Keegan-Michael Key is the first customer of the newly announced Metro by T-Mobile, and he knows the first person he’s going to call.
“Former President Barack Obama,” the actor, 47, tells PEOPLE in a Metro by T-Mobile pop-up, “to see if he can get us out of this mess.”
Political leanings aside, Key clarifies that it will likely be the his wife, Hollywood producer Elisa Pugliese, who will receive the honor. Engaged since November 2017, the couple married in June, and will — “better late than never” — honeymoon over Thanksgiving.
“We’re going on a crossing,” Key reveals. “Across the Atlantic Ocean — no stops, not a cruise — to Brooklyn. From South Hampton, England, to Brooklyn, New York. I’ve never done anything like this in my life. I’ve never been on a boat. We’re doing the whole thing. We might do a bit of Rose and Jack. It’s going to be winter, so we’ll see.”
The couple wed on June 8 at their home and celebrated the following day by hosting family and a few famous friends at a black-tie reception at the One World Observatory in New York City.
“By the end of the evening, I had a glass of wine in my hand, and I already felt drunk,” Key says, describing the highlight of the celebration. “And then I realized it was the first glass of wine I had had all night, because I was just high on joy. It was really amazing. That realization was the highlight.”
RELATED: Inside Keegan-Michael Key’s Star-Studded Wedding Reception: ‘It Was a Magical and Perfect Evening’
The guest list at the reception included Paul Rudd, Michael Strahan, Stephen Colbert, Cobie Smulders, Aasif Mandvi, Erika Christensen, Fred Savage, Taran Killam, Robert Kennedy Jr, Cheryl Hines and, of course, Key’s former Key & Peele costar Jordan Peele.
Reflecting on Peele’s Oscar win for Get Out, Key tells PEOPLE his good friend “deserved that award.”
“Everyone believed he was the person who deserved that reward,” he says. “It’s a generationally changing film that he wrote, and he worked on it for years. If you go back and listen to his speech, you’ll see the amount of work and care and time and the consideration that he put into that project. Just overwhelming pride. And love. Like nothing but sheer happiness for his accomplishments and that he was recognized for it, is amazing.”
Just as Peele, 39, has transitioned from acting to directing, Key is also set on moving away from sketch comedy and into more dramatic roles.
“I’ve been taking a little bit of a different direction in my career,” he reveals. “I’ve been doing more drama. It’s where I came from. I’m a Shakespearean-trained actor. And my career just kind of took this interesting turn a few years back and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it, but I’m feeling this call from my roots.”
Key is also working on a project with his wife, set to shoot in the spring, which she will write and direct.
“She’s really made this enormous difference in my life,” he says. “She tells me what I’m worth. And helps me feel better about myself. And teaches me what it really means to be a partner. And she’s also the most sharing human being I’ve ever met. Sharing comes to her as naturally as breathing. It’s a really lovely example that she sets in my life.”
