Keke Palmer
Appearances
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
So I remember when I did A Kill and the Bee, everybody kept saying, this movie is going to be a hit. This movie is going to bust it out. You're going to be a star. And it's such an elusive thing because what's a star?
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
I think I maybe have had one experience like that, and it's because you attach all these expectations to it. You know what I mean? It's one thing to say, I want to achieve this for me. And then there's another thing to say, I want to achieve something because I'm expecting all of this to come with it.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
We can think about, well, once I get da-da-da, I'm going to have this, I'm going to have that, I'm going to have that. And then you kind of continue to push the goalposts for yourself. So I remember when I did Akeel and the Bee, everybody kept saying, this movie is going to be a hit. This movie is going to bust it out. You're going to be a star.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
And it's such an elusive thing because what's a star?
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
And I'm like, wow, this is huge.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
I guess I'll be Michael Jackson now. You know, it was like huge.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
And then the movie came in and did so terrible in the box office. Mm-hmm.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
And then the funny thing about it is, like, over time, it grew to be my most popular film. And the thing that people most know me for, but I use that as an example in this, is because our life is made up of many moments. It's not made, like, our legacy is not just that one thing we did. It's the many, you know, it's the many things that we did.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
And so, like, A Killing to Be was always there for people to come to and remember my work. And it grew over time amongst all the things I did.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
But I remember feeling in that moment being like, everybody lied to me. You know what I mean? I felt like when my mom told me I was going to be a big girl at five, I still didn't get big. I was like, now, wait a minute. I'm still shorter than y'all.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
And that's how I felt with the Akilah thing. But what I learned and what I never did to myself after that was to expect an outcome. Yeah. To be proud of the work, to be happy that I got the job or the thing that I wanted to get or did the, but not to make it mean that it is only that if I receive a certain achievement. No, it's that to me. And that has to be enough.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
So that's the one thing I thought about when that happened.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
It's because I think that what happens to us sometimes is we focus on the micro goal that is actually servicing the macro goal. Now, I don't know what that is for Noelle, and sometimes we don't know, which is why the chapters are important. But let's say, for instance, she just likes to tell stories through food. That's the real thing. Go. Yeah. To tell stories through food.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
I can do that through helping people tell their stories through food. I can do that through food styling. And so I think what we often have to do is pull back and say, you know, I talk about this, like, it's not really just that I like to perform.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
It's that I like to make people believe in something. I like to make them feel inspired, excited, whether that's through a killing the bee, having a conversation here with y'all or you and your family getting together, watching Password. The macro goal, the real goal that I'm servicing that never has an ending is to just make people believe and feel good and inspired.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
So I think that's another thing that I hear with Noelle is like, that's the micro goal was to do this thing. The book. The book. The micro goal was to do the book, but the macro goal, you got to really identify that to yourself. And that helps you to know that I'm going in the right direction. You feel that you're being of service to that macro goal.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
Even when these micro goals go in the random directions that you didn't expect, because you know you're still servicing that real thing.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
And I'm like, wow, this is huge.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
Yeah. And it is really... I don't want to just... I mean, I know we're hearing it. I'm not being biased, but you really... do that. And it means so much to us. Especially when you talk about, you know, family and unity. I think that's something that our generation is really struggling with right now. Not trying to speak for everybody, but we just don't know how to be a we.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
We don't always understand how to get from challenges to peace. It's like, everything is like, well, challenges, aim, we gone. And it's like, I'm sure sometimes that's important to do. But when you speak about your family, how you've gotten to where you are, and you always talk about there were challenges. But what you get on the other side of getting through that is what you're looking for.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
I guess I'll be Michael Jackson now. You know, it was like huge.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
And then the movie came in and did so terrible in the box office. Mm-hmm.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
Thank you.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
Thank you.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
And then the funny thing about it is, like, over time, it grew to be my most popular film. And the thing that people most know me for, but I use that as an example in this, is because our life is made up of many moments. It's not made, like, our legacy is not just that one thing we did. It's the many, you know, it's the many things that we did.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
And so, like, A Killing to Be was always there for people to come to and remember my work. And it grew over time amongst all the things I did.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
You too, you guys. Oh, my gosh. And I just live for the password play.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
I should wear my glasses.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
But I remember feeling in that moment being like, everybody lied to me. You know what I mean? I felt like when my mom told me I was going to be a big girl at five, I still didn't get big. I was like, now, wait a minute. I'm still shorter than y'all.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
That is my praise. I love doing that show. And I just love that families can get together and have fun with it.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
That's the thing. It's like it's an opportunity for everybody to play, even the babies.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
Okay. Because Dateline will get you into it.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
That's like the perfect balance. You know, you can laugh and then you're like, no, that man wasn't no good. I love that vibe.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
I think it's so much of what, when you guys were talking about dreams, knowing your dream as a kid and then how people can help kids nurture them. Is that when I told my parents I wanted to entertain, you know, we started going on auditions and stuff. There was never a ceiling. They always encouraged and said there was more that I could do. There was never a feeling that I had.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
Well, because I started with acting, that's all I had to stick with. You know, if I wanted to try singing and focus on that, I could. If I wanted to try hosting, if I wanted to do less film and TV and maybe do more theater, you know, it was all or even community stuff. I never felt like I had to just abandon any one thing to follow my dreams.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
It all was rooted in being of service to my community in the ways that felt most natural to me. And so I really loved hearing you guys talk about that because I think that is why I'm able to do all the things that I do. I think a lot of people have multiple personalities. Most people, everybody has multiple gifts and things they want to offer.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
But like y'all was saying, sometimes people make them believe that it's that whole jack of all trades, master of none. Yeah, yeah. But really, it's jack of all trades, master of none is often better than a master of one. One, yeah. And so I think my mom, my dad, my family saying, Okay, we're with you. Let's do it. Let's give this a shot. It's what made me be able to do it.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
I think in the beginning, I was kind of like, as a teenager in my early 20s, it was kind of like, did I like my parents? Yeah, really. And then I was like, girl, everybody go. I remember my dad had this talk with me where he was like, okay, so I didn't do a lot of things right. I'm sorry that you didn't like this. I'm sorry that you didn't like that. But now you're a grown woman. Mm-hmm.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
So now what are you going to do with that? Are you going to be mad at me forever? Yeah. Or are you going to move forward and take matters into your own hands? See, now that's Chicago right there.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
That is Chicago to the man. He was like, I mean, everybody's parents did something. He was kind of like, okay, girl.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
And I just always wonder how it's like that. You know, obviously you don't want to be biased because we're all from the Midwest, but I do think there's something that's so like, look, hardworking, put yourself up by the bootstraps, hug on your family, you know, be good to yourself and keep moving forward because life isn't going to stop. So what are you going to do with that?
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
And I think that's what I learned the most from my parents after I got out of my... I was kind of like, it all slowly started to come to me. All the sacrifices they made on all accounts, not just sacrifices that we think about that we like. Like, oh, you know, I can't go out tonight. I can't go. No, sacrifices like I have to abandon my comfortability with anxiety.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
I have to abandon my comfortability with not chasing my dreams and stepping out into the unknown. My parents abandoned me. those things. They became heroes. They became courageous and brave in ways that I don't even think they knew that they could be just so their children could see that they had options and that their dreams were worth believing in.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
And I think that is like what I want to be able to do the most with my son is teach him how to be an authoritative figure, but also help to nurture his sense of leadership without, you know, tampering him down, you know, like be a leader, but be the right kind of leader, you know?
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
I usually just keep it simple and say I'm an entertainer. A multi-hyphenate. Multi-hyphenate.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Oh, that makes me so happy. You're being such a cancer lover girl. I really do.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
And honestly, Virgo and Scorpio are like, you know, you guys are our evil twins.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
No, no, Virgos are the saints. Oh, okay, the sinners, got it. All of this truly means nothing to us. I know, I love that it doesn't, because usually the girls are always into astrology, we kiki about it.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
I love that you guys are like, oh, no, no, no.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
I'm pretty sure Scorpio, Cancer, Pisces, all water signs. Virgo, Capricorn, Taurus, Earth signs.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Well, you know, I have a really close relationship actually with my book agent, Lacey. And she was such an integral part of obviously writing my first book and that process. And so we talked a little bit about if I were to write another book, I think maybe like five or six years later. And I was just kind of like, no, no, no, no.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
And then after becoming a mom and just, I mean, turning 30 is such a big thing as well. Just happened to me.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
girl just different revelations and it sounds so crazy because age is nothing but a number but it's a lot it's a lot a lot of time has gone by you start thinking about things differently like you genuinely change your frontal lobe has had five years to really get into it frontal lobe and you're ready to get get it going and so at that point I thought to myself I think I do have something to say now so ultimately it's just me feeling like I have something to offer
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
I think I'll be honest that it definitely is like, okay, how does this now affect how people view me? I think age can feel fine to you, but you always wonder how other people then are going to view you based on age. So I'm not like unaware of that. But at the same time, I was going through so much. I just had a baby.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
I was trying to figure out if I wanted to do a big party, if I didn't want to do a big party. I just, you know, all the feelings that come with like, after, what do they call it, post-partum, post-baby, I was also going through. So it was a bunch of mixed emotions. I would say that that first year into 30, like 31, now being 31, I can say that I really prefer 30s over 20s.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Without a doubt. Why? I feel like the 20s, it was just like so crazy and I didn't know what was going on and everybody was getting on my nerves and so many friends were lost and so many lovers. It was just too much.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Come and gone, girl. At 30, I feel like... Hold up. Wait a minute. Stable. I'll get back to you when I can. Yeah. Hey boo. Settled. You know what I mean? It feels more, I feel more at ease. I have more of a peace to me.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Oh, what a blessing. I love the little twos, both two, under two. Yeah. Amazing. So wait, how did I feel... I do think motherhood did that to me in a lot of ways. It gave me a lot of peace because it gave me perspective. When it was just me, it was very much so too much me. Everything was personal.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
It was hard to be objective about situations in terms of how much I wanted to give myself to things. But when you have a kid, or at least for me, when I had my son, it became very easy to know what was needed and what wasn't needed. Because if it took from me or made me feel...
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
in a way that I thought I couldn't provide the best energy, space, and whatever for my son, then I just walk away from it. And it just lets you know that nothing truly is the end of the world as long as your kids are fine. Like, my kids are good, honey. I'm good. That's when things are getting crazy. But if my kids are good, then life is really not a trouble.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
I'll be honest, like life sometimes feels so me, me, me, me, me. And, you know, there's amount of selfishness that you need to survive and be great. But also it feels really good for me personally to pour into something else. I've always poured so much into my career and I always will. I feel so purposeful in that.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
But knowing also that like I can give to my son and that child is so worthy of everything that I can give. It also feels awesome. It puts a lot of pressure off of me and what I think I need to achieve.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
I consider two. Barbershop? For different reasons. Well, I mean, now I could say three. Barbershop because it broke me into the industry, right? And that's kind of like the hardest thing to get off the ground. It's like just a part, a role, something where you can say lines.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
I didn't realize how difficult that was, but, you know, I did after experiencing more of the industry, and everything doesn't always happen that fast. Yeah. So, yeah, I think barbershop, too, was definitely a big break. But when I think about my break of, like, people knowing my name, the first one would be Akilah and the B.,
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Girl, thank you. Akeelah Naveed was absolutely a slow burn, meaning it was popular a bit when it came out in the industry, but it really didn't become popular until years and years later.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
No, absolutely nobody really watched it when it came out. It was kind of like a bad... It was kind of like, oh, the movie bombed. Right. But then, like... It was a sleeper. Yeah, it was a sleeper. Yeah, I remember that when they would call things. Yeah, it was a sleeper hit. And so that, what I would say, was a big break in the industry.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
And then over time, it became like something I was known for. But the thing that put Keke Palmer on the map, like, boom, was True Jackson VP. After that, my life changed, honey. You had to be there.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Oh, that's such a good question. That is. So I'll say Disney is really amazing when it comes to not only the storytelling that you see on screen, but the storytelling even within the company. Like they are storytelling through marketing, through their content. to the employees. Yeah, people got pins in the office. Like, they are literally a whole, like, universe.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
And I think that feels really good, especially when you're a kid because the magic doesn't end. So there's an element of being a part of it that I think feels really, really fun. I would say that when it came to Nickelodeon, they definitely like their paying was really awesome. Oh, wow. Really? Yeah. And different things like that.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
What else did I like about working with Nickelodeon? I don't know. I think theirs was a little bit more. I don't want to say clinical because they both have a clinic. They're both corporations. But Disney has a way of making you want to be a part of it, even if it's like, you know. Kind of like a cult. Yeah. Right? That's how you make it sound.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
You could describe it as that, except, you know, no bad things. All positive, all positive. All positive. But yeah, Disney has a way of, you just want to, it feels like, I need to be here. You know what I mean? It feels like something you want to be a part of, where Nickelodeon's kind of like, come in, get this check. Right, right.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
It ain't about making it necessarily exciting.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Except for that slime. When it gets all of your hair and stuff, I'm booed. You've been slimed. Oh my gosh, one day. We were doing this big promotional thing for like all the new shows that were coming to Nickelodeon. And we had to get slimed. But obviously when you're filming things, you don't just film it once, you film it multiple times. Dreadful. Sweetie. And this was like in the weave era.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
This is not even like the wig era. If this was the wig, more of the wigs, then it would have been fine. I just put it up, take it off, put the wig on.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Honey, this was in the weave era. So when I tell you that they slimed me, then they had to wash all of it out. I was like under the drive for hours. Then I had to get, just to get slimed again. Oh honey, I hated that slime after that. It was too much.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
And I did have problems with my parents during that time of just them not understanding what I was going through. And so it wasn't totally peachy keen, but I do think that my parents did a really great job trying to explain to me what it was I was doing at these companies so I didn't take things personal.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
I think how they make you feel about yourself and how that, you know, your work and organization. what you receive and what you don't receive, how that is connected to your esteem are really important things to talk through. I think my mom did a really good job trying to help me process those things. But I also attribute other people in my life.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
I remember when I was about 17, I was like, I'm done with my parents. They don't understand me. I can't do this anymore, yada, yada, yada. And I emailed my attorney. He's still my attorney to this day. He started out being my attorney when I was 12 years old. I said, look here, my parents, they're done. I'm ready to be emancipated. Oh my God. I was like, honey, I'm ready to be emancipated.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
I'm done with them. They're gone. Out of here. And he was like, Kiki, There are other ways to deal. You don't have to do it this way. Maybe your parents and you just need to do therapy. There are other things that can happen. You don't need to go this route. And obviously, as an attorney, somebody that's making money off of me, it would probably be great for me to get emancipated.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Think of the hours. Yeah, it would be great. But he really urged me to not run away from the hardship of kind of being the first in my family to have this kind of...
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
um be in this kind of situation have this kind of financial overflow and freedom and and how that affected our relationships make a long story short he has that conversation with me i'm like okay ken he's like honestly a lot of people experience this more than you know you'll be fine a couple of weeks go by and i'm on the set of true jackson vp and i get a call from this like really really obscure number and i'm like what obscure like like this is weird i'm not answering this i go work i come back and i see there's a voicemail left from this same number
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
And I, okay, let me play it. Hey, Kiki, it's Will. We're over here doing Karate Kid with Jayden. I just want to let you know I talked to Ken. He let me know everything you're going through, and I want you to know sometimes it's hard being the first, but you'll get through. Just keep staying focused. Love on your family, and y'all going to be good. I got to get back. Will Smith. Smith, girl.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
That's so crazy. It was so insane. You didn't pick up. I did not pick up. I couldn't believe it because the number was like a Hong Kong number. I was like, I ain't never seen no number like this before. Like, who is this calling me? I didn't know. And then when I listened to the voicemail, I'm like, oh, my gosh. And it was just like Will being like, you know, look. That's so sweet.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
It's something that happens when you're stepping out. You could be a child entertainer or you could be the first person in your family to go to college or the first person in your family to get married. You know, there's so many firsts that can happen as the generations of your family continue to grow and evolve.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
And this was like a difficult thing for me that I felt meant that I had to throw my family away. Right.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
And so I've always had, I think, a lot of people, whether they're notable names or they're my attorney who you guys don't know, that I had a good community that also my parents made sure I was around that would encourage community and not like dissension and us breaking apart, which I think, honestly, a lot of times happens when you're a kid entertainer because people want to make money off of you and they don't want you close to your family.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
You know, I would be fine with it. I definitely am ready to be a stage mother. You know, you're not going to overwork my son. He's getting all his cooking money. A hundred percent. I think I would just really explain it to him the same way that I would explain it to my child if they want to do soccer or if they want to play baseball. I do believe finishing what you said you would do.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
I think I come from a family of that, which is also what was so difficult, deciding that I wanted something to do, like that I had a craft or a thing I wanted to focus on or I had a passion of, because they definitely enforced discipline, which sometimes was like, okay, wait a minute, but I am so much better because of it.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
So I would encourage that and be like, no, son, if you said you're going to do it, we need to do it. Yeah. But other than that, I mean, I would just have a really clear conversation about what it means to say you're going to show up for something.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
I think that there should be therapists on set. I also don't think that everybody should be making money off the child. I know that sounds weird, but I guess what I'm ultimately saying is like, When you're paying for everything, it's hard to trust everybody. When somebody is making money off of you, you don't really know if they're telling the truth or not.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
They have an interest in getting you back to work. Exactly. So I think there should be people that aren't being paid from the child, that aren't connected to the child's payroll. Whether that's a therapist that is paid through SAG or whatever that it can be, support for the children that is unbiased is important. Yeah.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Yeah, I think it's really tough because when you're a child, you're trying to figure out who you are and what you want to be. And all you have is your parents to trust. But then not to say our parents can't be trusted, but some of these parents can't.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
You know, you don't know. And so it's really difficult. to be a child and have to have such a mature and objective thing about things, there's no way that your innocence is not lost. Your innocence is gonna be lost. It's just what happens. And so if there's somebody that can help guide them through that, then I would say, yeah, that kind of person. A therapist or, you know, someone like that.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
I've always wondered, like, what is it that ultimately leads me to love the things that I do? And it's coming from a place of service. And I think that art with intention can be very much of service to others.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
And so in writing this book, I was really trying to articulate, like, that passion and how it drives my purpose and what that means to me at the core outside of just being an entertainer, but really ultimately, like, representing being a person of the community, showing and sharing stories, being of service of people through my gift, which is performing in this particular way as an artist.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
And I was going back to some of those first times where I realized the power of storytelling and how it can be of service to so many of our emotions that we didn't even know that we had. Where you can just watch a movie. You're like, oh, my gosh, like that's me. Yeah, that's me. Or this did hurt me. Or I never realized that. Oh, my gosh, this is what I think and what I feel.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
And, you know, the tale and the other the law and order episode, all those things were a big part of my realization and being able to share and articulate that in the book.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
And it shapes how we feel and think in society. Like, obviously, like, I feel like. Even with satire, I hate so much how satire has not been as much of an exciting thing in this era. I think everything is kind of so literal in a lot of ways. It gets lost, unlike the youth. Yeah, the satire gets lost.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
But when I think about movies like Mean Girls, at the end of the day, that movie is also saying, this is growing up. And that's really what it was when we were kids. You know what I mean? Are you a mean girl or are you just a young woman? Ooh, powerful.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
That's what the movie was actually, to me, was saying because, okay, Regina is outwardly mean, but Lindsay became, remember when old girl said, you are a mean girl. You're a bitch.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
You're a bitch. That's what, and it's so nuanced because the conversation is really like, everybody is just trying to figure out how to belong. Yeah.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
and sometimes that means that you might be mean or you might do things but it's like it the compassion that we didn't had from seeing lindsey had that whole thing in the movie yeah gave us the compassion for regina where regina just a young she was also just a young she had things going on at home i mean her mama was talking about something i'm a cool mom like you know so it's like i love that too like what is the entry point to talk about something that is important to us yeah
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
With the spooky element. But I think it I mean, they talk so much about diversity and inclusion. And I mean, even with my character in the end coming around to Emma Roberts character who was totally being racially not correct to Zay Day.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
But then they had that moment and they were just trying, I think, yes, to put a lot of those things into the forefront and to have those conversations through satire that we otherwise wouldn't have. But, you know, Ryan is, you know, the king of satire, in my opinion, even with Glee. You know, that whole thing in my mind was so satirical being in that school and what it means to be a singer.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
he does that very well when it comes to comedy. I mean, even with Nip Tuck and America, all of it has this like heightened element, but there's something else underneath that they're showcasing. And so, yeah, I feel like with Scream Queens, it was very much that putting all us up in there together, Lea Michele, Emma Roberts, myself.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Like, you don't understand how Jackie is.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
The role that taught me the most? That's really hard. I would say, I mean, this is, I don't think it's cliche, but it's probably to be expected. But I think the moment, the time in which I did it set the foundation of a lot of the things I believe today.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
And I think this is also why my parents were so specific about the roles that they let me play as a kid, because they knew that it would also be a reflection of how I wanted to be. Like, I was representing a role for others, but I was also representing characters and roles for myself. And you like your family. Exactly.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
So, Akilah and the B. I think the foundation of Akilah and the B really, like, even when I think about the Marianne Williamson quote, you know, when we know, who are we not to be? You know, like, all of that really set the stage for me and who I wanted to be and just all those early influences. So, I think that that role gave me the most. That's so interesting. It's so good.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
She was the fashion Doogie Howser. Don't play.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Jumping. Fun. Fun. It was a ball, honey. Do you keep in touch with Corbin Blue? I haven't talked to Corbin in years. You guys should be together. I know. I wonder how Corbin has been, man. Get those jump ropes out of the... Okay. Now, that would be fabulous if me and Corbin went out there and doubled up with y'all.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
I wouldn't say I'm worried, but I'm definitely like, hey, anything can happen. I think that's why, I mean, even before Sorry To This Man, that's something that I think, as an entertainer, you're just like, you don't know where this is going. Which is why I said that, Sorry To This Man, because I was like, don't cry me.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Yeah, I was like, you know, I'm like, what's gonna happen if I don't know this or that? And so, I'm just genuinely being like, hey guys, like, this is me, this is what I'm doing, you know, hey, whatever it is, like, all love, you know, peace up.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
The gag it was such a fun, fun moment in time. What is my favorite meme? I think that, honestly, my favorite one, because it feels a little bit like, there's two. There's one that's kind of, like, niche that almost was not even, like, really started by me. It was, like, a story about me that became, like, kind of a copypasta. It's, baby, this is Kiki Palmer. That one's so in the background.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
But then another one that I like that's also very low-key is, this one has a little sweetness to it. Is that from Hot Ones? Yes. I love that one because people go so far with it.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Somebody was like, oh, when a mosquito bites a diabetic. Why would you say that? Why do they do that, guys? When they take this stuff out of context, it gives me life.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Sean Evans, he's brilliant. He's so awesome. He's such a great journalist, and I love how he created something that was new. I mean, I feel like we're all, in these different spaces trying to like, you know, millennials are trying to level things up. We want to come into these spaces and be like, we're bringing something. He crushes it. And so I'm very happy for him and all his success.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
One word. Crazy. That was such a crazy time and experience. So much was happening with me.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Oh, my gosh. But also the show was insane because we didn't even get the scripts until like after like... they would give us the script sometimes the day of. Like they were writing the show as we were going and I think like also like, I don't know, it's just like an interesting thing where I feel like they were also feeding off of us and the conversations with the girls. And the chemistry.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Yes, trying to really pull those things that, like you said, the satire but also the real conversations that are happening when you put a group of girls together that are from different worlds and backgrounds.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Damn, that's crazy. Why do people do this stuff?
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
You know what? Can't say she has. I don't know if I ever, I mean, don't nobody see me reading a book on set. I mean, dang, I know that she can read y'all. I ain't never seen her reading, but I know that she can read. She's got, she's got to. Kiki has officially debunked the myth.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
right shit some people can't read some people can't do a lot of things like it doesn't hold them back mama can't read yeah agreed all i'm here for y'all they don't read they can't read it's true the illiterate community needs a voice like that's right they do we gotta you know hold them up they do um next one we haven't even spoken about this which is crazy hustlers oh my god oh hustlers i mean
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
The work could either be magical, it could be fabulous, but I would say fabulous mostly. It was a really fabulous time. I mean, I think anything Jennifer Lopez does is quite fabulous. She just brings the fabulosity to anything that she does. That was such a good movie. Oh, thank you. I feel like for me, that movie was...
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
really breaking through in comedy in a traditional sense, because I had been doing it through socials and really like kind of doing my own content creation and showing people kind of like how it was evolving as an artist. And then when I actually did that movie, I think people saw it like in real time on the main stage.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Oh, that means so much to me. Thank you. I mean, I really do love what I do. Like, I love the craft. I grew up loving it. It was great to do SNL because it brought that element of stage and TV back, which I only feel like I've gotten through multicam sitcoms, which unfortunately seem like they're not a thing anymore. And it literally is a stab to my heart. Like, come on, we need more shows.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Like, did I do that? Like, we don't have any of that stuff anymore. So anyway, I really loved being able to do that with SNL. And it was just, I mean, going back to my roots and the things I love most about entertainment. So good. Yeah.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
It was. It was a conscious thing for me. But I also, again, you know, I have a producing partner named Max Wyeth who was working for like Dish Nation at the time. And they would want to do a lot of content for Scream Queens.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
And at that point, I was already doing my own content, like kind of just having fun because it was the only way that I could showcase ideas and things I wanted to do outside of like asking for someone to give me the opportunity traditionally. So I did it as a way to creatively express. And so then I meet Max Wyeth during Scream Queens.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
And he, like, a lot of the girls didn't want to do social media stuff with him. But I was always down because I've just always been into, like, social media stuff. And so he and I. Yeah, it's just fun. Exactly. It was fun to me. And so he and I became, like, really good friends. And he was like, Kiki.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
This is how Max is like, Kiki, you need to, you sound like an old lady. We need to do something called Southern Bell Insults.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
And I'm like, what the hell is Southern Bale Insults? And that's when we came up with this character, Lady Miss Jacqueline, who we have continued to grow and evolve this character. And then we did Chelsea Barbie Taylor, which I did turned up with the Taylors and got my Emmy. And so I really created a camaraderie and a love fest with Max.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
And that also encouraged me to continue to invest in big ways of my comedy online because he would, Max would always tell me, he was like, Kiki, you can do this.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
We have to do it ourselves. Don't be afraid. Like, let's go.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
And, like, it really has made a difference in my career. So I always think it's important to say because I don't do everything alone. Yeah, of course. You know, I take a step, and then the people around me encourage me to take a few more steps.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
That's such a good question. Thank you. Is there a TV show that I like to be on and I watch and love and enjoy? Love Island, you know what I'm saying? Okay, what is the show? I really loved this show that I just watched recently. And I could see myself also being on it. It was called Evil. It's no longer on anymore.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
But what I like about this show is because it just talked about like... So it almost sounds like a joke because it's a priest, a skeptic, and a psychologist. And they're like... Walking to a bar. Yeah, exactly. Walking to a bar. And they're like literally solving all of these... It's almost like Law and Order SVU, but like spiritual and then psychological. Kind of like Monk.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Yes, I love that type of thing. First of all, I love anything. Hey, honestly, when Olivia Benson retires, I would love Kiki Benson. Come on. Kiki Benson. Veronica Jones. People aren't ready for it. We've got to save these kids. She is lost. 32 hours and 5 minutes. That's all we've got. John. So good. There's one thing I do. We're going to save this little girl.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
You know what I'm saying? I see that in my future. Like, am I equalizer? You know what I'm saying? Am I 9-1-1?
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Am I Olivia Benson, the detective for the children? Like, I could see that 50s, 60s, baby. I'm sitting at the, or I could be a pastor solving crime. I'm here for something like this.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Of course, with Adam Blackstone.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Oh my gosh, I do live for Michael Bublé, and I do think I need to go ahead and do a little Christmas album. You know, I'm just here for the Sammy Davis Jr. vaudeville of it all, the Julie Garland.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Thank you. I really just love that old school entertainment. And honestly, it's very theater. Like it's just all very theater kid down. And it's so funny because when I think about me, Lily or Ariana, just like a lot of those Nick kids, even the ones that did Victorious, Leon Thomas, we all were just very much trying to get to Broadway. It was all so dramatic and we're ready to sing on a hat.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
You know, like it's just extra. And I think it took a long time for me to realize that that was like a lot of how I was trained because I immediately went into film and TV. But both of my parents did theater and that's how they, that's how I fell in love with entertainment. Yeah, I learned that from your book. I didn't know that you had a theater background.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Literally, I didn't either until I actually did theater for the first time. I said, oh, this is why my parents trained me like this. I'm actually trained. You learned so much. Like a theater, right? I was like, oh, this is so interesting. And so, yeah, honestly, shout out to my parents because that's how they taught me to see art, like kind of all around. You don't have to do one thing.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
My go-to karaoke song is always Amor Provedo by- I'm not familiar. Please, you'll have to sing it. Come on. Oh, baby. Y'all know JLo played that roll down. No, mine is literally bottoms up. Oh, my God.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Why was I doing all that?
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
It was so good. We had so much fun. First of all, shout out to my sister, L'Oreal Palmer. She was LC on Celebrity Fame, Acclaimed Fame. Anyway, she won. Oh, my God. She won and she ate down.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
She wrote that song. Oh, my God. Really? Yeah, she did. We was up in the studio. I love that. My mom would always be in the back like, y'all need to write these songs. Ain't nobody getting no credit. Ain't nobody getting no credit but y'all.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
She drove them music people crazy. She said, my daughters can write. My daughters can write. L'Oreal, go, go. And we'd be like, ain't it funny saying I'm fine. Come on, come on. And she'll be, honestly, she's a little Joe-ish. You know what I mean? But she wasn't cussing us out. She was cussing them out.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
That was like the better part about it. Mama Bear. Mama Bear. She was cussing all the execs out, but we was sitting there being like.
The Toast
Dreams Coming True with Keke Palmer: Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
Aw, thank you so much. It's been so awesome hanging out with you guys. And maybe next time I get to see you in person, boo. Yes.