D.C.Paul Morigi—2016 Paul Morigi by [Daniel White](/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 30, 2016 1:39 AM CUT Keegan-Michael Key had some advice for fellow comedian Larry Wilmore: have a drink before roasting the president at Saturday’s White House Correspondents Dinner. Or three, actually. “Breathe and have about three drinks before you go on,” Key told TIME. “Because there’s no way he doesn’t already have this thing memorized backwards and forwards, he’ll be fine. Just got to loosen up, Larry.” Key, producer and star of the [new comedy _Keanu_](http://time.com/4312612/review-keanu-key-and-peele/ "undefined"), was attending the annual People/TIME cocktail party leading up to Saturday’s dinner with President Obama—his last while in office. The comedian [appeared alongside Obama at last year’s dinner](http://time.com/3999809/keegan-michael-key-president-obama/ "undefined"), reenacting a skit from the popular comedy show Key & Peele, where Key played the President’s “anger translator” Luther. Wilmore [will roast Obama at this year’s dinner](http://time.com/4152561/larry-wilmore-white-house-correspondents-dinner-barack-obama/ "undefined") and Key had a burning question he wanted the host of the _The Nightly Show_ with Larry Wilmore. “Larry should ask this question for himself and me both, can you help us out on that lecture circuit,” Key joked. “We’ll take a small part.” His parting words of advice: After taking those drinks, “let ‘er rip.” “This is the last one,” he said. “Let ‘er rip.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4313309/white-house-correspondents-dinner-keegan-michael-key-larry-wilmore/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4313309/white-house-correspondents-dinner-keegan-michael-key-larry-wilmore/"},"headline":"Here's Keegan-Michael Key's Advice to Larry Wilmore on the White House Correspondents Dinner","datePublished":"2016-04-30T01:39:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:09:51.419Z","description":"Have three drinks, he said","url":"https://time.com/4313309/white-house-correspondents-dinner-keegan-michael-key-larry-wilmore/","keywords":["White House","White House Correspondents Dinner"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdf7cea0badde481e/698891485f570f6da5b20b61/gettyimages-526211490.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdf7cea0badde481e/698891485f570f6da5b20b61/gettyimages-526211490.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Actor Keegan-Michael Key attends the Google/HBO celebration of \"All The Way\" during White House Correspondents' weekend at the Renwick Gallery on April 29, 2016 in Washington, D.C.","caption":"Actor Keegan-Michael Key attends the Google/HBO celebration of \"All The Way\" during White House Correspondents' weekend at the Renwick Gallery on April 29, 2016 in Washington, D.C.","creditText":"Paul Morigi—2016 Paul Morigi","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4313309/white-house-correspondents-dinner-keegan-michael-key-larry-wilmore/","name":"Here's Keegan-Michael Key's Advice to Larry Wilmore on the White House Correspondents Dinner"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Obama Presidency, As Told By His Own Jokes","description":"President Barack Obama's best jokes from the White House Correspondents' Dinner humorously tell the story of his administration","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/PIPmGQBH/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-04-29T15:36:29.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PIPmGQBH.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4313309/white-house-correspondents-dinner-keegan-michael-key-larry-wilmore/","duration":"PT3M38S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4313309/white-house-correspondents-dinner-keegan-michael-key-larry-wilmore/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```