Pod Insights Baby, this is Keke Palmer Dad Energy & Dating Drama with Roy Wood Jr. About this episode Comedian, host, and author Roy Wood Jr. joins Keke for a hilarious deep dive into love, parenting, and protecting our most valuable resource: time. They talk about his new book, how fatherhood changed his view of his own dad, and why comedy still matters in a messy world. From dating while raising kids to a wild detour about sex parties, this convo is honest, funny, and full of heart.
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Transcript 13,225 words · 2 speakers
Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:04 Keke Palmer? You already know we love a man who can make us laugh, make us think, and make us feel something. And Roy Wood Jr. does all three. He's a brilliant stand-up satirist and storyteller, and now an author pulling back the curtain on fatherhood, healing and legacy in his powerful new memoir, "The Man of Many Fathers." From "The Daily Show" to CNN's "Have I Got News For You," from prank calls to punchlines, Roy's career is as rich and real as the stories he tells. Let's get into it, because, baby, this is Keke Palmer.
1:04 Keke Palmer? As the nights get cooler and the leaves start to change, I'm partnering with Airbnb to help you find your perfect autumn escape. From mountain cabins to charming cottages with fireplaces, Airbnb's got you covered. Now, let's get into it.
1:22 Keke Palmer? Man, what's up, Roy?
1:23 Speaker 01 How you been, old friend?
1:24 Keke Palmer? Last time I seen you, we was doing a game of Password.
1:26 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah.
1:27 Keke Palmer? Now, wait a minute.
1:27 Speaker 01 Helping that black woman get the money.
1:30 Keke Palmer? Did we? Did you win?
1:31 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah, and I felt good, because I was on Pyramid, and my contestant lost by one question. You know them people be mad at us for real? Like, if you don't help them win the money, they be like, legit, like, "Come on, Roy Wood." I don't know nothing about ferns.
1:45 Keke Palmer? But you can only imagine, man, that that, for them, is like $20,000 is on the line.
1:51 Speaker 01 I get it, but it ain't my fault. I don't know nothing about ferns. The category was plants. My bad.
1:57 Keke Palmer? Larry, well, Roy Wood Jr., I'm so happy to have you on the show. It's good to see you every time. You always making us laugh. But before we get into to our conversation, you know, I gotta do the pre-show pull-up. We do this questionnaire with all our guests.
2:09 Speaker 01 Uh-oh.
2:10 Keke Palmer? To see kinda, you know, what your vibe is, what you coming in here with today?
2:13 Speaker 01 Who you are, what you is.
2:14 Keke Palmer? So today I'm giving, you said, focus with a side of intensity. I love that. That feels like some good energy for us to take into this conversation today. Break that down for me, what's the intensity and what's the focus?
2:26 Speaker 01 Every move that I'm making now professionally has to have a longer strategy attached to it. I dealt with, for, kinda still dealing with, I say yes to everything and I'm, I think one of my biggest faults and assets is that I'm too nice to people. And so that's how you get caught up, working on stuff that take, it's a time suck. So I've done a lot of time suck activities. So I'm trying to cut that out, trim the fat, you know, I'm blessed to be coming back with CNN this fall.
2:58 Keke Palmer? Yes, congratulations, man.
3:00 Speaker 01 To do the show, but that's, it ain't a lot, like, I left Daily Show three years ago. Ain't been but two new political kinda shows, Us and After Midnight, and After Midnight done. So, I'm blessed, so everything matters now because, you know, I hate to start doom and gloom, but.
3:17 Keke Palmer? Yeah, no, but this is real, and I wanted to talk to you about this stuff anyway.
3:20 Speaker 01 This industry, entertainment as a whole, is about to get far more competitive than what it's ever been. Like, when you're talking about half the amount of writers are working as were before COVID, because they make less script, so I have to tell you, so, every single choice I make every day has to be bettering me because ultimately, all of this is just about feeding the boy.
3:46 Keke Palmer? Yeah.
3:47 Speaker 01 And it sound crazy. It's, so, anything that I'm doing with you, if we're doing something together and you BSing me.
3:57 Speaker 01 You are messing with my ability to feed my family.
4:00 Keke Palmer? Yeah, and I love what you said about the time. I think a lot of times we don't realize that that is actually the currency. The most valuable thing we have is time. So everything you say yes to, whatever you decide you spend your time on, if it isn't going to materialize into something that you feel is worth it, then you've just wasted a lot of valuable time.
4:19 Speaker 01 But the problem is that when you come from hearing no so many times in your career, to being at a point where people trust you to come to ask you to do, to be a part. Nobody was coming at me 10 years ago, 15 years. And now you have an opportunity to do all these other things and help all these other people. And every now and then you have to take a moment and help yourself. So every single thing that I'm doing right now is just about, it's selfishly about me right now.
4:44 Keke Palmer? I love it. Focused, intensity.
4:47 Speaker 01 As the great Juvenile once said,
4:51 Speaker 01 "I can't please everybody, but I love my folks. If I give you everything, baby, I'mma be broke."
4:55 Keke Palmer? Okay, cuz you gonna be MC Hammer broke. Remember that in White Chicks? How broke? Martha Stewart broke or MC Hammer broke? MC Hammer broke. Um, okay, today's mood in one word, lasers. I feel that is, is right into the focus and the intensity. What did you listen to on the ride here? Now this I love, Jeezy with orchestra. There's nothing better than hip hop with orchestra, man. It does something to me, too.
5:20 Speaker 01 That, like, you know how you find two things that you didn't think, like apples and cheese? You're like, oh, this go good together.
5:26 Keke Palmer? Apples and cheese is good.
5:27 Speaker 01 I didn't know that Sriracha should be on there. That like rap music with orchestras. Also, it's the perfect way, cuz none of these old rappers can move no more. And when you got an orchestra, you ain't really gotta get into it. You just side to side bob with it, two step. Uh, yeah, Jeezy's, uh, TM 101. I forget the name of the orchestra and I wanna give them a shout out. I'll pull it in a second, but.
5:48 Keke Palmer? But they nailed it.
5:49 Speaker 01 They nailed it, nailed it. It was a great, great album.
5:52 Keke Palmer? The first time that I got into it was with, um, was with Migos. Migos, they did something with the Rest in Peace take. They did a orchestra and I was like, I never knew this would be dope. So now I gotta check out Jeezy. He's dope, too. Okay, last screenshot on your phone. No deleting. Show me.
6:10 Speaker 01 So.
6:11 Keke Palmer? What we about to get into? What kind of stuff you got up in there, Roy?
6:13 Speaker 01 It ain't nothing too freaky.
6:17 Keke Palmer? Just a little bit, though. Not too freaky, just a little bit.
6:19 Speaker 01 So minus the two videos of me just walking on studio right there. That's a screenshot of the home of the young brother Rajah Karouf, who's a black, driving the Winston Cup. He's not on Winston Cup level yet. It's like, whatever that level is.
6:32 Keke Palmer? Right before, yeah.
6:33 Speaker 01 Right before. But he's coming. Like, whatever Lewis Hamilton is in Formula One, I really believe Rajah Karouf has an opportunity to be that.
6:41 Keke Palmer? Wow.
6:42 Speaker 01 I went and saw him race with my son. Because my thing with my son also, let me see, let me show you black people doing stuff in.
6:49 Keke Palmer? Yup. In all different corners.
6:51 Speaker 01 In a lot of, yeah, a lot of different corners. And so, we've become fans of Rajah. And he won a race recently. And so, he's like showing trophies and stuff in the house.
6:58 Keke Palmer? Shout out to Rajah Karouf, I love that shout out.
7:01 Speaker 01 Text it to my son. Like, let me tell you what's gonna blow your mind with your child when the time comes. Texting with your child. It is the weirdest thing.
7:10 Keke Palmer? No, no. It's so funny that you're saying this because.
7:12 Speaker 01 Nine year old.
7:14 Keke Palmer? Last night, my sister goes on a date. She got three kids. She was married for 10 years. Her and her husband ended up getting a divorce. We live together. And she went on a date. This is like the first time in a long time. My niece, Ally, she about eight years old. She started texting my sister. "How's your date going?" Angry emoji. "Where are you? I'm worried about you." And then she there with me and my brother. You know, we're there, having her there. And all of a sudden.
7:40 Speaker 01 Nah.
7:40 Keke Palmer? They're like, "Call her. Call, call my mom, call my mom." My brother's like, "I can't call her, man. She on her date."
7:47 Keke Palmer? Started punching the air. I'm like, "Are you okay?" All because her mom ain't answering her texts back.
7:53 Speaker 01 Oh, she gonna be a problem.
7:55 Keke Palmer? She's a problem. So, so has Henry on texts. Is he calling you, FaceTiming you?
8:00 Speaker 01 My son is.
8:03 Speaker 01 He will send me a pic, so the thing we do because I travel. And so, you know, similar to that, I'm in a co-parenting situation. So the weeks that I don't have him, we swap a text or two, hey, here's something cool I saw. So if I'm traveling, the deal is I will show you something interesting from my travels.
8:18 Keke Palmer? Yes.
8:19 Speaker 01 And then he will show me something, and so he got a drone, and he just figured out how to make the drone do flips. I don't know nothing about this type of technology. And he sent me a video, and if I don't reply in five minutes, I'm getting a call.
8:31 Keke Palmer? Yes.
8:32 Speaker 01 You ain't see the video, hey, man, this ain't, this ain't FaceTime. This is text. That mean I might reply in two months.
8:40 Keke Palmer? I'm howling, two months is crazy.
8:43 Speaker 01 Just because you my son, don't mean you, you ain't talking about nothing. Like, I treat my son the same way any other text. You go pertinent, pertinent, non-pertinent, I get back to that one. Right, right swipe.
8:54 Keke Palmer? Get back to you later, son.
8:55 Speaker 01 Save as unread, so I won't forget it. But I get back to you. Yeah, but nah, I love him, I love him.
9:02 Keke Palmer? I'll be so happy if my son texts me, man. That sounds the coolest thing ever. I can't wait till his little fingers get to going.
9:07 Speaker 01 Okay, not when you start blocking when you on a date. Then it ain't gonna be funny then.
9:12 Keke Palmer? Okay, you're a zodiac sign. So you don't know your big three, but you're a Sag sun. You're Sag, I mean, all the Sagittarians I know are hilarious. And I mean, obviously, that's true with you. You literally make a living being hilarious.
9:25 Speaker 01 Adventurous, kind of life of the party supposedly. Um, hate being held down though.
9:33 Keke Palmer? Yes, I'm a free bird.
9:35 Speaker 01 Part of that, I agree with. But when you start getting into moons and mercuries and retrograde, I don't know none of that. Don't talk to me about none of that. And people like, you're a water fire on the cusp. Hey, man, I was born December 11. Whatever that means to you.
9:52 Keke Palmer? You're a water fire on the cusp.
9:54 Speaker 01 That's what they be saying, I'm on a cusp moon fire sign. Hey, I don't know none of that. All I know is that I try to be funny and I help people. That's a true sign of a Sagittarian.
10:06 Keke Palmer? That is, I live for Sag. I'm a Sag moon, so I feel, you know.
10:09 Speaker 01 Also, we flirt a lot and we're non-committal.
10:12 Keke Palmer? Agreed. Okay. Now, what is the most unexpected thing on your talent rider? This is cool.
10:21 Speaker 01 Is it, I, I feel like it's kinda childish.
10:24 Keke Palmer? I mean Rice Krispie Treats, there's nothing more sweet. Who doesn't like a Rice Krispie Treat?
10:27 Speaker 01 I'm a forty-six-year-old man.
10:30 Speaker 01 Should it not be Hennessy?
10:31 Keke Palmer? Oh, my gosh, now Hennessy is a good one. But it's like, do you wanna be drunk everywhere?
10:36 Speaker 01 I don't, I don't, I drink, but not at shows and performances.
10:39 Keke Palmer? You know what I mean, cuz then you can't focus. Now I'm all tumbling all over.
10:43 Speaker 01 I mean, there's a lot of cats, they need that liquor to give a good for, but I just don't, I don't really need nothing before a show. I've just not, I've thought about though being like that Robin Hood dude.
10:54 Keke Palmer? Know what I mean?
10:54 Speaker 01 Where there's certain comedians in their rider, they'll have something that they know they cannot travel with to the next city, and it remains a part of that club's green room until comedians break it. There, there's, part of the reason that some comedy club green rooms have TVs or cable boxes, it's because some performer came along and said, "I want that." I gotta give a shout out to Jamie Foxx.
11:18 Keke Palmer? Shout out Jamie.
11:19 Speaker 01 Jamie Foxx, when he was on that "I Might Need Security" tour, early aughts, it's twenty-plus years ago, on his rider, well, this was like the beginning of flat-screen TVs.
11:29 Keke Palmer? Wow.
11:30 Speaker 01 And a Playstation. And this is at my home club in Birmingham at the Star Dome. And Kiki, we wore that damn Playstation out.
11:36 Keke Palmer? Look what you did to Jamie.
11:38 Speaker 01 Cuz Jamie Foxx somewhere on his rider at the time, I don't know if that's still in his rider now, but at that time.
11:43 Keke Palmer? A flat-screen TV and a Playstation is an insane thing on your rider.
11:46 Speaker 01 But he sells out nine shows at sixty dollars a ticket. Sixty at that time, you can't see Jamie for no reason.
11:56 Keke Palmer? Have you seen the rider that they had, they, uh, they was going around online, Michael Jackson's rider?
12:02 Speaker 01 Was it Kentucky Fried Chicken?
12:04 Keke Palmer? And then he like wanted a Coca-Cola in a sparkling water can. It was like, what was that about? Why was it a science project?
12:11 Speaker 01 Cuz I want nobody to know that I'm drinking a Coca-Cola. Now, I know some comedians who drink, but they get the drinks through their managers and their tour managers to make it look like they don't drink, and it'd be straight vodka and a DeSantis bottle on that stage. I'm telling you, I- I'm more about travel amenities than actual at the venue. I don't need cloth, I don't need scented candle.
12:32 Keke Palmer? Now, what do you mean travel amenities? Let's get into that real quick.
12:34 Speaker 01 I, I need a nice hotel. I need a decent flight. I need a decent seat. I was talking like, if I'm crossing this country, lie flat would be nice. It would be nice.
12:46 Keke Palmer? Talk about the lie flat. Because my issue sometimes with, why is all the planes from nineteen seventy-five these days?
12:51 Speaker 01 Some of them lie flats don't wanna lie flat.
12:53 Keke Palmer? You just stiff up in there.
12:54 Speaker 01 Some of them planes.
12:55 Keke Palmer? Y'all gotta update the planes, airlines.
12:57 Speaker 01 Administration.
12:58 Keke Palmer? Anything after nineteen ninety-six, throw it out.
13:01 Speaker 01 I was on a plane one time, they had a DVR player in there. DVDs.
13:09 Speaker 01 Yeah, so no, I like to travel. I'm all about how I travel and where I sleep. Once I'm at the venue, I, I mean, I came up doing stand-up. I slept in my car at truck stops. I slept at the bus station. I rode the Greyhound. So, there's not a level of comfort that I need once I'm in the venue 'cause I done been at the bottom with that.
13:25 Keke Palmer? And you started doing stand-up, what, nineteen?
13:27 Speaker 01 Yeah, I was nineteen, I was at FAMU.
13:28 Keke Palmer? Oh, my gosh, my sister graduated from FAMU.
13:31 Speaker 01 Yeah.
13:31 Keke Palmer? Wow.
13:32 Speaker 01 Did she get arrested too for scamming, or just me?
13:35 Keke Palmer? Now, what was you scam, doing scamming, Roy?
13:37 Speaker 01 See, your sister did? She ain't no real rattler then.
13:41 Speaker 01 She ain't no real rattler.
13:41 Keke Palmer? She, when I tell you she loved FAMU, she loved, that's a dope school.
13:46 Speaker 01 That school saved my life, man.
13:48 Keke Palmer? You're kidding me, what you mean?
13:49 Speaker 01 That school saved my life. I got, so, you know, I was running credit cards. Um, I had a job in the, uh, post office, campus post office, a mail sorter.
13:56 Keke Palmer? Yeah.
13:56 Speaker 01 So, I'd take credit cards out the post office, take them to the store, buy clothes, sell them on campus for discount prices. I'm your man if you need Tommy Girl for cheap.
14:05 Keke Palmer? Come on, Tommy Girl.
14:06 Speaker 01 Yeah, and then got caught and they're, come on, federal agents.
14:11 Speaker 01 And so, I got caught, and so I got suspended from school for a semester for that. You know, and I ended up on probation, but at the time, there was a faction of people on the campus who were pushing for my expulsion.
14:25 Keke Palmer? Really?
14:26 Speaker 01 And I understand that. Because crime is an issue and you don't want people to, I, I get it. But I'm thankful. So my mama fam you, my daddy taught there. My daddy Morehouse, he connected with it. I'm black college through and through.
14:41 Keke Palmer? Oh, my gosh.
14:42 Speaker 01 The connects that they had and the people that they knew. I'm blessed because there were enough people at Florida A and M who saw me for what I could become instead of what I was. And so I got back in school. I started doing stand up during the break. So I started doing comedy while I'm back in school. I get my degree in journalism and that degree was the one thing that helped to protect me from having to check guests on the felon box when it came time to get job applications. I'm not saying I wasn't judged when it came time to try and get employment, but having that degree was a big deal. And also going back home to Birmingham and working at the radio. So I have to give a shout out to ninety five seven Jams. I was still in probation when I started that job.
15:23 Keke Palmer? Wow, and I know a lot of people that love listening to you growing up in Birmingham.
15:26 Speaker 01 That show catapulted everything for me comedically. And so, you know, I'll always say that, you know, you know, I am who I am because of my mom at Florida A and M University in the city of Birmingham.
15:38 Keke Palmer? Wow.
15:38 Speaker 01 Like, the people of Birmingham, they they will hold you up, man.
15:42 Keke Palmer? But I love you owning that because I think there's something that we think about in our lives. Where it's like, well, I could have did this or I could have did that. But sometimes the thing that you so-called did wrong is what leads you to where you're meant to go.
15:52 Speaker 01 I'm not here.
15:53 Keke Palmer? During that break, you try and stand up. You know, that wouldn't have happened had you not done them scams.
15:58 Speaker 01 Well, you know what it was? I thought I was going to, I had a court-appointed attorney. He goes, you're going to prison.
16:03 Keke Palmer? Wow.
16:04 Speaker 01 So get your life in order. You got six months till sentencing. Comedy was on the list.
16:10 Keke Palmer? Now, before then, when you said comedy was on the list, before then, were you just funny at home? Did you really ever think about comedy?
16:16 Speaker 01 I was funny around campus and stuff. Because you know, college, especially when you go to, when you go to school out of state, your whole personality resets.
16:23 Keke Palmer? Yeah.
16:24 Speaker 01 Whatever you were in high school, you don't have to be that in college. You can be a thug, you can be a pretty boy, you can pledge a fraternity. A fraternity helps to transform you into something. If you go Greek. So in high school, I was funny because I wrote the bench playing baseball. I wouldn't go to baseball, but we would just yell ignorant across the field at other teams, trying to break the umps, trying to break the parents, get them to laugh. So I had the itch for it, but I ain't had the courage, you know? And sometimes it just takes going, yo, you're about to have your life taken away from you. This time is finite and that's when it hit. And I was like, oh, well, let me try comedy. I started doing comedy. God's will, I got probation instead of prison and that's been that.
17:07 Speaker 01 And I'm sitting here with you 27, 28 years later. Like, that was what needed to happen to get me there. So, when you've been at that bottom rung and comedy is this thing that fulfills you and makes you happy and it gets you, you know, out of that depression.
17:28 Speaker 01 I'm just thankful to be here and be performing. I don't need nothing else. Just give me a Rice Krispie treat.
17:35 Keke Palmer? I mean, well, speaking of these deep topics, depression. I mean, I feel like you use humor as a way to really get into those things. And I'm big on that too, because I think comedy is the best medicine. So I want to talk about Lonely Flowers.
17:47 Speaker 01 Oh.
17:48 Keke Palmer? Your special, man.
17:49 Speaker 01 Hulu joint.
17:50 Keke Palmer? Hulu joint, came out in January. I mean, what sparked that theme for you? What does Lonely Flowers mean to you?
17:56 Speaker 01 Because we're all beautiful people, but we're all separated. You ever seen a flower by itself in a field or just in a, growing out the sidewalk? And you just feel like, oh, I wish there were more flowers around it. We're more beautiful in a group. That's why you prefer a bouquet over a single rose sometimes. You know? And for me, I feel like COVID did a number on us as a people. And we all disjoint it, we don't talk, we don't connect no more. And I just wanted to do a comedy special that really got to the meat of why that is. But then also look at myself and then think about the things that we do now to try and remain connected.
18:38 Speaker 01 And we try to judge people on that stuff, but deep down, it's just people that, that's what I like. Look, so I met somebody that's poly.
18:46 Keke Palmer? Okay, polyamorous.
18:47 Speaker 01 And also in the special, I talk about getting invited to a sex party.
18:52 Keke Palmer? And we gotta talk about that. I've had, I've gotten invited to those too.
18:55 Speaker 01 Now, let me just also say, this is a lower level. Sex party. It wasn't like the high Illuminati, like it wasn't. This is very D-list.
19:05 Keke Palmer? Oh, my gosh.
19:06 Speaker 01 Like.
19:06 Keke Palmer? You have to tell me your sex party story and I'll tell you.
19:09 Speaker 01 It was like, it was like, I got invited to like, the, the like, Texas Roadhouse Steak. You get invited to Nobu.
19:15 Keke Palmer? No.
19:16 Speaker 01 Sex party, like, upper level. So, I was, you know, out back, steakhouse.
19:21 Keke Palmer? I'm howling.
19:23 Speaker 01 But it's like, you try to judge and go, ooh, that.
19:26 Keke Palmer? Yeah.
19:26 Speaker 01 It's just folks looking for connection.
19:29 Keke Palmer? Yeah.
19:29 Speaker 01 That's all it is. And that's why it's, there's a, is there, it's, it's not a coincidence that that type of lifestyle is more prevalent in the last 10 years. Or people are more open about it, or people actually saying, hey, maybe I don't wanna do fidelity. Maybe I wanna have a couple of people and juggle them and hey, just so you know, I love you and I love you and you gonna have your room and you gonna have your room and we gonna meet in the living room. I, I, I couldn't do the sex party though. I got invited by two porn stars, I know.
19:55 Keke Palmer? Oh, my gosh. So, how did the conversation go?
19:58 Speaker 01 So, I, I.
20:02 Keke Palmer? I love this stuff.
20:03 Speaker 01 Alright, so, King Noir and Jessa and Jasmine, really good friends, but I interviewed them back when I was on a daily show.
20:08 Keke Palmer? Okay.
20:08 Speaker 01 About discrimination, race discrimination in the adult film industry. We had a very upright and good conversation.
20:15 Keke Palmer? I mean, it sounds like a very good, yeah.
20:16 Speaker 01 Yeah, it's, I mean, it's workplace discrimination.
20:19 Keke Palmer? That's right.
20:20 Speaker 01 It's a workplace the same as any other job, so let's talk about it. And we did, and then after that, they was like, would you like to come to a sex party? And I'm like, slow down. Let's go out to eat first. Uh, but no, they invited me to a situation that, that they do on a regular basis, you know, with a couple of other consenting couples and all of that. And I think that's also part of the issue is that I'm single right now and I feel like a sex party where it's like a bunch of, you kinda wanna, you need a plus one.
20:49 Keke Palmer? Yeah.
20:50 Speaker 01 In case whoever you get paired with.
20:52 Keke Palmer? You don't want.
20:54 Speaker 01 You know how you be at church and they be like, turn to your neighbor, but you came to church alone?
20:57 Keke Palmer? And you're like.
20:58 Speaker 01 Whole reach out, hold your neighbor hand, and you don't wanna touch that person's hand.
21:02 Keke Palmer? Like scare movie too. Give me a strong hand.
21:04 Speaker 01 Yeah.
21:07 Speaker 01 Uh, yeah, so that was-
21:09 Keke Palmer? Yeah, that can be so bad because what if you don't think anybody is cute there?
21:13 Speaker 01 It's too late, you there.
21:14 Keke Palmer? You're there, ass out.
21:16 Speaker 01 You on a villa in Costa Rica butt naked for seven days.
21:18 Keke Palmer? Oh, my gosh.
21:18 Speaker 01 You locked in.
21:19 Keke Palmer? So, I was invited to a sex party once. This is when I was like, I guess I was like 21. I was working on this TV show. And I get contacted, not by any of the actors on the show, by, by somebody else that I know that's an entertainer. They're like, hey, hey, girl.
21:33 Speaker 01 So, a black person. Alrighty. No white person starts a sex party invite with, "Hey, girl." Alright.
21:39 Keke Palmer? No, no. So, they're like, "Hey, girl, so, I don't know if you've ever heard anything about this, but look, check this man out. Look at his net worth. You know, I heard about these parties and, you know, you ain't gotta do nothing, but when you go..."
21:55 Keke Palmer? She said, "You know, you can have a mask on, you know, they just, they just want lingerie, but they willing to give whatever depending on what you up to doing." And I'm like, "This is, there's no way this is real." But it was just so crazy because I didn't know at that age that that was real. I thought my friend had to be pranking me. You know, I just didn't, I couldn't believe that that was really a, a thing where people are doing it.
22:17 Speaker 01 I've enjoyed having, I've enjoyed not being famous enough to get invited to really weird stuff.
22:24 Speaker 01 Like, I like that basic cable fame that I have. You're theatrical. You know, you're EGOT land fame, so like-
22:32 Keke Palmer? Oh, my gosh, stop.
22:33 Speaker 01 That's a whole nother level. Do you regret, here's a question, though. Do you regret not going? Do you ever wonder?
22:38 Keke Palmer? No.
22:39 Speaker 01 Let me, okay, one more question.
22:41 Keke Palmer? Oh, I'm scared.
22:42 Speaker 01 As a-
22:42 Keke Palmer? Roy.
22:43 Speaker 01 Just tell me. And granted, this is many moons ago, so I'm sure the rates have changed because of Trump tariffs. How much were they offering?
22:57 Keke Palmer? Y'all, I have been scrolling through Airbnb looking at the most gorgeous Victorian mansions in the Catskills. And let me tell you, your girl is ready for a fall moment. I'm talking spiral staircases, tower rooms with panoramic forest views, the whole vibe. Like, imagine me and my friends making apple cider in a- Vintage kitchen, telling stories by the fireplace and watching those fall leaves change from a wraparound porch. Woo! And the best part? I always look for the guest's favorite badge, which means it's one of the most loved homes on Airbnb. Because, listen, when I travel with my friends, we need more than just a basic room. We need space to really sink into the experience, to make memories.
23:40 Keke Palmer? And trust me, hotels just don't give you that "this place has a story" feeling. Whether you're dreaming of a cozy cabin in the woods, a desert hideaway like my favorite spot in Joshua Tree, or, yes, maybe even a slightly spooky mansion for fall, Airbnb has exactly what you're looking for.
24:01 Keke Palmer? This message is brought to you by Apple Pay. Horror movie marathons are an art form, and as a certified scary movie enthusiast, preparation is everything. Between streaming subscriptions, snacks, and ambient lighting, there's a lot that goes into creating the perfect spooky viewing experience. Thankfully, Apple Pay makes the prep as seamless as possible. Setting the mood starts with ordering a few essentials online. When I see that Apple Pay button at checkout, I know I'm in for a smooth, secure transaction. A couple of candles, some string lights, and a cozy throw blanket, because being scared should be at least comfortable, right? Everything arrives at my door, and I never had to type in a single card number.
24:43 Keke Palmer? With Face ID, shopping on your iPhone with Apple Pay is designed to be secure, so I can focus on my horror movie aesthetic instead of worrying about payment security or unauthorized purchases. But let's talk about the real star of any movie marathon: the snacks. I start by ordering my favorite movie munchies through delivery apps. Whether it's a classic microwave popcorn or my go-to candy, it's all ordered with just a double-click and a glance at my iPhone using Apple Pay. And here's a little bonus: I'm still earning my usual credit and debit card rewards on every purchase. It's like getting a little treat for treating myself. When I notice I'm missing some crucial movie night necessities, I make a quick run to the store.
25:27 Keke Palmer? That contactless symbol at checkout is like a beacon of convenience. Just a quick tap of my iPhone or Apple Watch, and I'm heading home with my treasure trove of treats, still racking up those sweet, sweet credit card points. Apple Pay is faster and easier than using physical cards or cash. So I'm back to my marathon in no time. The beauty of Apple Pay is that it works seamlessly. Whether I'm ordering through apps, shopping online, or running to the store for last minute provisions. Plus, Apple Pay doesn't keep transaction information that can be tied back to me. So my scary movie habits stay private. Sometimes mid marathon, someone needs a snack refill or wants to order delivery. No need to pause the scary parts.
26:12 Keke Palmer? Apple Pay works just as well at 2 a.m. as it does at 2 p.m. It's accepted at millions of places worldwide. So no matter what the horror movie marathon demands, I am ready. Creating the perfect spooky movie night shouldn't be scary. With Apple Pay, the only screaming happening is at the movie, not at the checkout process. It's like having a personal payment assistant that works across my Apple devices. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a date with some classic horror films and a mountain of snacks. Say goodbye to payment hassles and hello to seamless transactions. Pay the Apple way and make your next movie marathon as smooth as it is scary. Terms apply.
27:00 Keke Palmer? She said the top, like the base level was like a hundred thousand dollars.
27:04 Speaker 01 Just to show up in lingerie.
27:05 Keke Palmer? Just to show up in lingerie.
27:07 Speaker 01 And a mask.
27:07 Keke Palmer? And a mask.
27:08 Speaker 01 So live OnlyFans.
27:09 Keke Palmer? She actually said.
27:13 Keke Palmer? And I couldn't believe it. I'm like, there's no way people, this is a thing. But I mean, so much has been revealed lately.
27:21 Speaker 01 Yeah, I mean, the way women be online, just straight asking dudes for months, somebody paying.
27:26 Keke Palmer? I mean, what do you think about the date? Because you say you're single. What do you, how do you feel with dating now? Because I do know a couple of girls that's only going on a date for the dinner. They literally just want the meal.
27:36 Speaker 01 I've, I've been, I've been pimped for a meal once or twice. I'm sure every dude has, but it didn't like, it didn't make me mad.
27:46 Keke Palmer? Right.
27:46 Speaker 01 But then I'm also at a level of income where I can afford to, all right, you got me. Next time, Chili's.
27:55 Speaker 01 She got me with that damn sugar fish sushi. You got me this time. But I, I don't.
28:02 Keke Palmer? Everything does feel very transactional, even friendships.
28:05 Speaker 01 I think the, the, the, the most difficult thing, especially at forty six, is that there is just a certain level of prerequisites as a man that you have to already clear before a woman will even activate the nerve endings that will allow her to connect romantically with you. So it's very much, in my case, it's, what do you do? Not necessarily what you make. You can kind of figure out what I make if you know what I do. You can do the math on a ticket at a comedy club. Um, son, and then, and then relationship with son's mother. That's always one that's a very important.
28:45 Keke Palmer? That seems really normal.
28:46 Speaker 01 Yeah.
28:47 Keke Palmer? That's a normal expectation.
28:48 Speaker 01 Well, uh, but it's not something that, I mean, I've been single like three years or so, and that wasn't something normally at first, but I guess now I'm starting to meet women and I'm more tired.
28:59 Keke Palmer? Yeah, I will say even for myself, when I was in my early twenties, it was very like, okay, whatever goes. Now I'm like, so what exactly is your next ten year plan?
29:10 Speaker 01 Yeah.
29:10 Keke Palmer? It gets serious because we go back to what we were talking about at the top where time, time is valuable. Who I'm spending it with, why am I spending it with you, you know?
29:19 Speaker 01 The, the other issue though is that whether I like it or not, to a degree, you're also, I also have to consider how you integrate into my son's orbit.
29:30 Speaker 01 If, if we're talking on some long-term, whatever, sooner or later, I have to consider, is this a motherly? Could you be with me at a parent teacher conference?
29:41 Keke Palmer? Right.
29:42 Speaker 01 Like just on some, on some character types, like, who are you? Like, I'm not saying that it's your job to be my son's mama, but if you're gonna be in the orbit and be in the space, I ain't saying check his homework, but this needs to be a positive interaction. And that's something I didn't get growing up. And so, figuring out, like, one of the hardest things was when my son was born and I started back looking at how to show him love.
30:09 Keke Palmer? Yeah.
30:10 Speaker 01 You know, and. Me and your mama, we live together and we're gonna raise your house in his love. Okay, well, what does that look like? Because you didn't necessarily have that at your house. I mean, my parents were married, but my pops had another family across town. He spent a lot of time.
30:25 Keke Palmer? Really?
30:26 Speaker 01 I'm the ninth of eleven kids. My mother's only, but I'm the ninth of eleven kids. So it's a little pops dancing around type situation. A very respected man professionally.
30:36 Keke Palmer? I know he accomplished so much.
30:39 Speaker 01 Wasn't regular.
30:40 Keke Palmer? Yeah.
30:40 Speaker 01 So when it came time to sit and reflect on, well, damn, what does love look like as a man? And being an example of love so my son can just watch how I interact with his mom? Well, who can I emulate? And the best example was my father and the other woman. So you have to not only accept that the house that your parents built for you wasn't enough for your pops. But also, damn, he loved her. He really loved that woman.
31:17 Speaker 01 He really loved. Because you start going back through the things that you saw. And I can compare my father's actions with that woman versus with my mother. And what I saw over here looked more like love. So now, in order to show him love, the sample isn't my mom.
31:34 Keke Palmer? Man, that's deep.
31:36 Speaker 01 But do you want to raise the boy right or not? So you have to respect the data, even if it's coming from an unlikely source. So, you know, the one thing I'm very fortunate about.
31:51 Speaker 01 I'm very fortunate. It's two people I'm very thankful for on just a love side of the game. It's T-Pain and queen of comedy Adele Givens.
32:01 Keke Palmer? Shout out Adele.
32:02 Speaker 01 And so those two people have had what I view as extremely stable marriages through.
32:11 Speaker 01 The craziness of entertainment and then allowed me in their home in some capacity or another for a million other reasons. But I just got to kick back and just watch how T-Pain and his wife and their dynamic and watch Adele and her husband's dynamic and how Tony would tend to her and make sure that she had what she needed. And then there were times it would flip. Tony had a surgery one time, Adele canceled five, six months of work to be in the hospital with that man. But then you also can only do that if your money's right.
32:43 Keke Palmer? Yeah.
32:44 Speaker 01 And if you're taking care of your money. And so I learned that
32:51 Speaker 01 you start realizing the whole point of all of this and these lights and these mics and all of this is so you can have quiet moments with somebody that truly appreciates you. And so that should always remain a need for you beyond a script deal or my agent got me an audition. So.
33:16 Keke Palmer? I couldn't agree with you more and I actually think that that's the, the real desire of that is somehow conflated with needing outside validation. People think in order to find their way to this deep connection, they gotta have the right car, the right money, the right look, the right vibe, the right career before they can be deserving of love. And then it kind of ends up all getting jumbled up and messed up.
33:38 Speaker 01 Yeah.
33:39 Keke Palmer? You know, that's the weird thing about it. It's cause I think we all really do want love, but what we think is gonna get us there is sometimes the furthest thing from it.
33:47 Speaker 01 The problem also is that we get so damaged along the way that we start putting our needs before the needs of the relationship. And so it becomes me first, me first, me first. And the other party never gets a meet met or you don't care to meet the need and that creates an inequity. And then that's emotionally corrosive and then sooner or later.
34:07 Keke Palmer? There's nothing there.
34:08 Speaker 01 Yeah.
34:08 Keke Palmer? Yeah.
34:09 Speaker 01 And that, that's probably in terms of having a child. And if you're talking dating, that's probably the most.
34:20 Speaker 01 Difficult thing to kinda reconcile because it's really low key. Dating is the one thing you can't control. I can control stand-up comedy.
34:29 Keke Palmer? Yes.
34:29 Speaker 01 If I sit alone long enough, I can come up with 60 minutes of stuff to say on a stage. If it gets funny enough, Hulu or somebody else will give me money to say it on TV. Wash, rinse, repeat.
34:42 Keke Palmer? But dude, I've struggled with this, especially just, you know, again, you as an entertainer, I'm an entertainer, been doing it since I was a kid. This concept of like having things figured out because with your career, you can, you can make it work. I can figure out how to do this.
34:55 Speaker 01 Hire someone.
34:57 Keke Palmer? You know what I mean? But when it comes to love, relationships, knowing what it means to exist with another person and their humanness, that's really hard.
35:08 Speaker 01 Yeah, which is why if you find someone that you vibe with, then, and y'all on the same wavelength and into the same things, you gotta go on that ride. Like, low key, I kinda should put King Noir and Saint Jasmine in that same bucket. Like, alright, y'all do adult films, but that's what y'all both into.
35:28 Keke Palmer? That's y'all love it.
35:29 Speaker 01 And y'all grow. So, it, it's, that's a very hard thing and I, and I know I've run into some old vets and from the acting side and the comedy side, who, you know, they've had a couple of divorces under their belt now.
35:46 Keke Palmer? Yeah, yeah.
35:46 Speaker 01 And so now, they the one that's gonna trick off a hundred thou for you to wear the mask and walk around naked. And they cool with it. And for them, that is enough of a need. And so what happens is that when you get older, you start alocarding connection.
36:06 Keke Palmer? Yeah.
36:07 Speaker 01 Partners, like romantic, you know what I'm saying? Like, alright. You and me have sex, you and me go out and cook and talk about stuff. You and me, we go to Dubai.
36:17 Keke Palmer? That's so crazy.
36:18 Speaker 01 And we get really weird in Dubai.
36:21 Keke Palmer? Nah, for real, though.
36:23 Speaker 01 And I don't, I know I don't want that.
36:25 Keke Palmer? I know. I know. But it's hard to figure out where, it's like, or being alone. Also, you know, I'm sure it's a thing too. I don't know if you're, if Henry ever says, hey dad, are you gonna get married again? Or what that looks like when you know, you see your kids wanting to see you with someone? Or wanting to know what that looks like for you? Or telling them that sometimes happiness is solo, you know?
36:50 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah.
36:51 Keke Palmer? Think about that a lot with my son.
36:52 Speaker 01 Yeah, I, I think it's, but I also owe it to him to find happiness for myself. And so, don't lose yourself in the happiness, in fulfilling the happiness of your child. Because what'll happen, at least what I think, I kinda slid down for a second. Is that if I'm not happy, I'm incapable of being all things that he needs or filling him up. So, my happiness is just as important as my son's, as far as I'm concerned. So, the things that make me whole, the things that give me feeling, the things that give me life. I have to prioritize those in a way. And I don't mean skip visitation for a week or don't get, hey, don't bring him over this week. I'm making myself happy.
37:38 Speaker 01 I ain't gonna do that.
37:39 Keke Palmer? Don't worry about me.
37:40 Speaker 01 But in the moments and the times that I have, I have to choose that. And that means saying no to certain [BLEEP] that you no longer have time for. Because I might just wanna play my Playstation tonight.
37:53 Keke Palmer? Okay, with the flat screen. Thanks, Jamie. Wait, I wanna talk about your book, The Man of Many Fathers. Congratulations on that.
38:02 Speaker 01 Thank you.
38:02 Keke Palmer? And you talk a little, I know we spoke a second about, you know, Roy Wood Sr., your father. But he's a very, very accomplished journalist and broadcaster. I mean, Covering the uprising of civil rights and Jim Crow. But it's interesting.
38:17 Speaker 01 Africa, Rhodesia, like Rwanda, like you name where black folks was getting shot at or beat on.
38:24 Keke Palmer? Okay.
38:25 Speaker 01 Pops was there reporting on it.
38:27 Keke Palmer? Doing the good work.
38:28 Speaker 01 Yeah.
38:28 Keke Palmer? But it's interesting because you speak in the book about how you don't really recall many intimate moments with him at home or personal connection in that kind of way.
38:39 Speaker 01 No, um, because the book, the basic gist of the book, so my dad died when I was 16.
38:45 Keke Palmer? Yep.
38:46 Speaker 01 So I didn't get all the game I needed to get as a man from him. So the book is a collection of lessons that I learned from other men throughout my life. And so I was like, kind of like the whole T-Pain thing, I learned some, like,
38:57 Keke Palmer? Yeah.
38:58 Speaker 01 you, you learn stuff from other men along the way when we talk about manhood. But the idea of how do you define manhood for yourself when your number one instructor wasn't always present?
39:13 Speaker 01 You know, my Yoda wasn't always there.
39:15 Keke Palmer? That's right.
39:15 Speaker 01 To teach me the Jedi tricks. So, you know, for me, it was about looking back at that time in my life and just being thankful for the moments I did have with him. But, you know, something that I learned later on, and I gotta give a shout out to Finding Your Roots for this because, because there's a lot of black men, especially black fathers, I believe, that have a seething rage against their father or one of their parents. Like, the moment you have a child, you immediately audit how your parents raised you. And you, because you're thinking about everything you're gonna do for your kid.
39:57 Speaker 01 And then as you go through your child's life and you have all of these first moments with them, and you start reflecting on what, what was it like when I had the, oh damn, we never threw the ball? What was it like with the?
40:07 Keke Palmer? Hmm.
40:08 Speaker 01 Oh damn, he never showed up to the school function? What was it like when, oh damn, he wasn't there to learn how to, to see me learn how to swim?
40:18 Speaker 01 Well, wait a minute. Where was you? You.
40:21 Keke Palmer? Literally.
40:22 Speaker 01 That's the train of thought in the delivery room. I'm holding the newborn and I'm just. I got a newborn kid and I'm sitting there mad at my daddy who been dead twenty years. Ain't been studing him. Like, love, but you know what I mean?
40:37 Keke Palmer? I love studing him.
40:38 Speaker 01 But, but, I'm from Alabama.
40:39 Keke Palmer? Yeah, that ain't been studing.
40:40 Speaker 01 Ain't been studing you. And now, this idea of, damn, man, that wasn't enough.
40:46 Keke Palmer? Yeah.
40:47 Speaker 01 That wasn't enough. Okay, but then I need to make sure that I do enough with him. So I'mma tell my son I love him. I'mma give him physical touch. We gon', we gon', we gon' just dap up. Sometimes we gon' hug. And when you don't like it, I'mma still hug you.
41:02 Keke Palmer? Mm-hmm.
41:02 Speaker 01 So, those moments, I hope later on have meaning. Parenting sucks, man. Cause you don't know whether or not you did it good till like year twenty five.
41:13 Keke Palmer? You always did it bad, I feel, is it? You know what I mean? Like, no matter what, like, your, your kid is gonna tell you what you could've did better. You know, it just is, I guess it's a part of the script. You know what I mean? I don't know, you know, I expect for my son Leo to, to one day be like, Mom, yeah, this was good, this was good. But you know, I always wanted blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I gotta receive that.
41:33 Speaker 01 Part of my fear. And so the book is framed as a letter to my son because I lost my father early. So, you know, I don't know when I'm gonna go. You know, so when I did Finding Your Roots, I found out that my father, and I didn't, I didn't know any of this because I didn't really meet or interact with anyone on my dad's side. I have a couple of half siblings I'm tight work with.
41:54 Keke Palmer? Yeah.
41:54 Speaker 01 But, in terms of getting the griot and getting the, talking to the old grandmama in the kitchen.
42:00 Keke Palmer? Yeah.
42:00 Speaker 01 Didn't meet none of them.
42:01 Keke Palmer? Wow.
42:02 Speaker 01 On my dad's side, never met none of them. So I don't know, so I don't know the family history. I go on Finding Your Roots, they find out that my father lost his dad when he was four. And through census data, found that there was no other male head of household present in his life. Then on top of that, my pops had a real bad accident when he was sixteen. He had to walk with a limp the rest of his life. He was hit by a car. Hit by a car, chasing behind a girl who had just broken up with him. She broke up with him. So, you chasing behind this girl and get hit by a car, who you gonna blame? You ain't gonna blame the car, you gonna blame women? So I'm betting that contributed to.
42:46 Speaker 01 Ninth out of eleven kids. I'm betting not having that father figure and having to be hardened on your own. You probably never even knew how to show emotion, cuz ain't no telling what you received at your house. And I'm betting fifty, your mama, who was dead before I was born, my grandma on his side. I'm betting my pops mama was just grinding and working, trying to survive.
43:11 Keke Palmer? Absolutely.
43:12 Speaker 01 My mama stayed in night school, grad school, law school, master's degree.
43:15 Keke Palmer? Yep.
43:16 Speaker 01 Doctorates to make herself better for me.
43:20 Keke Palmer? That's right.
43:20 Speaker 01 So, I don't know, and doing that show, it gave me space to give him a little bit of grace.
43:30 Keke Palmer? Compassion and grace, it sounds like, and I think that's also one of the greatest things that we can teach our children. I remember when I had a big blowout with my parents, where I came, "I didn't want the whoopins, and I hated how y'all did that, and you did blah, blah, blah." And my dad's like, "You right. I could've did a lot better, but now you're an adult. So what are you gonna do with that? Now that you know the truth, now that you know I messed up, I wasn't the perfect father. I didn't do everything right. I was trying my best, but I fell short. What are you gonna do with that? Because learning how to forgive your parents for the things they didn't understand, for the things that they, like you said, they had no way of knowing, and they was giving it their best shot, is, I feel like, such a big part of us being able to move forward.
44:15 Speaker 01 To understand that as a parent, you're not gonna be perfect. I remember, so my parents were separated till the third grade. During that time, before my parents got back together, pops, we lived in Memphis, and pops would drive up to Memphis from Birmingham once a month to come see me or whatever, and he'd bring me a truck or something, some truck stop toy or whatever. He would sleep most of the weekend, cuz he was tired, cuz he was working his ass off. And then he would get in the car and drive back to Birmingham. And I wonder sometimes if his truck stop toy is no different than the videos I send my son. Cuz I'm not there. And so this fear of, is this effort or is it replication?
45:00 Speaker 01 Now, the difference is that...
45:03 Speaker 01 The joint custody of it all. And I'm blessed to have a great co-parenting partner. So that dynamic is different from my son's life to, you know, to how I came up. But I wonder about that. Do you ever, are you ever concerned that your life is Google-able for your child? When they are of that age? To try to feel like, my fear is that my son is going to try to figure out who I am through bits and pieces of media. And by the way, if you're watching this, son, in the future, hello.
45:51 Keke Palmer? Hi, Leonis.
45:52 Speaker 01 Yeah, like, I'm not going to get to give you the context of the thing and why, here's why I was gone. You're just gonna go, you were gone.
46:01 Keke Palmer? Yeah.
46:01 Speaker 01 And then you was gone, and that's what you was doing? Then you missed my thing. Because I know I'm gonna miss stuff. But the food is out there. I'm not.
46:11 Keke Palmer? Yeah.
46:12 Speaker 01 I, you know.
46:13 Keke Palmer? I do sometimes wonder about how my son will be ingesting what the world thinks of me. Even when I'm, we're out and people want to take pictures with me and stuff. If I'm with him, I really try not to do it because I don't want that to be such a thing in his mind of who I am perceived as, right? I know I can't control it, but I want to try to make sure that he knows me. Because I remember when my little brother and sister, you know, when they started to realize I was famous. And it was a little bit heartbreaking, but they were kids, but I could see the shift of them seeing what that meant.
46:46 Speaker 01 Oh, you're like, you're the special one.
46:48 Keke Palmer? Yeah, what this means to my friends and they want to come over. And if I drop your name real quick, sometimes people act a little different with me. And I remember feeling that and knowing what that was like. And so I really want to protect my son from that as long as I can. So he can really feel a sense of normalcy and really knowing who his mom is. Not in a gag, but like, who I really am before he gets involved with the performance of what I am.
47:13 Speaker 01 Yeah, work for that because my son. You know, when we're out in New York, it depends because when it was Daily Show, it was much more love when I was out. CNN breeds a different type of hate.
47:30 Keke Palmer? Yeah.
47:31 Speaker 01 And there's people that rock with the show or whatever, but if it's the wrong week-
47:34 Keke Palmer? I've got news for you.
47:35 Speaker 01 And I've told the wrong, yeah, have I got news for you?
47:36 Keke Palmer? Have I got news for you, yeah.
47:37 Speaker 01 If we've done a hard Trump joke that week, or one of my co-hosts, Michael Ian Black or Amber, like when Amber Ruffin got caught up in the White House Correspondents' Dinner drama.
47:44 Keke Palmer? Shout out to Amber, she's really funny.
47:45 Speaker 01 Stood at ten toes and said, "I'm not doing both sides, this is horrible, I'mma tell Trump jokes, fire me if you got, oh damn, you fired me." Okay, cool. If I'm out in the streets that week, it may not be all love.
47:58 Keke Palmer? Yeah.
47:59 Speaker 01 And if I'm with my son, I'm very, very hyper-conscious about people who recognize me, but they don't like me.
48:08 Keke Palmer? Yeah.
48:08 Speaker 01 And it's not that, you know how black people give you the, "You ain't all that."
48:12 Keke Palmer? Yeah.
48:13 Speaker 01 That's fine.
48:13 Keke Palmer? Yeah, who cares? I ain't studying you.
48:15 Speaker 01 That's fine, I ain't studying. Versus...
48:20 Keke Palmer? Yeah.
48:21 Speaker 01 They just follow you, walk in, I'm just in a Panera, and it's just a white dude in the corner.
48:28 Speaker 01 We gotta go, we're not having Panera.
48:29 Keke Palmer? That's tough, man.
48:30 Speaker 01 We're not having Panera, Block is hot.
48:31 Keke Palmer? Block is hot.
48:32 Speaker 01 That's what I say to her, I say, "Man, this Block hot, we gotta, we gotta go to another spot."
48:36 Keke Palmer? Wow.
48:36 Speaker 01 And so, keeping him safe in that regard is, is very difficult, but yeah, I just hope that I've done enough to where he has one-on-one data of who I am, and not stuck like me, pulling up eight tracks and reel-to-reels of my father's interviews from the 1970s and digitizing him to figure out pieces of who he was, because I never got to that part of him in adulthood.
49:00 Keke Palmer? Yeah, well, I mean, I think you're doing a really good job already, I mean, the book is incredible, man.
49:05 Speaker 01 I appreciate you.
49:06 Keke Palmer? And the conversations are important to be had.
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50:56 Keke Palmer? I do want to talk about what you're saying with, you know, I have, I got news for you. But then also, I mean, I realize you worked on the Stephen Colbert Show for a while.
51:04 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah, I did Colbert four or five times while I was at Daily Show. And then Colbert, here's the little known fact about the Daily Show. Everybody talks about Saturday Night Live and how all the alumni, they all talk and interact with each other. Daily Show the same way. It's just that the Daily Show is a small private school that ain't got the big classes. Like SNL was like 20 people every year. Daily Show is a host, five, six correspondents at a time. But when I first got the job, Sam Bee gave me game, John Oliver. I don't even know how he got my email. He gave me game. Colbert gave me game. Jason Jones, like, there was so many people, Wyatt Sinat.
51:48 Speaker 01 Jessica Williams.
51:51 Speaker 01 We need a separate episode for me to talk about just how much she helped me in that job. Including showing me the instincts of when it was time to leave. I think that, I think that all of those people were so important. And I just, I hate what's happened to Colbert and I hate what CBS and Paramount have done to him to cancel him.
52:10 Keke Palmer? Yeah.
52:11 Speaker 01 Cause he had a difference of opinion.
52:13 Keke Palmer? And so that's why, I mean, I think that's the big discussion, right? Like, is it because of the difference of opinion that we think? Are we really moving in that, in that direction? Where we've seen it some with comedy, but even just comedy and news and just information? Is it really, is that really what it is? Or is it, hey, we've had our time and the ratings were low and, you know, that's just what happens?
52:32 Speaker 01 I think it's, we'll know based on what they replace Colbert with. Because there's cheaper, there's cheaper ways to still give an opinion. But the fact that you didn't give Colbert any opportunity, you know how it go? The show costs too much, you cut costs.
52:47 Keke Palmer? Yeah.
52:47 Speaker 01 And then you cancel because it's still too expensive. You don't just cut the show off at the knees off the top. So we already know that that was political and that's influenced by the merger or whatever, whatever. But if these corporations are serious about lending a voice to people to speak truth to power.
53:05 Keke Palmer? Yeah.
53:06 Speaker 01 We'll see what you replace it with.
53:07 Keke Palmer? I think that's a really good way to think about it. It's like, what would take that space? And what are the conversations that you're gonna be leading now?
53:14 Speaker 01 Here's the, here's the interesting thing though. I think that because Donald Trump and this administration have decided to lean on the media. They're leaning on ABC, they're leaning on CBS, sued CBS. Trump recently canceled an interview with NBC News at the time that we're recording this. So, you know, you're going to silence the media and beat them down into not criticizing you. And I would argue this started not with Colbert, but it started with Amber Ruffin. Because basically through the grapevine, you tell the White House press corps, if y'all had a girl at that thing and she telling jokes about me, y'all ain't gonna be allowed in the White House no more to do your job. And I'm gonna make you choose.
53:56 Keke Palmer? Did you see the thing with Charlamagne?
53:58 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah, went at Charlamagne. You know what would be hilarious though?
54:03 Speaker 01 Is if he started calling himself Donald the God.
54:07 Speaker 01 To get a shot, I would laugh. Oh, I would laugh. A lot of Charlamagne came back calling him dunkier today. He been doing good work on Daily Show. He laid out the Trump dementia symptoms. I just think that-
54:17 Keke Palmer? That's an opinion and perspective. I think that, you know, that's, everybody's supposed to be able to have one, right? That's the whole concept.
54:22 Speaker 01 You can mute the media, but you're going to force the voices that were in the media online to where you cannot police it, and to where those voices are stronger and bolder. Don Lemon got knocked out of CNN for not being centrist enough, and then the boy went and got his own YouTube channel and getting millions every week. More numbers, higher numbers than what he was doing in the time slot that you took him from on CNN. So, did you really silence anybody? Or did you just reposition them into a place where their voice-
54:51 Keke Palmer? For ownership.
54:53 Speaker 01 And their voice is louder and has more reach.
54:57 Speaker 01 Oh, we think Stephen Colbert just gonna look, well, y'all cancel me. All right, bye bye. Thank you for the career, Hollywood. Or you think Colbert gonna figure out a way to turn the camera on and still go punch in?
55:08 Speaker 01 You done created a monster. And you created a monster in Colbert's show and smacking the heat of midterm elections.
55:17 Keke Palmer? I can't wait to see how this all is gonna turn out, because things are changing. The way that the information is getting through and the way that people are able to use their voice, I mean, it's definitely been democratized through social media and, you know, we've seen that. I've seen it for myself as a traditional entertainer and, like you said, people like Don, so it's very interesting.
55:34 Speaker 01 He made it worse. Just like when you break up with somebody and then you cuss them out, then they come back and key your car. And you be like, well, I was not expecting that.
55:42 Keke Palmer? But I mean, doing what you do, do you think that there is-
55:45 Speaker 01 I'm sorry, I'm sharing too much.
55:45 Keke Palmer? No, you're not.
55:48 Keke Palmer? Do you think that there is a fine line between how you spread news, stay unbiased, and still criticize political figures or public figures?
55:58 Speaker 01 The issue with bias is that that is in the opinion of the receiver.
56:03 Speaker 01 You can say I'm left leaning and other people can say I'm centrist. Some people say I'm super left, super liberal.
56:11 Speaker 01 I did the Correspondence Dinner, my first joke was to Joe Biden's face about him forgetting where he put documents. That's the first joke before I said good evening to the audience. I punched the president in the face. So am I, you know, I don't, it's just, you're on the channel, therefore, no. So I don't, I think it is a comedian's job to tell the joke and talk about the world as they see it.
56:38 Keke Palmer? And I wonder where we got so, so like, you know, everything is so at odds. There's no middle ground, there's no, I kind of understand that, I don't understand that. Or I do understand this, you know, everything is so.
56:49 Speaker 01 Oh nuance is gone.
56:50 Keke Palmer? Nuance, boom, nuance is gone.
56:53 Speaker 01 But that's gone for everything, like.
56:55 Keke Palmer? It means you agree with everything.
56:57 Speaker 01 You know where it started? With them stupid ass Mount Rushmore arguments on Twitter. And people go, what's your Mount Rushmore french fries? What's your Mount Rushmore black R and B? Like, and you act like it can either be, it's, it's the classic, I like pancakes. And then somebody goes, so that means you hate waffles.
57:15 Keke Palmer? That's it. That's what's going on, that's what's going on.
57:18 Speaker 01 And so that's at a small level and then that's at a larger political level. But I just, I'm thankful that comedians don't change. And I think there has to be a space for all of these comedians to have these opinions, including the ones that I don't necessarily agree with the premise on.
57:34 Keke Palmer? Yeah.
57:34 Speaker 01 You gotta allow right wing comedy in that mix too. So I think that as a comedian, your job is to tell jokes about the world the way you see it. And if people don't like it, cool, and the next week they may, like, John, when Jon Stewart came back to Daily Show, his first episode, he called Joe Biden old. And everybody was like, how dare you? How could you, John, you have betrayed the Democrat? And now here we are, a year later, and now everybody going, y'all knew he was old and you made him run. And that's why we lost. So was Jon Stewart, right? What if Jon Stewart was just dancing for the popular? And just doing whatever will get him a nice pat on the head? Get him a nice comment and a couple of Instagram double taps.
58:18 Keke Palmer? It's so true.
58:19 Speaker 01 You can't live for that, not as a performer, not as a host.
58:22 Keke Palmer? Yeah.
58:22 Speaker 01 Not as a comedian.
58:24 Keke Palmer? Not as a public figure that's using your platform to say something that you believe in, something. Um, Love Brooklyn, I want to talk about that. Your rom com, it premiered at Sundance. Congratulations, man. So. Give me a little rundown. You got Andre Holland, Nicole Bahari, who I love, DeWanda Wise, and obviously Roy Wood Jr.
58:42 Speaker 01 And so beautiful black woman director, Rachel Abigail Holder, Steven Soderbergh's EP.
58:47 Keke Palmer? Oh, wow.
58:48 Speaker 01 So I worked with Soderbergh a couple of years earlier on a project. And him and Andre Holland know each other from the Nick. And they were talking about the script and Andre comes to me and he goes, hey, I'm doing a film about a man who is trying to figure out which woman he wants to date. While his life and career is changing, while the neighborhood of Brooklyn.
59:08 Keke Palmer? Is changing.
59:09 Speaker 01 Is changing. So it's a triple layered story about evolution. And of course, I played a married friend who gives him terrible advice. That's my job. But, you know, I think it's a beautiful love story that goes back to that old school Love Jones, brown sugar.
59:25 Keke Palmer? Well, I, when you said what you were saying about the evolution and about Brooklyn, it made me think about brown sugar with the evolution of hip hop and the evolution of their relationship.
59:33 Speaker 01 And how the neighborhood played a character that influenced the decisions, the characters made.
59:37 Keke Palmer? Yeah, I love that, man. Yeah.
59:39 Speaker 01 You have Nicole Bahari, who is running a wonderful art museum and art gallery, I'm sorry. And then you have DeWanda, who is, you know, she's a woman who has a child. She needs stability. You just can't be fleeting in and out of it. This, this is a girl, she gonna see you and remember you. So how are you going to choose? And what I thought made Love Brooklyn so interesting is that this isn't like a traditional romance where the dude is just bouncing between the two. The two women know about each other. So. Little more spice. They are aware of each other's presence.
1:00:15 Keke Palmer? And that's T-Boo.
1:00:16 Speaker 01 Yeah, and so that part, it don't get poly, it don't get weird.
1:00:21 Speaker 01 I ain't gonna spoil it, but I can tell you right now, you don't choose both. Not between Nicole Bahari and the one that you got to choose. Uh, but yeah, it's a beautiful film and I, and I think, you know, a story of not only about black love, but the complexities of just how important it is to choose the right partner for where you're headed. Not necessarily about choosing what's right for your heart.
1:00:49 Speaker 01 And so I think it's, it's, it's, I just think a lot of folks gonna like it. Nicole Bahari gonna give y'all memes for days too.
1:00:57 Keke Palmer? Oh my gosh, I love her so much. All right. Well, before I let you go, man, I, I wanna play a game with you. You know what I mean? Obviously because you wrote The Man of Many Fathers. I figured we could do a play on that called, Who's Your Daddy Now? Now, a lot of us was raised by, you know, TV dads, rapping dads, pastors, barbers, OGs, you know. So I'm gonna throw out some life scenarios and you tell me which father figure that you turn to for advice. Okay, I'm gonna give you a situation. Let me get one.
1:01:26 Speaker 01 These gotta be real people or fictional people? Cause like I was raised on, you know, Fresh Prince, you know, Uncle Phil, Bill Cosby, Al Bundy. Who were two like diametric.
1:01:37 Keke Palmer? Oh my gosh, Al Bundy!
1:01:38 Speaker 01 Yeah, totally different type of father, but still I get it now.
1:01:41 Keke Palmer? Yes.
1:01:42 Speaker 01 I just wanna take a [BLEEP] in a bathroom no one else is using, and I wanna put my hand in my drawers and watch TV. No, I don't wanna have sex tonight.
1:01:51 Keke Palmer? Dads are so gross. Okay, you just got ghosted, but you trying not to spiral. Who's your daddy now? A, Uncle Phil? B, Morgan Freeman? C, George Jefferson? Or D, Al Bundy?
1:02:11 Speaker 01 It ain't Morgan Freeman because he talk too slow.
1:02:15 Speaker 01 Respect to the Clarks, the L O G, but I'm spiraling right now. I need advice fast. So it can't be Morgan Freeman.
1:02:24 Speaker 01 I feel like Uncle Phil would give me the most level-headed advice, but I feel like Al Bundy would be one of them dudes that would just be like, you know, hey man, just come be miserable with me. And I think that's, that's probably what I would choose. I would just drink a beer and watch football with Al and the boys in the garage. Cause Uncle Phil gonna be all on that, "You're a good man, and you know your worth." And a woman out there is gonna see that. She'll see it today. I don't wanna hear that, man. I'm sad, man.
1:02:50 Keke Palmer? Sometimes all you do need is just to drink and just to be kicking it with your folks.
1:02:54 Speaker 01 I think misery, going through that is, is okay to allow yourself that.
1:02:59 Keke Palmer? I agree. Your kid asks if Santa is real, and you don't wanna lie, but you don't wanna kill the magic. Who you calling? Carl Winslow, A. B, Bernie Mac. C, Andre Johnson. D, Roy Wood Jr. As yourself.
1:03:18 Speaker 01 Ooh. My son got a hunch Santa ain't, ain't real. It ain't confirmed yet, but he got it. He's nine.
1:03:27 Speaker 01 He ain't, we just watched Interstellar.
1:03:29 Keke Palmer? I know the edge that he's on.
1:03:31 Speaker 01 We just learned that time is the fourth dimension and love is the fifth dimension. And that time is a relative flat circle. I can't lie to him about Santa. Uh, I'm going Bernie Mac.
1:03:43 Keke Palmer? Okay.
1:03:44 Speaker 01 Cause I feel like Bernie Mac can tell you the truth. "Ain't no goddamn Santa."
1:03:48 Speaker 01 That's my Bernie Mac.
1:03:49 Keke Palmer? I love Bernie.
1:03:50 Speaker 01 Ain't no Santa. It's me. It's me. It's my black ass. Put the gifts under the tree.
1:03:57 Keke Palmer? I be missing Bernie so much. I literally go through this thing where I watch shows, marathons, and I was watching a Bernie Mac show not too long. It really just brings you back to it, you know?
1:04:06 Speaker 01 He's missed. He missed. That, that, that's a biopic that's long overdue.
1:04:10 Keke Palmer? Oh my gosh. Cause we don't know who gonna play, who gonna play Bernie. That's scary, man. Don't nobody wanna do that. They know they ain't gonna be Bernie.
1:04:18 Speaker 01 I, I like the Supreme Dreams kid. Um, Mark, I can't think of his last name. I apologize, brother, but you're very talented.
1:04:26 Keke Palmer? Wow. I'm about to check this smooth dude out.
1:04:28 Speaker 01 He's a sketch brother. He does a lot of funny stuff online. I think he could do it. I think there's also, um, Cinco Walls. I think he could do it. I think he could do it. Um.
1:04:46 Speaker 01 That's tough.
1:04:47 Keke Palmer? It is.
1:04:48 Speaker 01 Because Bernie was so tall. I mean, I know Laurel does a mean Bernie Mac. And not impersonation, performatively, conversationally.
1:04:56 Keke Palmer? Yes. I do love Laurel. Laurel also is from Chicago.
1:04:59 Speaker 01 That, that's the other thing.
1:05:01 Keke Palmer? You need that Chicago.
1:05:03 Speaker 01 I don't know. I, listen, I'm not here to get all black America versus Africans versus British Nigerian. But I'm gonna tell you right now, you gonna have to cast a black American for Bernie Mac or it's gonna be a riot.
1:05:16 Keke Palmer? Okay.
1:05:17 Speaker 01 That's all I'm gonna say. I'm not here to start no mess. I'm not here to start a diaspora war in the comments about British actors can't take the black. I'm just talking specifically Bernie Mac.
1:05:30 Speaker 01 Gotta be.
1:05:32 Keke Palmer? Okay.
1:05:32 Speaker 01 Gotta be. Just give it to Deon Cole.
1:05:34 Keke Palmer? Oh my gosh, Deon I love too.
1:05:36 Speaker 01 He's from Chicago. He'll figure it out.
1:05:38 Keke Palmer? Okay. You're ready to tell someone you love them first, but you're scared. Who's walking you through it? Barack Obama, Flex Washington, Pops, or Cliff?
1:05:54 Speaker 01 Uh, I'm gonna go Pops from Wayans Brothers and Friday. Yeah, yeah.
1:06:01 Keke Palmer? John with a spoon.
1:06:02 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah, see.
1:06:04 Keke Palmer? That's what he gonna do.
1:06:05 Speaker 01 See, that's what you need to understand.
1:06:06 Keke Palmer? Why is he always eating something?
1:06:08 Speaker 01 He was, wasn't he eating? He was just smacking.
1:06:10 Keke Palmer? Boy, that's what you need. Come on. Why was it always that?
1:06:17 Speaker 01 I love you, damn, I said it. I feel like he was just sneaking in fast. He's not gonna make a big perfor- because I feel like Flex and I got love for Flex.
1:06:24 Keke Palmer? I love Flex.
1:06:25 Speaker 01 But Flex is baby and, you know, he had to, you know, Shanice, he know love and R and B and all that. So he gonna be all romantic and wordy. But if you doing something, like when you take, that's a huge risk.
1:06:37 Keke Palmer? It is.
1:06:38 Speaker 01 When you tell somebody you love them.
1:06:39 Keke Palmer? First.
1:06:40 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah. You just gotta say it real fast and act like you ain't say it if they tripping on it.
1:06:46 Keke Palmer? Okay.
1:06:46 Speaker 01 These are good. Give me one more.
1:06:48 Keke Palmer? Okay, this last one. You're tired of adulting and wanna tap out for the day. Who's enabling your inner child? Homer Simpson, Philip Banks, the new version?
1:07:02 Keke Palmer? Robert Freeman, the Boondocks.
1:07:04 Speaker 01 Okay.
1:07:05 Keke Palmer? Or the daddy on Sanford and Son.
1:07:08 Speaker 01 Oh, you gotta go daddy on Sanford and Son.
1:07:11 Keke Palmer? But that man named Red Fox.
1:07:12 Speaker 01 You gotta go to Red Fox all day. Red Fox was always about the ladies. Always about-
1:07:17 Keke Palmer? I'm coming to live with-
1:07:19 Speaker 01 Red Fox, you know what I give, you know what I give Fred Sanford credit for? He never had, never had money to take Donna out. But he'd put them candles on and pour up that ripple in the living room and just pray Lamont don't walk in or pray Grady don't wake it. Like, how many episodes of where Sanford and Son? I think he took Donna out twice, maybe. There wasn't no $200 date either, like, they was eating that chateau broke.
1:07:43 Keke Palmer? Oh, my gosh.
1:07:45 Speaker 01 But Fred Sanford knew how to make the space romantic. The intention of it. He put the grip blanket on the couch so you don't have to sit in that little, that rip. You know them old black couches, they bite your ass.
1:07:59 Keke Palmer? I feel like that vibe is so not thought of more. People, because people just do, well, if I do this and I do that, then it has the same meaning. But even if you do less and put more meaning, it's more worth it. You know what I mean? Than the big old extravagant, just somebody knowing you were thoughtful enough to get the details right.
1:08:15 Speaker 01 Yeah, but don't do that first date, fellas. Cause they'll talk about you on Twitter.
1:08:21 Keke Palmer? Can you believe what he did?
1:08:22 Speaker 01 You shutting them boys up. Y'all, why I'm at this Negro house right now? And you know, y'all be on dates now, but not you, but you know what I'm saying? Like, black women, y'all embarrassed to do mid-date. It used to be you have the date, then you go home and do, y'all be like, look at him right now.
1:08:36 Keke Palmer? Well, you gotta text-
1:08:37 Speaker 01 Look at his ass right now.
1:08:39 Keke Palmer? You gotta text and let her know, because she's worried about you. She's like, my niece, how's the date going?
1:08:47 Speaker 01 Y'all are brutal. Y'all will livestream a bad date on Twitch now.
1:08:52 Keke Palmer? Oh, my gosh, but we had to get the viewers up.
1:08:54 Speaker 01 Yeah, that's why, see, that's why-
1:08:56 Keke Palmer? We need them to buy them emos.
1:08:57 Speaker 01 But see, that's what them, that's what them men get, that's what y'all get. Dating them, you in your 40s, dating somebody in their 20s, then they go live on your ass.
1:09:03 Keke Palmer? Oh, my gosh.
1:09:04 Speaker 01 Gotta get somebody your age, she ain't gonna tell nobody but her Facebook group.
1:09:09 Speaker 01 That ain't gonna damage your reputation. Now you all over the internet.
1:09:12 Keke Palmer? Oh my gosh, Roy, you are amazing. Just as good as I remember when we were on Password.
1:09:17 Speaker 01 Thank you sincerely for inviting me. Thank you for the invitation.
1:09:20 Keke Palmer? I can't wait till we get together.
1:09:21 Speaker 01 I appreciate this. Love Brooklyn.
1:09:23 Keke Palmer? Love Brooklyn.
1:09:23 Speaker 01 Want everybody to support Love Brooklyn. Black woman director, all black cast. It's a dope film. Man of Many Fathers.
1:09:29 Keke Palmer? Yep.
1:09:30 Speaker 01 It is October 28th. You can preorder it now. And I'm doing the audiobook. We need to talk off air about the audiobook process.
1:09:37 Keke Palmer? The audiobook is needed. People gotta hear you take them to the journey. They got to. It makes it so much more special, in my opinion.
1:09:43 Speaker 01 I have questions for you about just vocal health. I've been like fraying a little bit. So I'm like dreading it.
1:09:50 Keke Palmer? I know what's gonna have to happen. Bye, y'all, we gone. We talking real life.
1:09:54 Speaker 01 You found that at the sex party, didn't you?
1:10:01 Keke Palmer? Roy, thank you for keeping it real, for making us laugh, and for opening up about the tough stuff, too. The Man of Many Fathers and Lonely Flowers both show how powerful your voice is onstage, on the page, and as a dad. Your comedy doesn't just entertain, it challenges, connects, and shifts culture. This conversation was honest, funny, and full of heart. Baby, this is Keke Palmer.
1:10:36 Keke Palmer? Baby, This is Keke Palmer is hosted and executive produced by me, Keke Palmer. Lucas Siegel is our post-producer. Our producers are Lauren Hampton and Molly Nester. Hillary Esti McLaughlin is our executive producer. Production services provided by Evolution Media. Our original theme song was written and performed by me, Keke Palmer. For Team Kiki, my producer is Sharon Palmer. For Wondery, our managing producer is Olivia Fonte. Senior managing producer is Nick Ryan. And our executive producers are Emily Feldbrake, Aaron O'Flaherty, and Marshall Louie.
Previous Owning Your Power with Danielle Brooks Next Out, Loud & Free with Khalid Page updated November 1, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated