Keith and Kenny Lucas spent nine years developing, pitching, and ultimately co-writing Judas and the Black Messiah. It was all worth it when they landed a Best Original Screenplay Oscar nomination for their work.
On this week’s episode of The Last Laugh podcast, the identical twins talk about dropping out of two separate law schools to become a stand-up comedy team and why they have more or less disowned their 2017 Netflix special On Drugs. They try to get to the bottom of how the two actors who play the title characters in their film—Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield—both ended up getting nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category and also dig deep on the “codependency” that has defined their lifelong relationship, which once included sharing a therapist.
“What’s crazy is that, despite being known as a twin and being in such a seemingly codependent relationship, I do feel like I do have a lot of individuality,” Keith says. “I think that when you do get to know us you realize, ‘Oh yeah, that’s Keith and that’s Kenny.’ You’ve just got to spend time with us and you’ll notice that there are some differences between us and that we do have our own individual tastes and we have our own individual lives. I mean, we do a lot of things together, but I think now there is a healthy space between us and that we’re not as codependent as we used to be.”
“You say that, and I’m literally right above you,” Kenny adds with a laugh, revealing that they do still share an apartment even if they now sleep on separate floors.
“We do live together,” Keith confirms, “but we have separate rooms and separate bathrooms.”
Listen to the episode now and subscribe to ‘The Last Laugh’ on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts and be the first to hear new episodes when they are released every Tuesday.
