diff --git a/distributed/comm/tcp.py b/distributed/comm/tcp.py
index cd7490be21a..b214d61c5d9 100644
--- a/distributed/comm/tcp.py
+++ b/distributed/comm/tcp.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
     ssl = None
 
 import dask
+import msgpack
 from tornado import netutil
 from tornado.iostream import StreamClosedError
 from tornado.tcpclient import TCPClient
@@ -25,6 +26,8 @@
 from .addressing import parse_host_port, unparse_host_port
 from .core import Comm, Connector, Listener, CommClosedError, FatalCommClosedError
 from .utils import to_frames, from_frames, get_tcp_server_address, ensure_concrete_host
+from ..protocol.compression import default_compression
+from ..protocol.utils import msgpack_opts
 
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -222,7 +225,11 @@ async def write(self, msg, serializers=None, on_error="message"):
             allow_offload=self.allow_offload,
             serializers=serializers,
             on_error=on_error,
-            context={"sender": self._local_addr, "recipient": self._peer_addr},
+            context={
+                "sender": self.local_info,
+                "recipient": self.remote_info,
+                **self.handshake_options,
+            },
         )
 
         try:
@@ -355,11 +362,24 @@ async def connect(self, address, deserialize=True, **connection_args):
             # The socket connect() call failed
             convert_stream_closed_error(self, e)
 
+        write_future = stream.write(msgpack.dumps(handshake_info()) + b"\n")
+        handshake = await stream.read_until(b"\n")
+        handshake = msgpack.loads(handshake.strip(), **msgpack_opts)
         local_address = self.prefix + get_stream_address(stream)
-        return self.comm_class(
+        comm = self.comm_class(
             stream, local_address, self.prefix + address, deserialize
         )
 
+        comm.remote_info = handshake
+        comm.remote_info["address"] = self.prefix + address
+        comm.local_info = handshake_info()
+        comm.local_info["address"] = local_address
+        comm.handshake_options = handshake_configuration(
+            comm.local_info, comm.remote_info
+        )
+
+        return comm
+
 
 class TCPConnector(BaseTCPConnector):
     prefix = "tcp://"
@@ -444,6 +464,20 @@ async def _handle_stream(self, stream, address):
         local_address = self.prefix + get_stream_address(stream)
         comm = self.comm_class(stream, local_address, address, self.deserialize)
         comm.allow_offload = self.allow_offload
+        write_future = comm.stream.write(msgpack.dumps(handshake_info()) + b"\n")
+        handshake = await comm.stream.read_until(b"\n")
+        handshake = msgpack.loads(handshake.strip(), **msgpack_opts)
+
+        comm.remote_info = handshake
+        comm.remote_info["address"] = address
+        comm.local_info = handshake_info()
+        comm.local_info["address"] = local_address
+
+        comm.handshake_options = handshake_configuration(
+            comm.local_info, comm.remote_info
+        )
+
+        await write_future
         await self.comm_handler(comm)
 
     def get_host_port(self):
@@ -552,5 +586,27 @@ class TLSBackend(BaseTCPBackend):
     _listener_class = TLSListener
 
 
+def handshake_info():
+    return {
+        "compression": default_compression,
+        "python": tuple(sys.version_info)[:3],
+    }
+
+
+def handshake_configuration(local, remote):
+    out = {}
+    if local["python"] >= (3, 8) and remote["python"] >= (3, 8):
+        out["pickle_protocol"] = 5
+    else:
+        out["pickle_protocol"] = 4
+
+    if local["compression"] == remote["compression"]:
+        out["compression"] = local["compression"]
+    else:
+        out["compression"] = None
+
+    return out
+
+
 backends["tcp"] = TCPBackend()
 backends["tls"] = TLSBackend()
diff --git a/distributed/comm/utils.py b/distributed/comm/utils.py
index d1a1a97e63c..eda370eed6f 100644
--- a/distributed/comm/utils.py
+++ b/distributed/comm/utils.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 
 
 async def to_frames(
-    msg, serializers=None, on_error="message", context=None, allow_offload=True
+    msg, serializers=None, on_error="message", context=None, allow_offload=True,
 ):
     """
     Serialize a message into a list of Distributed protocol frames.
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ def _to_frames():
         try:
             return list(
                 protocol.dumps(
-                    msg, serializers=serializers, on_error=on_error, context=context
+                    msg, serializers=serializers, on_error=on_error, context=context,
                 )
             )
         except Exception as e:
diff --git a/distributed/protocol/compression.py b/distributed/protocol/compression.py
index 03ebf9d5662..142be7fd868 100644
--- a/distributed/protocol/compression.py
+++ b/distributed/protocol/compression.py
@@ -157,7 +157,13 @@ def byte_sample(b, size, n):
     return b"".join(map(ensure_bytes, parts))
 
 
-def maybe_compress(payload, min_size=1e4, sample_size=1e4, nsamples=5):
+def maybe_compress(
+    payload,
+    min_size=1e4,
+    sample_size=1e4,
+    nsamples=5,
+    compression=dask.config.get("distributed.comm.compression"),
+):
     """
     Maybe compress payload
 
@@ -168,7 +174,6 @@ def maybe_compress(payload, min_size=1e4, sample_size=1e4, nsamples=5):
         return the original
     4.  We return the compressed result
     """
-    compression = dask.config.get("distributed.comm.compression")
     if compression == "auto":
         compression = default_compression
 
diff --git a/distributed/protocol/core.py b/distributed/protocol/core.py
index 2e67039b208..c2554dd1ef7 100644
--- a/distributed/protocol/core.py
+++ b/distributed/protocol/core.py
@@ -53,6 +53,11 @@ def dumps(msg, serializers=None, on_error="message", context=None):
 
         out_frames = []
 
+        if context and "compression" in context:
+            compress_opts = {"compression": context["compression"]}
+        else:
+            compress_opts = {}
+
         for key, (head, frames) in data.items():
             if "writeable" not in head:
                 head["writeable"] = tuple(map(is_writeable, frames))
@@ -67,7 +72,9 @@ def dumps(msg, serializers=None, on_error="message", context=None):
             ):
                 if compression is None:  # default behavior
                     _frames = frame_split_size(frame)
-                    _compression, _frames = zip(*map(maybe_compress, _frames))
+                    _compression, _frames = zip(
+                        *[maybe_compress(frame, **compress_opts) for frame in _frames]
+                    )
                     out_compression.extend(_compression)
                     _out_frames.extend(_frames)
                 else:  # already specified, so pass
diff --git a/distributed/protocol/pickle.py b/distributed/protocol/pickle.py
index fd2343756a4..144a3438dab 100644
--- a/distributed/protocol/pickle.py
+++ b/distributed/protocol/pickle.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ def _always_use_pickle_for(x):
         return False
 
 
-def dumps(x, *, buffer_callback=None):
+def dumps(x, *, buffer_callback=None, protocol=HIGHEST_PROTOCOL):
     """ Manage between cloudpickle and pickle
 
     1.  Try pickle
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ def dumps(x, *, buffer_callback=None):
     3.  If it is long, then first check type, then check __main__
     """
     buffers = []
-    dump_kwargs = {"protocol": HIGHEST_PROTOCOL}
+    dump_kwargs = {"protocol": protocol or HIGHEST_PROTOCOL}
     if HIGHEST_PROTOCOL >= 5 and buffer_callback is not None:
         dump_kwargs["buffer_callback"] = buffers.append
     try:
diff --git a/distributed/protocol/serialize.py b/distributed/protocol/serialize.py
index 7aa728950d9..e3351709a62 100644
--- a/distributed/protocol/serialize.py
+++ b/distributed/protocol/serialize.py
@@ -54,11 +54,15 @@ def dask_loads(header, frames):
     return loads(header, frames)
 
 
-def pickle_dumps(x):
+def pickle_dumps(x, context=None):
     header = {"serializer": "pickle"}
     frames = [None]
     buffer_callback = lambda f: frames.append(memoryview(f))
-    frames[0] = pickle.dumps(x, buffer_callback=buffer_callback)
+    frames[0] = pickle.dumps(
+        x,
+        buffer_callback=buffer_callback,
+        protocol=context.get("pickle-protocol", None) if context else None,
+    )
     return header, frames