Key and Peele on Liam Neeson (Neesons?) and Keanu Reeves's Influence on 'Keanu'

If you’ve ever watched Comedy Central’s hilarious sketch show Key & Peele, you know that hosts Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele are big-time fans of Liam Neeson… er, Liam Neesons. The Taken actor’s slightly modified moniker entered the pop-culture lexicon thanks to a widely shared clip in which the comedic duo, playing parking valets, ramble on with unadulterated glee about the majestic badassery of “Liam Neesons” movies.

Thus it’s not much of a surprise that the pair’s first big-screen star vehicle, the action-comedy Keanu, feels like a funnier version of Taken… but with cats. The plot follows a stoner (Peele) who briefly recovers from post-breakup depression when an adorable kitten shows up on his doorstep. Soon after, when the feline is cat-napped, he enlists the help of his buttoned-up cousin (Key) to track down the kitty.

“It’s inspired by that world, and certainly John Wick,” Peele told Yahoo Movies (watch above) when asked if Keanu is their take on the Liam Neeson(s) Taken trilogy. “But that whole world of vengeance is satirized in this movie.” Though unlike Neeson’s avenger, “We do not have a certain set of skills,” Peele explained.

Related: Watch Key, Peele, and the Cast of ‘Keanu’ Rate the Internet’s Cutest Kittens

Speaking of John Wick, which hadn’t yet been released when Peele was writing Keanu with Alex Rubens, the cat is out of the bag that Keanu Reeves briefly cameos as the voice of the kitten. But was the project and its titular kitty named after the Matrix star from the start? “Not really, though,” Key said. “There’s a bit of an obsession we have, which is just loving names that refer to just one person.

"So just so you know, keep an eye out for it: The next movie will be called Cher. It’ll be an iguana named Cher.”

You heard it here first.

Keanu opens everywhere Friday. Watch the cast rate the cutest kittens on the internet: