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Kenny and Keith Lucas

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The Lucas Brothers
The Lucas Bros - photo by Lindsey Byrnes
Born (1985-09-13) September 13, 1985 (age 39)
Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupations
  • Screenwriters
  • filmmakers
  • producers
  • actors
  • comedians
Years active2011–present
Known forLucas Bros. Moving Co., Judas and the Black Messiah
Comedy career
MediumStand-up, film, television
Genres
Subject(s)

Kenny Lucas and Keith Lucas[1] (born September 13, 1985), collectively referred to as The Lucas Brothers,[2] are American identical twin brothers who work together as writers, filmmakers, producers, actors, and comedians.[3][4][5]

They co-wrote and co-produced Judas and the Black Messiah (2021), for which they were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay; they won the Paul Selvin Award and the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture. The film itself was nominated for six Academy Awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Early lives

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The Lucas Brothers were born and raised in Newark, New Jersey. They also spent some time in High Point, North Carolina.[6] They moved to Irvington, New Jersey and both graduated from Irvington High School.[7]

The brothers both graduated with honors from the College of New Jersey in 2007 with degrees in philosophy.[7][8] Kenny attended New York University School of Law and Keith attended Duke University School of Law until the final week of their third year of law school, when they dropped out to pursue stand-up comedy full-time.[9]

The Lucas Bros were inducted into Phi Beta Kappa honors society as alumni members by The College of New Jersey in 2022.[10]

Career

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They made their late-night debut on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon in 2012, and have appeared as guests multiple times after.[11][12] The duo created the animated series Lucas Bros. Moving Co..[13] They starred in truTV's series Friends of the People. They appeared in the feature film 22 Jump Street (2014). In July 2014, they made Variety magazine's "Ten Comics to Watch in 2014" list.[14] The brothers also appeared in episodes of the highly acclaimed Fox TV series The Grinder in 2016 and have played themselves in the Netflix series Lady Dynamite.

The Lucas Brothers released their first comedy special, On Drugs, on Netflix in April 2017.[15] Paste ranked it as the 9th best comedy special of 2017.[16]

They have additionally provided content for Fox and the associated YouTube channel Animation Domination High-Def including the short-form web-series OG Sherlock Kush starring Peter Serafinowicz and Rich Fulcher.

More recently, the Lucas Brothers co-wrote and co-produced Judas and the Black Messiah (2021), the biopic of Fred Hampton, which was co-written, along with Will Berson, and directed by Shaka King.[17] For their contributions, the Lucas Brothers received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay. They won the Paul Selvin Award and the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture.

They are also developing a comedy project with Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who directed 22 Jump Street.[18] In addition, they are set to write and star in a semi-autobiographical film to be produced by Judd Apatow.[19]

They are paid regulars at the Comedy Cellar.

Filmography

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Actors

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Year Title Kenny's role Keith's role Notes
2013 Arrested Development Lucas Brother No. 2 Lucas Brother No. 1 Episode: "Blockheads"
2013–2015 Lucas Bros. Moving Co. Kenny (voice) Keef (voice) Also writers and producers
2014 22 Jump Street Kenny Yang Keith Yang
2014–2015 Friends of the People
Various
 Also writers and producers
2016 The Grinder Cory Manler Second Cory Manler Kenny: 4 episodes, Keith: 1 episode
2016 Lady Dynamite
Themselves
 4 episodes
2017 Lucas Brothers: On Drugs
Themselves
 Netflix special
2017 The High Court with Doug Benson
Guest Bailiff
 TV short
2017 Dope State Craig Jake Documentary series
2018 The History of Comedy
Themselves
 1 episode; documentary series
2018 Crashing
Themselves
 Episode: "Too Good"
2019 Sherman's Showcase
Themselves
 2 episodes
2022 That Damn Michael Che
Themselves
 Episode: "Higher Power"
2024 Babes Benny Bobby

Writers

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Year Title Kenny Keith Notes
2013–2015 Lucas Bros Moving Co Yes Yes 17 episodes
2017 Lucas Brothers: On Drugs Yes Yes Stand-up special
2019 In Other Words Yes No Short film
2020 It's Personal with Amy Hoggart Yes Yes 8 episodes
2021 Judas and the Black Messiah Yes Yes Film writing debut
Story by and co-producers
Nominated - Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay

References

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  1. ^ "The Lucas Brothers on Jumping From Law School to Comedy". The Village Voice. Retrieved April 23, 2017 – via Vimeo.
  2. ^ Kozell, Isaac. "Embracing the Middle with The Lucas Brothers". Split Sider. Archived from the original on April 22, 2017. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
  3. ^ Schilling, Dave (January 22, 2015). "The Lucas Brothers Are the Next Big Thing in Identical Twin Stoner Comedy". Vice. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
  4. ^ Seikaly, Andrea (July 22, 2014). "10 COMICS TO WATCH: The '22 Jump Street' scene-stealers have 'Friends of the People' and a Fox pilot in the pipeline". Variety. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
  5. ^ "The Lucas Brothers, Mookie Thompson Team To Direct Documentary On AEW Partnership Of Wrestler Swerve Strickland & Rapper Flash Garments". Deadline. June 17, 2024. Retrieved October 31, 2024.
  6. ^ "Social Studies: The Lucas Brothers". The Couch Sessions. March 6, 2013. Retrieved April 23, 2017. Kenny: I'm a little older by like 5 or 10 minutes. I don't know exactly.
  7. ^ a b Kuperinsky, Amy. "The Lucas Brothers wrote Judas and the Black Messiah. The N.J. duo is just getting started.", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, April 19, 2021. Accessed March 11, 2022. "When they were growing up in Newark, Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were pillars of the school curriculum.... They later moved to Irvington with their mother, but attended several different high schools — High Point Central, Newark’s St. Benedict’s and Science High — before graduating from Irvington High.... The desire for a reliable income was part of what drove him to the idea of becoming a lawyer (the Lucas Brothers had studied philosophy at TCNJ before graduating in 2007)."
  8. ^ "The College of New Jersey". Facebook.com. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
  9. ^ Mancuso, Vinnie (October 28, 2014). "The Lucas Brothers: Twins, Comedians and Friends of the People". Observer.com. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
  10. ^ "The Lucas Brothers inducted into Phi Beta Kappa honors society | Alumni Engagement". May 3, 2022. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  11. ^ Fallon, Jimmy (September 3, 2014). "The Lucas Brothers Stand-Up". YouTube. NBC Universal. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
  12. ^ Fallon, Jimmy (October 24, 2019). "The Lucas Brothers Demand an Apology for Jimmy's "Twincist" Monologue". NBC Universal.
  13. ^ "Keith Lucas". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
  14. ^ Seikaly, Andrea (July 22, 2014). "10 Comics to Watch: The Lucas Brothers Spin Twin Projects for TV". Variety. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
  15. ^ Backle, Ariana. "The Lucas Brothers figure out how to end police brutality in new Netflix special". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
  16. ^ Martin, Garrett; Paste Comedy Writers (December 20, 2017). "The 25 Best Stand-up Comedy Specials of 2017: The Lucas Brothers". Paste. Retrieved April 4, 2019.
  17. ^ Wiseman, Andreas (February 19, 2019). "Ryan Coogler & MACRO Set Black Panthers Pic With Warner Bros; Daniel Kaluuya & Lakeith Stanfield In Talks To Star". Deadline. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
  18. ^ Kroll, Justin (August 19, 2020). "Universal and Lord & Miller Developing Untitled Comedy From The Lucas Brothers". Deadline. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
  19. ^ "The Lucas Brothers and Judd Apatow Team on Semi-Autobiographical Pic on Siblings at Universal". February 24, 2021.
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