Keke Palmer | Unfiltered

I try to make jokes

and talk about the ridiculousness of the situations

that we're in and make fun and try to laugh

and make things easier for myself

and the people that are experiencing it with me.

I mean, just hanging out with her all day.

She's such a fun time, she's a very spontaneous spirit.

She also is very, like, her emotions

are right at the forefront of who she is.

So it's just never a slow beat.

She's always saying how she feels, what she thinks,

what she like, what she don't like,

and that level of just like openness

and awareness, it's easy to respond to for someone like me,

I immediately know just like what to do

because she's being so real.

I learned that I was so similar to her

in the same sense

of, you know, working through systemic issues

to get to where I am today

and continuing to, in many ways climb my own version

of a corporate ladder within the entertainment industry.

To get to the point of being able to be a producer,

to be a director, to be someone that's not totally defined

by their ability to perform.

Very similarly to Drew trying to make her way up

from just being a server in Norms

to being a manager and maybe even working

at the corporate level like the character Shayla

who she was interviewing with in the movie.

I feel the same way,

and I think, you know, a lot of people don't see

the entertainment industry that way,

but it's very much corporate industry

just like every other one.

I've been seeing that and I think it's so funny

is because, like honestly, I do have social anxiety.

My social anxiety I learned over the years,

my defense mechanism was to just be very flamboyant

and, you know, performative, so to speak.

And it's worked in terms of my career

because I am a performer,

but that is my version of, you know, survival is just like,

well, let's just fill the space with noise.

You know what I mean?

That's my version of it, you know,

so we all get anxious and get weird and awkward,

but I think that I learned to lean in

because that's the only thing that I know to do, you know,

in my version of being a human,

that's how I survive the situation is lean in

and make fun of myself and try to have fun with it,

and then it's over.

I try to make jokes and talk about

the ridiculousness of the situations

that we're in and make fun and try to laugh

and make things easier for myself

and the people that are experiencing it with me.

I mean, that's much of what I was doing

even at the Met Gala.

People always talk about that.

That was a very high pressure situation

where I'm just like, let's just try to poke fun

at the reality that this is a lot.

You know, I had no idea that she had worn it,

but what a treat that she had worn it.

It was just a beautiful dress that Molly Dickenson,

the stylist that I worked with on that piece,

she brought, we immediately loved it.

We were obsessed with it

and next thing you know,

when they were doing the writeups on it,

somebody pulled that Jamie had worn it.

And Jamie has been someone

that's been very encouraging to me in my life.

I have an actual personal relationship with her

since we did Scream Queens together.

So for me it was even that much more better

that she had actually wanted as well,

because that's my girl.

When I had my son, she sent him so many books

and anytime that we see one another,

it's literally like we're back on that Scream Queen set.

I mean, she was like a aunt to me

when I was working on that.

Very much like just embracing me, seeing me,

supporting me, encouraging me, a great person.

I can't wait till we get a chance to work together again.

In general comedy and comedy that is based in the situations

that people are really experiencing right now

is a real good way as an artist, I think, to show that,

I don't wanna say like a version of activism,

but in a small way, the version of saying, hey,

this is what's happening in the world

and we see it as artists.

We see what's going on

and we're gonna document that

obviously in our own particular voices.

And I think for me, the best way that I feel to do that

is through comedy, because I think we are already

in disarray and drama.

[person laughing]

It's already quite stressful

and I feel like, you know, leaning more into comedy,

but still telling the truth of these stories,

of our stories, of what's happening in the world, you know,

finding that balance is really important.

You know what I mean?

One of my favorite shows,

even though it's so crazy and intense, is The Boys.

And I love the show

because it really finds a way to get around

to talking about or bringing to your attention

things that are happening

that we need to pay attention to.

And you get to deal with how you view it.

Like everybody, you know, it's not telling us how to feel,

but it's finding a way to bring us to a place to look at it

and have conversations around it.

And I do think that that's what we need,

whether you know it is one of them days

or something else.

I do think humor is a great sense of medicine

and a great way to bring people together.