Keanu Reeves' Guest Appearance On This Early Fox Series Has Not Aged Well

Keanu Reeves' first professional screen gig came in 1984 when he was only about 19 years old, in an episode of the Canadian sitcom "Hangin' In." For several years, Reeves played teenagers and young upstarts, as casting directors were clearly enamored of his youthful energy. His first feature film was 1985's "One Step Away," although it was 1986's "River Edge" that really snagged the public's attention. That same year, he appeared in multiple TV movies (including a notable remake of "Babes in Toyland"), and it was an upward swing for him from then on. 

In 1988, Reeves appeared in Stephen Frears' Oscar darling "Dangerous Liaisons," and in 1989, he took on one of his most recognized roles, playing the surfer teen Ted "Theodore" Logan in "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure." By then, Reeves was about 25, but he was still playing teens with aplomb. Most significant for this article, he played a teen for a bit part in a sketch on "The Tracey Ullman Show." 

Reeves' role on "The Tracey Ullman Show" was ... problematic. He played another teenager, this one named Jesse Walker, who woke up in bed with a 40-something woman named Barbara (Ullman). The joke of the sketch was that Barbara had gone to a New Year's party at Jesse's parents' house, got a little too drunk, and did something she very much regretted. She woke up in the morning in Jesse's bed, having no memories of the night before. Jesse, maybe about 16, is on cloud nine, explaining that the previous night the two fell in love, got married, and consummated their relationship. The laughs were supposed to come from Barbara's discomfort with the situation, and not the fact that she had sex with an underage boy.

One can find the sketch online easily enough. Jesse awakens in a blissful haze, happy to have fallen in love and gotten married. Barbara is appalled by where she is, and shocked to see Jesse hanging all over her. She explains that she was in a flippant mood, but didn't expect to get so drunk that she would trek off to a local quickie wedding chapel with a teenager to get married. He has the complimentary photo booth pictures to prove it. He loved that they could both talk about his favorite filmmaker, François Truffaut. He tackles her to the bed. "It's not sweet," he argues. "It's fate." 

To the credit of the Barbara character, and to the writers of the sketch, Barbara explains that she's the adult in the situation and needs to take responsibility. She aims to get a divorce lawyer on the phone, end the marriage, and get back to normal. Jesse, however, argues that it's destiny, and he and Barbara make out briefly. The audience hollers, "Woo!"

It should be noted that Reeves was considered something of a heartthrob, even at the time, and that he was already in his mid-'20s, so the audience was responding to the fact that Ullman got to kiss a young stud of Reeves' calibur. He would become even more notoriously lusted after when he appeared in films like "My Own Private Idaho" (one of Gus Van Sant's best) and "Bram Stoker's Dracula," so perhaps Ullman was ahead of the curve in presenting Reeves as a sex symbol. 

But that doesn't change the fact that, within the scene, a woman in her 40s is happily making out with a teen.

I suppose it's possible that Jesse was already of age in the sketch, called "Two Lonely Souls." After all, Jesse would have had to be 18 to get married without his parents' knowledge, and his actual age is never stated explicitly. He just behaves like a teen, still lives with his parents, and tells Barbara that his mom makes great waffles. The joke, however, is that Jesse was clearly too young to be marrying a woman like Barbara. Barbara states that she has to "be the adult," meaning that Jesse isn't. 

Much of the sketch's comedic power comes from Reeve's flighty performance, though. He kind of danced through the scene, flopping his body and gesturing with flair. His boyish charm was undeniable. The sketch may not have read as creepy in 1989 because Reeves' character was so elated and blissed out. It also helped that Reeves was actually of age, and that a comedic genius like Ullman played opposite him. If this had been a sketch about a 40-something man waking up in bed with a 16-year-old girl, no amount of comedic charm could have distracted from the criminal nature of the night before. 

This sketch came when "The Tracey Ullman" show was finishing its fourth and final season. The show's animated segments were just then being spun off into a sitcom called "The Simpsons" (you might have heard of it), and Reeves, as mentioned, continued to ascend into higher and higher-profile roles like Gus Van Sant's "My Own Private Idaho," "Little Buddha," Kenneth Branagh's "Much Ado About Nothing," and "Speed."

A sketch like "Two Lonely Souls" would never be made today, and modern audiences likely only see how problematic it is. At the time, it was considered sweet. Times have changed.