Growing Up in the Spotlight with Raven-Symoné, Kel Mitchell, Marsai Martin & More

From Nickelodeon to Disney and “All My Children” to “Black-ish”—this compilation episode is all about celebrating the stars who grew up on our screens and never stopped shining. Raven-Symoné gets real about falling in love in the public eye, while Kel Mitchell takes us back to the magic of “All That”—and how his legendary partnership with Kenan Thompson began. Then it’s a Gen Z glow-up: Marsai Martin reflects on stepping into her power as a producer. Plus, Coco Jones, Jesse McCartney, and Aly & AJ. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Keke Palmer?

  This episode is sponsored by Airbnb. Y'all, when spring hits and nature starts calling my name, you know I am headed straight to Airbnb to find the most loved homes to scratch my outdoor z itch. Now, let's get into it, baby.

• 0:48Keke Palmer?

  Today, we are in for a treat, y'all. Okay, I'm sitting here with not one, but two beautiful gals today. I'm here with the power couple that is Raven Simone Yay and Miranda Pyramid Mayday. Welcome to the show, Raven and Miranda.

• 1:02Speaker 01

  Aw, thanks for having us, Kiki.

• 1:04Speaker 02

  Kiki, you killed our names.

• 1:06Keke Palmer?

  Okay, I'm happy because I was like, is it Pyramid Mayday? Mayday? Madai? I wanted to make sure I did your last name right.

• 1:13Speaker 01

  I like Madai.

• 1:14Keke Palmer?

  Can we just quickly just make a moment out of the fact that everybody in the world has been pronouncing your name apparently incorrect? Like Raven, we didn't know that it was Raven Simone Yay.

• 1:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, Raven Simone has been my name since I was born, but not even my mama calls me that. And it's okay, though, you know? We put accents on things and sometimes we use that accent and sometimes we don't. Honestly, it's just easier to say Simone.

• 1:41Keke Palmer?

  But I want to know, like, so what happened? What prompted you being like, yo, by the way? You know what I mean? You know, what made you drop that bomb on us?

• 1:50Speaker 01

  It's so sad, you guys. I was TikToking for my life.

• 1:55Speaker 01

  And I just needed some views and I felt like, you know,

• 1:58Keke Palmer?

  Period.

• 1:59Speaker 01

  Period. And that's what happened. And look what happened.

• 2:02Keke Palmer?

  It did everything it needed to do. So I'm here for that. I'm here for a quick little gag for the kids.

• 2:07Speaker 01

  I was literally on the way to get my hair done and I was like, I'm bored. I'm early. Let me do a TikTok. Oh, this is trendy. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Such a mess.

• 2:16Speaker 02

  And it's still going on because just yesterday, our friend JoJo, JoJo Sewak called. She texted me and she's like, hey, I was doing these intros because we did an event with her and she's like, and they kept telling me to say Raven's name as Simone. And she was like, and I had to, I had to put them in their place. I had to correct them. I was like, no, baby girl. That is, that was correct. She's like, what? I was like, yeah. And she's like, what?

• 2:38Speaker 01

  Talk about a rebrand of a brand that has been in our faces forever.

• 2:42Keke Palmer?

  I'm here for that.

• 2:43Speaker 01

  Just randomly.

• 2:44Keke Palmer?

  But I'm actually, I, I, I actually think that's actually genius in terms of a rerun because it's like, yeah, that was Raven Simone that y'all knew, but this is Raven Simone.

• 2:52Speaker 01

  Exactly. I got married. I'm Raven Simone.

• 2:54Speaker 02

  We should totally do it, Kiki. You should be like, I'm Kiki.

• 2:59Speaker 02

  And I'll be, I don't know what I'd be.

• 3:01Keke Palmer?

  I'm sure in some countries I am Kiki. Um, so yeah, I'm, I'm here for that as well. But I'm excited to have you guys here today. Obviously on the show, we have been talking all about relationships, but specifically kind of how fame and like being in the public eye can affect our relationships, especially if one partner has been in the spotlight for a while. But before we get into it all the way, this is about relationships in general is what's important to you?

• 3:28Speaker 02

  What it boils down to is meeting the crazy that you can tolerate or the crazy that matches yours. So as long as you're on the same page and you co-sign to that agreement and you continue to co-sign, I call it also like renewing the lease. Every single day you have an opportunity to wake up next to your partner and renew that lease. And as long as you both are on that same page, you can move forward and write your own rules and that can be living separately.

• 3:52Speaker 01

  We talk about that a lot, you know, for the forever in the history of humanity up until today. There has been a standard on what a married couple should look like. You guys have to sleep together. You guys. Have to have sex every week or twice or three times a week. Otherwise it's failing. You guys have to do this. You have half, half, half, half.

• 4:11Keke Palmer?

  Gender roles, which I freaking, the gender roles shit, I can't.

• 4:14Speaker 01

  It's ridiculous. And so, you know, there are fantasies that you feed our female, uh, people in our society to make them feel like, okay, this is what my marriage has to be. And if it's not, it's failing. And then that adds more issues when you actually step away from what society says it should be. And like you said, Kiki, looked and babes, look what you need, see what you need and make that relationship a reflection of what you need. You know, there's things that, that happen in our relationship. We're not going to go into, but just on an overall where it's like, where it's like, I never thought that this would work. And I'm like, I know, right? But it's, it works for us. It's fine.

• 4:53Speaker 02

  I also grew up with, like, my parents got divorced when I was seven. And I, at that point in my life, remember saying to myself, I will never, ever do that. Like, I will never get divorced. And I didn't know what that really meant, but I just knew I never wanted to have a divorce.

• 5:11Speaker 01

  Said the same thing when I was younger. So that's the one thing that will never happen. No matter how much we fight, no matter if we hate each other, we're going to be at least living next to each other and sharing their insurance because we're never going to get divorced.

• 5:21Speaker 02

  Thing that happened for me in my mind was I then did kind of fall into the conventional traps of like, what I was hearing around me, what I heard my mom say was part of the reasons as to why her marriage didn't succeed. So it was like, you know, we had to be more vulnerable. There was this lack of intimacy. I couldn't do that. Like, and then people kind of have these bullet points. And so, yeah, it was hard, kind of.

• 5:46Speaker 01

  Cause I said, no, you can't have none of that.

• 5:49Speaker 02

  We can be different and you can feel safe in this relationship. And Raven has been incredible for me because I have been able to heal a lot of my past trauma, my, you know, my anxiety.

• 6:02Keke Palmer?

  Amazing that love can do that. I mean, how much did you know about Raven before y'all dated? I don't know if you grew up watching her stuff or not. I mean, obviously Raven is Raven Simone. You may, you had to have watched that So Raven, but maybe you weren't the biggest fan.

• 6:13Speaker 02

  I actually had not watched any of That's So Raven. Um.

• 6:19Keke Palmer?

  Are y'all the same age?

• 6:20Speaker 01

  I'm older.

• 6:21Speaker 02

  I'm thirty-five. Raven is thirty-seven.

• 6:24Speaker 01

  She has no excuse.

• 6:26Keke Palmer?

  I'm like, now, what was you doing, Miss Mama, that you didn't see That's So Raven?

• 6:30Speaker 01

  Tell her, babes, tell her what you were watching instead.

• 6:32Speaker 02

  Here we go.

• 6:32Keke Palmer?

  The Gray.

• 6:34Speaker 02

  No. Well, meet my sister. My sister watched.

• 6:37Speaker 01

  No, no, it's not about your sister. What did you watch?

• 6:39Speaker 02

  I watched Even Stevens.

• 6:41Speaker 01

  She watched.

• 6:42Keke Palmer?

  So, wait a minute. Okay, so you know, right, That's So Raven, you just wasn't watching the show?

• 6:48Speaker 02

  I'm, correct. I knew of it and I knew.

• 6:50Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, you knew it watching the channel.

• 6:52Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, totally. And I knew who Raven Simone was.

• 6:56Speaker 01

  Ish.

• 6:56Speaker 02

  Ish.

• 6:57Keke Palmer?

  So you just specifically decided to avoid That's So Raven, the biggest show that Disney ever had?

• 7:02Speaker 02

  Stop it.

• 7:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, see what I, I didn't, no, I made no decision. I, I didn't. It was, it was, she sat down at her table, I am not.

• 7:10Speaker 02

  Yeah, I wrote it in my diary. I declare, I will never watch That's So Raven.

• 7:15Keke Palmer?

  But let's be honest, Even Stevens, Liz McGuire, That's So Raven are the three, like, those are the Disney Channel iconic shows. I mean, number one for me is That's So Raven. However, Liz McGuire, when you believe, it was a very good show, we're not gonna act like it wasn't. The little cutaways.

• 7:33Speaker 01

  Even Stevens is a good show, too.

• 7:34Keke Palmer?

  Even Stevens, I mean, we knew, like, that show was good. So, I mean, I'm not mad at the taste, but That's So Raven, like, that's crazy that you didn't. Now, wait, so my thing is this, was there any point in your relationship? Obviously, I don't think you have much of an ego, Raven, so maybe this answer is absolutely not. But, did you ever think at any moment, like, this girl is lying just so we could get together? Like, she's just trying to act like she don't, you know, did you ever, or did anybody ever try and tell you, like, she's lying?

• 8:02Speaker 02

  That's a good question, Kiki. That's a good question. I think about that sometimes.

• 8:05Speaker 01

  Not Miranda, but I've had others where I'm like, you lying. It's okay, we're living your life. This is good, this is a good moment, but, yeah, no, not Miranda.

• 8:13Keke Palmer?

  So you did believe her, you did believe her when she said she didn't, you know, she knew of you, but she wasn't, like, in the, in the shit like that. You believed her?

• 8:21Speaker 01

  Yeah, she wasn't in the shit. I believe her because I know her and she, she can only keep, like, all of the little, I'm not gonna call them lies, all of the little. Falsies that she manipulated in order to whatever before we got married. As soon as we got married, she told me everything and I re-asked her. She's like, nah. And I know it didn't happen because she was like, let's watch some things. She also never saw the Cheetah Girls. So, um.

• 8:47Keke Palmer?

  I mean, now it's starting to get ridiculous.

• 8:52Keke Palmer?

  I don't think that we're gonna make it as friends. Because what in the entire?

• 8:58Speaker 01

  She, yeah, she never.

• 8:58Keke Palmer?

  Cheetah Girls. Home down.

• 9:02Speaker 01

  But I know she's at right now.

• 9:06Speaker 01

  She's on the first one, babe. She's on the first song, first episode. You're on your own. That ain't right.

• 9:12Keke Palmer?

  I'm in the strut right now. Yes, girl. Raven, I mean, honestly, it's really, I really actually hate you for your childhood. Miranda, you missed out in your childhood, girl. You missed out.

• 9:28Keke Palmer?

  So today's guest is a true staple, okay, of the Nickelodeon network. Not only was he on the cast of All That, but he also got his very own spinoff of the show, which, I mean, everybody knows Keenan and Kel. It's like Adam and Costella, Magic and Karina. Woo, you know exactly who I'm talking about. Kel Mitchell, welcome to Baby. This is Kiki Vaughn.

• 9:51Speaker 03

  Yeah, I'm so excited to be here. Come on now. You know, I'm proud of you and everything you do. And I listen to the podcast, so thank you. Thank you for having me. This was up.

• 10:00Keke Palmer?

  Oh, my gosh. Thank you, Kel. I mean, first of all, aside from you being a Virgo, which makes everything make sense. You also from Chicago. I mean, you are an icon. I literally grew up watching you, imitating you, just loving you. And so many people in our generation and entertainers of our generation, I mean, it's the same thing across the board. So, I mean, I don't even know if you can think about that or how you receive that. But it must feel good to just know that, you know, you, you, you've made this impact.

• 10:27Speaker 03

  Man, it uh, every time I hear people say it and and people that I'm even fans of that that tell me, you know, like I'm a fan of yours, you know what I mean? And so when people tell me that, uh, it it's awesome and it feels like they've grown up with us too and you know, we're all family. You know, I call the people that have watched us, I call them family, so.

• 10:45Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, for sure.

• 10:46Speaker 03

  This is definitely, this is definitely dope to me and to still be doing it, you know what I mean?

• 10:50Keke Palmer?

  Yes, and exactly, and that's what I want to talk to you about today because I think specifically for child stars, it's always a transition for us into adulthood. I mean, you know, it it, so I want to ask you a little bit like, first, let me actually go back. How did you get into performing?

• 11:07Speaker 03

  Ooh, okay, so Shattown, Shattown, let's go back. So, uh, south side of Chicago. Um, I was definitely a class clown. I loved to just entertain. Uh, I didn't know about getting on TV. I didn't know anything about that and I wasn't trying to be. My thing was I was trying to make everybody laugh, you know what I mean? That was my thing. Uh, and so I would imitate everything that I saw on TV. Um, you know, different comedians, you know, uh, Eddie Murphy, you know, of course. Uh, uh, John Ritter, because I watched Three's Company.

• 11:39Keke Palmer?

  Oh, my gosh, John Ritter, John Ritter.

• 11:42Speaker 03

  I want to give him his flowers, you know, rest in peace, but, um, you know, I used to watch him late at night and I was supposed to be asleep on a school night, but I had the old school TV and I had my covers over and I would watch Three's Company. And I remember he played himself in a cousin in an episode. And he was back and forth trying to trick everybody and it just really just showed me like physical skill and stuff like that, uh, as far as comedy. But yeah, um, my parents tried everything. Uh, they were like, you know, this kid, I don't want him to get in trouble. He got friends that's on the up and up and then he got friends that's not on the up and up. And so we gotta put him into something. So, uh, shout out to my mom and dad. Uh, education was very important to them. And, uh, keeping us, uh, active and consistently active in programs in Chicago definitely helped us out.

• 12:25Speaker 03

  Um, because you know, they they were just like, no, y'all can't just be here idle and getting into stuff. You gotta go do things. And theater was the one that stuck to me, you know, uh, ETA, uh, Creative Arts Foundation on the south side of the Chi. I went there for the summer and I went there for the summer. We had seen theater plays there a lot, but I went there for the summer and it just changed my life and I was like, oh, this is what I need to be doing. It was that. I wanna say maybe twelve. I was about twelve years old. And then also too, uh, around the same time in eighth grade, uh, we used to put on talent shows, uh, at Rose and Christian, uh, high school, right? And so I was there and, uh, I wanted to be MC Hammer. So I played Marlon King and I played MC Hammer.

• 13:07Keke Palmer?

  Not Martin and MC Hammer.

• 13:09Speaker 03

  I did, right. One scene I was Martin and then at the end they let me close out and, uh, do Too Legit to Quit. And when I tell you, I really thought I was Hammer. Like my sister, my sister's a beautician, so she cut my hair the right way. Uh, I had all the parts and I had like, I wanna say fifteen dancers behind me. You know what I mean? And cause you know, he came with the crew and we went in and people really thought I was. To this day, I got homies that was like younger than me that were at the school and was like, yo, I thought you was Hammer.

• 13:43Speaker 03

  But that's when they knew, they like, yo, this, this kid needs to be in something, my family, you know what I mean? So, yeah.

• 13:49Keke Palmer?

  How did you get to the All That auditions in that in-between time? You was doing theater, you had already kind of been playing around with professional performing. But then here comes this big audition that I don't even know was Nick, Nickelodeon was big at that time, but obviously I associate with Nickelodeon's blowing up on your entrance. So what was your understanding of Nickelodeon at that time?

• 14:09Speaker 03

  So, uh, I remember, uh, when it came along, it was like, I think like, uh, Clarissa Explains It All and Roundhouse. But all that changed the game.

• 14:18Keke Palmer?

  I mean, you didn't know Keenan before then, did you? Or did y'all, y'all met on the All That set?

• 14:23Speaker 03

  We met on the All That set and where we saw it was, uh, we did a sketch called Mavis and Clavis, like in the first season. And we had to introduce TLC. And when we did that, it was just like we were finishing each other's like, uh, jokes and sentences. And it was just working and then, you know, he's from Atlanta, I'm from Chicago. Our moms are like, just like twins almost, you know what I mean? And so, and they still cool to this day. Um, and they started putting us in everything together, like every sketch together. Cause we knew like, oh, this is crazy. And then the offset, Keenan and I just kept it going. The jokes.

• 14:59Keke Palmer?

  So you guys just had immediate chemistry and became really good friends and then the show saw that and it birthed Keenan and Kel.

• 15:06Speaker 03

  It birthed Keenan and Kel, the writers, they were seeing that and we were like, yo, and they were like, yo, this is gonna be different. This is gonna be like a Fresh Prince, a Martin type of show. So to be doing both shows at the same time sketch in that was definitely a blessing.

• 15:20Keke Palmer?

  I think again, what you're talking about with like all that and just the entrance into Keenan and Kel was like, that was the first time I seen black representation. You know, that felt so authentic and then not only so authentic in what was around me, but also like happy. And just good family. Like you and Keenan, y'all were so damn cool, but it was never anything like crazy. Like when I look back at the show recently, I saw like Malcolm X on the wall, Martin Luther King, Tupac. Like there was so much positive representation, not only in the actions and the vibes of the character. But also just the way the aesthetic of the show looked like there was so much black pride. Put into it and I imagine was that just because of that being how you and Keenan were and the producers and the writers being inspired by that?

• 16:04Speaker 03

  They totally checked our vibe and how we got down. I was very like that. You know what I mean? I was very militant. I represented black culture, like all of that, you know, and you know, and it was beautiful to have that. And then shout out to, cause I know every time we mention Keenan and Kel, we need to mention, you know, the black creator of that show, which is Kim Bass. Kim Bass created that show. And he also created Sister Sister at the same time. So you had Sister Sister and Keenan and Kel. And if you look at Sister Sister and Keenan and Kel, there's some parallels there because he created both shows.

• 16:36Keke Palmer?

  Absolutely. And very much so was it black. It was like wholesome black pride. They had culture. They had swag. They was talking about the things that everybody was like, oh, this is cool. This is fly. But there was like no degradation. And I remember for me growing up, that's how I always felt like we all, you know, you know, as a black person, black people in America and all over the world. There's hardships that we have, but for me and my family, we always were such in a celebratory place. We had our moments where we acknowledged what's going on, but it was so much love and appreciation for having joy. Uh, that I always felt like, you know, watching that show, Keenan and Kel, watching Sister Sister, that to me felt like what my world looked like. Um, so I always appreciated that.

• 17:21Keke Palmer?

  If these April showers got you feeling some type of way, your girl Kiki knows exactly what you need. Some time to reconnect with nature, courtesy of Airbnb. Whether you're craving a mountain escape where you can literally touch the clouds, or need to get your zen on in a desert oasis, these homes are giving return to nature realness in the best way possible. This time of year, I start getting antsy. Y'all know I've been working hard these past few months, and baby, me and Leo desperately need some time away. So what's a girl to do? Take myself on over to Airbnb to find a guest favorite home in the middle of nowhere. Right now, I got my eyes on a cute little cottage tucked away in the forest. I gotta make sure that the place is private, well-stocked, and cozy for the gods. Bonus points if it has a crystal clear view of the stars

• 18:06Keke Palmer?

  and a lake where I can get my fishing on. And if you're like me, Airbnb's got you covered whether you're trying to escape the mountains, forest, or yes, even the desert. We're talking authentic experiences with more space and more privacy in the most magical locations. Book your next adventure today and let nature do its thing. My guest today is an actress, producer, and entrepreneur who has been breaking barriers from a young age. You probably know her from her role as Diane on hit show Blackish, or as the youngest executive producer in Hollywood history for her film Little. She's continuing to make waves with her production company Genius Productions and her latest project Saturdays. Marce Martin, welcome to the show!

• 18:50Speaker 04

  Hello!

• 18:51Keke Palmer?

  Girl, like I was saying, I feel like every time that I see you, I only get like five minutes here and there. This is our first time being, you know, sitting down and getting into something.

• 18:56Speaker 04

  Yes, sitting down and talking like for real, for real. No, I'm excited.

• 19:00Keke Palmer?

  I mean, how have you been? Like I was saying, I mean, you're only 20 years old, and you've already accomplished so much. I mean, how do you feel approaching all those different roles? Did it ever feel like too much, or kind of like your birthright?

• 19:10Speaker 04

  Oh, man. It's like, I think it's like my birthright, honestly. I think it's something that I just do for fun, just to have a good time. I always look at either like a script or just a certain project, and I'm like, okay, like, just let's try it out. Let's do it. I think, like, my parents always tell me, like, if it doesn't... become fun for you anymore, we can move on to the next thing. And I think that's the beauty about just being young and being very experimental with the things that I do. And um, yeah, I think that's just always been the goal.

• 19:42Keke Palmer?

  And having encouraging parents, because my parents used to say that same thing too. Where if it ain't fun, then don't do it. And that kept kind of the pressure on you. Even though you do feel a little bit pressured as a child entertainer.

• 19:51Speaker 04

  Oh, for sure.

• 19:52Keke Palmer?

  It helps to balance it. Um, so how did you get into entertainment? And where are you from?

• 19:56Speaker 04

  I'm from Dallas.

• 19:57Keke Palmer?

  I'm from Texas.

• 19:58Speaker 04

  Yeah, you know, a little Texas baby. Um, but yeah, I'm from Dallas, Texas. Um, I started modeling when I was like little, little. But I started acting when I was five.

• 20:09Keke Palmer?

  Okay.

• 20:10Speaker 04

  And.

• 20:10Keke Palmer?

  Raven Simone?

• 20:11Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 20:12Keke Palmer?

  No, super y'all.

• 20:13Speaker 04

  Just a little bit, um, and of course it was like model work, like print and all of those things at first. And then, um, I grew into something bigger. And then, one day, it was, it was a lot. We took, uh, holiday photos for my grandparents, um, back in Dallas. And the photographer was like, I will give you guys a discount if you take her to this acting class. So that was, that was pretty much like the start of it for sure. Um, which was, uh, Kathy Sullivan.

• 20:40Keke Palmer?

  Hey Kathy.

• 20:41Speaker 04

  And, yeah, that was the beginning. And I mean, we only did, uh, just a few sessions. And from there, I got my LA agent from back and forth from.

• 20:50Keke Palmer?

  Dallas.

• 20:51Speaker 04

  Yeah, back and forth from Dallas.

• 20:52Keke Palmer?

  So y'all never officially moved until maybe you got blackish?

• 20:55Speaker 04

  It was, I think if, if I'm not mistaken, it was like about a year or so before going into blackish. And I remember my agent back then on CSD, uh, Melissa Berger.

• 21:09Keke Palmer?

  CSD, I always remember as a kid.

• 21:11Speaker 04

  Oh, man.

• 21:12Keke Palmer?

  That was the agent.

• 21:12Speaker 04

  It's like.

• 21:13Keke Palmer?

  You know, that is, you know, the kid agent. See, CSD, you knew a kid was serious.

• 21:17Speaker 04

  You know a kid.

• 21:18Keke Palmer?

  If they had that agent.

• 21:19Speaker 04

  And voiceovers? Tell me, tell me.

• 21:21Keke Palmer?

  You know, you know a kid is in the studio working.

• 21:23Speaker 04

  Yes. Right now, as we speak. Um, and yeah, so, uh, Melissa called my parents and was like, it would be just way better if you guys would come here. And, uh, meaning LA.

• 21:35Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 21:36Speaker 04

  And it was just like, it's a different energy from, you know, just recording tapes versus when you're actually in the room. So then my parents sat me down. At this time, I'm probably like eight.

• 21:46Keke Palmer?

  Okay, okay.

• 21:47Speaker 04

  And they're like, are you sure you want to do this? And I'm like, yes, you know? And all the trust that they put in me when I was just that little is exceptional. And from there, I mean, it was such a process. We, we moved to Huntington Beach first, which is still very far from LA.

• 22:04Keke Palmer?

  And so different from Dallas. You went from no water to water, west coast supervised.

• 22:10Speaker 04

  Yeah, but both of my parents are from LA as well. So it's not like we didn't know like the space. Like my grandpa, uh, lived there at the time in Anaheim. So it was still, it was still very familiar. But, um, obviously it was like auditions used to be in like the heart of LA. So we would be driving two hours like there and back.

• 22:29Keke Palmer?

  No, for real.

• 22:30Speaker 04

  And my dad was still working at the time. It was a lot. It was a lot. And it was always me and my mom doing auditions. And my dad would be, uh, was a car salesman.

• 22:39Keke Palmer?

  Here, he's done in cars. That's where you got the talent from, no?

• 22:41Speaker 04

  Right, no, yeah.

• 22:42Keke Palmer?

  Had the charisma.

• 22:44Speaker 04

  Yes, I would see him. I would only see him like really at night. But my mom eventually was like, it's, it's ten toes down. Like you, we got like, so eventually he.

• 22:53Keke Palmer?

  It's a family business.

• 22:54Speaker 04

  Yeah, eventually he let go of his job and we all really just put our best foot forward into anything that we did.

• 23:00Keke Palmer?

  That's right.

• 23:01Speaker 04

  You know, fast forward to now, we have our production company. And of course, we are coworkers in a sense. But now we just love to create. We love to create different things, whether it's just projects on TV and film, but also just things that build community outside of that, you know? So I think it's just been an amazing, amazing journey and it's just.

• 23:22Keke Palmer?

  I relate to so much of what you're saying. The way that I see, obviously I love entertaining, but the way that my family and I saw it, especially with all the sacrifices that you have to make in order to be in this business. We saw it as a family business. And we all knew the roles we had to play, even if it seemed odd or different to other people. Cause when you, when people are like, your parents ain't got no job. It's like, no, this they job.

• 23:40Speaker 04

  No, this is it.

• 23:41Keke Palmer?

  Running my career.

• 23:42Speaker 04

  Exactly.

• 23:43Keke Palmer?

  You know, we're all in this together, hashtag high school musical.

• 23:45Speaker 04

  Oh, for sure. And you still see a lot of like child actors now that will go to these events. And I don't know if you've seen it, but like. They'll go to these events without their parents.

• 23:54Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 23:54Speaker 04

  And they'll be there with their agent or their manager because they think that's how it's supposed to be. But literally, my, like, everybody knows, like, and you see me, you see either my mom. And you see me, you see my dad, like, we, it's, it's a thing, you know, and it's, and it doesn't matter at what age, but it, it really just, it's a security thing, you know, it's like, you wanna be in these rooms. And you know they got your back.

• 24:17Keke Palmer?

  And they built my damn brand with me, so why would we stop now?

• 24:20Speaker 04

  Absolutely.

• 24:20Keke Palmer?

  Yeah. So let's talk about Blackish because that's when I was first introduced to you and I'm sure a lot of the world because that show was huge and, you know, always gonna be huge in our culture. What was that experience like for you growing up on television? I mean, how old was you when you started and how old was you when you ended it?

• 24:36Speaker 04

  Ooh, so I was nine when we started.

• 24:40Keke Palmer?

  Wow.

• 24:41Speaker 04

  Yeah, and I was seventeen when we ended.

• 24:44Keke Palmer?

  Dang, girl, that's so special.

• 24:46Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 24:46Keke Palmer?

  We have Tracee Ellis Ross, Anthony Anderson, Laurence Fishburne, Deon Cole, Jennifer, I mean, working and growing up with icons.

• 24:55Speaker 04

  Mm-hmm.

• 24:56Keke Palmer?

  Um, in both drama and comedy.

• 24:58Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 24:58Keke Palmer?

  What was it, I mean, did you, you probably didn't know initially, but then maybe by the time you were seventeen, it hit you?

• 25:05Speaker 04

  Honestly, it didn't really hit me until the show ended, if we're gonna be very real. You know, I think, because I, I saw these people as, as like my family, you know? And of course I knew Tracee from Girlfriends and like Jennifer Lewis playing Mama Odie, like.

• 25:20Keke Palmer?

  Did you see Kangaroo Jack?

• 25:21Speaker 04

  Yes, I did.

• 25:22Keke Palmer?

  I used to love that as a kid.

• 25:24Speaker 04

  And it's actually hilarious because I saw it when we were still in the auditioning process for Blackish. Because I, I didn't know, I'm not gonna lie, I didn't know what that was.

• 25:31Keke Palmer?

  I mean, seriously, yeah.

• 25:32Speaker 04

  I was like, I don't know what that is. Um, but I, I watched it and I, of course I knew Anthony. So, yeah, I think it was just like such a cool family dynamic and it was one of those things that like, you don't really know what you have until it's gone.

• 25:46Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 25:46Speaker 04

  And I think it was like, oh, that was so, it was so fun. It was very, very special. And it's like, a lot of people called it like a unicorn set because of how. How loving everybody was like from the cast, the crew, the writers like

• 26:00Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 26:00Speaker 04

  It was so much passion behind the project.

• 26:02Keke Palmer?

  I think those are really special because even if you do a show where it's like, it doesn't have to be one extreme or the other. A lot of times it's just in the middle. We come to work, we're professional, we leave. It's not always that you feel like you're my family for real.

• 26:14Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 26:15Keke Palmer?

  So when that happens, it does do something different to you, you know?

• 26:18Speaker 04

  Absolutely.

• 26:19Keke Palmer?

  It feels like you're at home.

• 26:20Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 26:21Keke Palmer?

  So the show ends, but you continue to know what you're gonna do right after that. I mean, your production company had already been started? Or did you start it at the ending of the show?

• 26:29Speaker 04

  No, I actually started it um after Little, which I believe was like season four or five of Blackish if I'm not mistaken.

• 26:38Keke Palmer?

  And you were how old?

• 26:40Speaker 04

  I think I was thirteen when we started filming Little, but um I pitched Little at like ten. So, and we know how long like films take to

• 26:49Keke Palmer?

  Of course.

• 26:50Speaker 04

  Put together. So um

• 26:52Keke Palmer?

  And this was on set to Kenya, Paris?

• 26:54Speaker 04

  Yes, yes. I think the finale of season one, that's when the little journey really started for the film. Yeah.

• 27:03Keke Palmer?

  And what was that experience like? Obviously in the beginning you said, you know, you mentioned it, you pitched it at ten. And then the process going, by the time that you were thirteen and you actually were on set filming it, how were you taking on that that role? Because this is the first time of you being a producer, I imagine.

• 27:17Speaker 04

  Yeah, for sure.

• 27:18Keke Palmer?

  How was it for you and how was it with your parents in supporting you in that position?

• 27:21Speaker 04

  Well, I was I was just learning, you know, I was I was doing what I was just there to do, you know? Which was not only act and be alongside. Yeah, and give my opinion and then also learning what that opinion means to people. And I think for that film in particular, it was really just a learning curve of just me trying to find my voice and seeing just how it works in a sense. It's like, okay, so if I say this, then what, then does this happen or? Like, you know, am I gonna say this and nothing's gonna happen?

• 27:53Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, what is my power?

• 27:54Speaker 04

  Yeah, what is my power? Exactly. So I think for that in particular, it was one of those things that I was just happy to be there. I was just happy to um have a film that we created. From the ground up and see it come to fruition. While also learning what, yeah, while also learning what a producer means.

• 28:13Speaker 05

  What sign are you?

• 28:13Speaker 04

  I'm a Leo, I'm a triple Leo.

• 28:15Speaker 05

  Period, I'm about to delegate and put y'all together and I know y'all gonna work and we gonna get this popping, yeah.

• 28:20Speaker 04

  Yeah, so that's, that's always what I love. So I love being like in the thick of it. That's, that's me. Like, I wanna be in the casting process, like, I'm a triple Leo.

• 28:30Speaker 05

  Period. When's your birthday? August?

• 28:31Speaker 04

  August fourteenth.

• 28:32Speaker 05

  Okay, my best friend's August ninth. I'm August twenty-sixth. So I have some of the Leo vibe, but you know, I'm Virgo August.

• 28:38Speaker 04

  Yeah, so that's, that's my sister. Nah, that's my, that's my sister. She's eight and she's, uh, like, Lord have mercy.

• 28:45Speaker 05

  Huh, hilarious.

• 28:50Keke Palmer?

  I am absolutely thrilled to have today's guest on the show. Okay, she is a powerhouse singer and actress who has been lighting up our screens and playlists. Okay, you might know her as Hilary Banks on the show Bel Air or from her hit Grammy-winning single, I See You. Either way, y'all, you're in for a treat, okay? Please welcome to the show the amazing Coco Jones.

• 29:10Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 29:11Keke Palmer?

  Coco, first of all, let me just kick hand about the Capricorn Virgo energy that's going down.

• 29:15Speaker 05

  I don't know what it is in my life. It's just a consistent. So I just feel like we just go together.

• 29:19Keke Palmer?

  I just love Capricorns because they're a vault. They're gonna keep a secret, they're gonna hold you down. Very ambitious, laid back, cool in the cut. They, they about they business.

• 29:26Speaker 05

  Real, but you know what? I think we have such like, such a strict, rough energy that it's like with our friends, sometimes we like, okay, I need to soften up because I'm like, why don't you get that? Why wouldn't you get it? Like, how is that not clicking for you?

• 29:36Keke Palmer?

  It's true because I feel like sometimes y'all seem robotic, but it's because y'all are reserving the emotions. You know what I mean? My sister's like that. She's a Capricorn as well.

• 29:43Speaker 05

  It's rough. I'm like, I'm feeling you, but I'm just like, what, what's the solution is how I'm thinking for it, but I'm feeling you. It's rough.

• 29:49Keke Palmer?

  Well, I mean, we've known you for years. Obviously, I always talk about, because you were in this movie with Tyler James-Williams and also Trevor Jackson, two of my guys, and Let It Shine, which was a huge hit for Disney. That's when I first met you.

• 30:01Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 30:01Keke Palmer?

  But I wanna go back to even before then. And I really wanna talk about how people can really get to know you. I mean, obviously, you've had the Grammy-winning I See You. Your music has been blowing up. You've been taking over social media. Where did this start? Like, where, where did you come? From, and I know your mother was a singer. Take me back to the beginning of how you got into the industry.

• 30:19Speaker 05

  Yeah, I mean, the beginning was Nashville. I was born in South Carolina. Raised in Nashville, Tennessee, girl. And I would, I just started from zero. I mean, literally, I did so many things for free that I'm like, I was really giving the voice out. Like, I remember I sang the demo for an entire Broadway show. It was called Mississippi. I don't know if it ever went on, but, you know, I sang the entire thing. Didn't get the part. I didn't even audition for the, it was just so my voice could be on the demo, so they could sell the show. You know, like, I did so many things for free, and that's how I got my start. I would live perform. I would do talent competitions. I would perform at my school talent shows. And then, um, I just wanted more. I remember I was like, there's not enough opportunity. This is just here and there. And so my mom was like, you want to audition? And that's when I started acting as well. And, I mean, non-speaking roles, girl.

• 31:03Speaker 05

  I was in the background of Hannah Montana, the movie, in the crowd, girl. I went up to the front. They told me, get back to the back. And that's okay, because it wasn't right with continuity. I didn't understand at the time. I was like, I thought they were trying to dim my light. And I was like, never again will you get the chance to play me. But it was really about continuity, so that's fine.

• 31:17Keke Palmer?

  Never will you get the chance to play me. This I live for. Never again will you get the chance to play me. So you moved from Nashville to California.

• 31:23Speaker 05

  Yeah, when I was seventeen.

• 31:24Keke Palmer?

  Okay, when you were seventeen. So what was that process? Were you like, mom and dad, I need more opportunities. We've been doing our thing in Nashville, but it's not enough? Like, what was that transition like?

• 31:31Speaker 05

  It was literally verbatim that. Um, but my family was like, we not going. We don't want to go over there. So we love you. So you got to graduate from high school, graduate early, and then you can go. That was like the stipulation. But I just felt like I had outgrown Nashville. I mean, I love my roots, but I think I wanted to do R and B. I wanted to do more pop, honestly. And I just couldn't find enough of that there on my own. So I wanted to get where I thought all those opportunities would be.

• 31:54Keke Palmer?

  And did you get a little taste of that when you had did Let It Shine? Because I imagine you did Let It Shine before you moved to California.

• 32:00Speaker 05

  Yes, yes.

• 32:01Keke Palmer?

  So let's talk about that experience. You got the role. They took you to LA. Was this your first time being in Cali?

• 32:06Speaker 05

  No, I came to LA every year for pilot season.

• 32:09Keke Palmer?

  Okay, yeah. Like a true actor, like a true entertainer.

• 32:12Speaker 05

  Thank you. Okay, so it was giving like, every summer I'd tell my friends, I mean, like, you're not going to see me no more. You're loved, you're loved. You're not going to see me no more. I'm like, I'm up, I'm next, I'm next, with love. And I'd come back every fall, like, hey, hey, hey, y'all, how y'all doing? Let's lock back in, we friends again. But yeah, so I went out there every year and I started to develop friendships and everything. So it became a part of my life that I felt comfortable going by myself back to. But I auditioned like any other thing, you know, the callbacks get smaller and smaller and smaller. Until I remember I was the only girl reading with Tyler and Trevor. And I was like, what does that mean? But I still was like, too scared to have my hopes in it. So I was like, I don't know what it means, I'm not gonna say anything. I got the job and that is the taste that I got, you know?

• 32:53Keke Palmer?

  Okay.

• 32:54Speaker 05

  You know when you get that taste of success and what it can be? And also Disney is just a well-oiled machine, you know what I'm saying?

• 33:02Keke Palmer?

  And they teach you how to be. That's one of the main things that I think about when I worked with Disney and Nickelodeon. Is that they kind of show you how to just figure it all out. The marketing, the presenting yourself, being hosty, performing, you know, all that kind of stuff.

• 33:15Speaker 05

  Answering interview questions, balancing school and work, learning a script, learning choreo, learning music. Like, you literally leave that like, ready to go.

• 33:22Keke Palmer?

  No, it's like some Vaudeville MGM type vibe.

• 33:24Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 33:24Keke Palmer?

  Straight up.

• 33:25Speaker 05

  Very much that.

• 33:26Keke Palmer?

  So when you have that experience, what did that kind of teach you about yourself or the kind of entertainer you wanted to be?

• 33:31Speaker 05

  You know what, at the time, I didn't really understand who I wanted to be. I was like, oh, you just do what people tell you to do and that's how you get there.

• 33:38Keke Palmer?

  Especially as a kid actor.

• 33:38Speaker 05

  You know, as a kid, yes. And I'm like, I just will be the nicest, easiest to work with, no pushback, do everything they tell me to do and I'm gonna succeed. So when I wouldn't get jobs, I was like, what happened? Cause I literally did everything y'all asked me to do. What happened? Cause I sang as hard, I sang harder than some of these girlies. Like, what actually happened?

• 33:57Keke Palmer?

  And Let It Shine was a huge success. Let's get that right. I remember even in the, you know, cause we were still, I was a kid actor at the same time as you. And I remember when that came out, everybody was like, Let It Shine, Let It Shine. And it was huge. So I think people don't understand how difficult that is in this industry. It seems like once you hit, you just hit and it's just it. But no, it has ups and downs. Sometimes your stuff is going and then other times you're trying to figure out your way out. So when you went back to Nashville and you decided to, I guess in the next few years, go back to California, what was the conversation you were having with yourself about your expectations? You know what I mean? Especially having gone through that.

• 34:28Speaker 05

  Yes, yes. So I was so disappointed. My poor little child heart. I was, I also think I was just too shell- But like, how could I not be when all I did, school, audition, sing, studio, school. I didn't have a real grip on life and how it might just not always care about you back, you know? I didn't understand that concept at all. So, after I did Let It Shine, there was all these expectations that was told to me like, TV show, and da-da-da-da, and da-da-da-da, and this, and this, and I got signed. And so I was like, okay, cool, it's all happening now. I knew the formula worked. You be great, you work hard, you're being easy to work with, and then you'll succeed. And then, girl, I got dropped from that label. And I went back to Tennessee, and I just was trying to finish school. I was just, you know, homeschooled at that point because I was so busy.

• 35:13Speaker 05

  I had stopped going to real school. So now, I'm just doing homeschool, waiting on my siblings to get home, and watching so much YouTube. I was so into it. I would watch interviews all the time. I would watch Ellen DeGeneres interviews. I would watch performances.

• 35:25Keke Palmer?

  I fell in love with socials too.

• 35:26Speaker 05

  Yes, you know? It was like an escape because I was like, I need to be there. I'm here and I need to be there. And it was a tough, tough moment as a kid to just not lose your value. Because I thought, dang, maybe, maybe they seeing something that I'm not seeing.

• 35:41Keke Palmer?

  People don't understand specifically with music. Like, I think, obviously, it's tough with acting, the auditions, that's a heartbreak. It's hard to keep putting yourself out there. But there's something different with music when you get signed. And that's something that you just know, you know, I'm strong at this. I could sing. It shouldn't be that easy. And then they're denying you, or they're not valuing you, or they're forcing you to be something that you're not. People hear this story all the time, and I'm sure it feels like a broken record, but it really does hurt. It really is hard to kind of then figure out, okay, where am I going from this and where's the story I'm going to tell?

• 36:09Speaker 05

  Yeah, but you know what I always think about too? I'm like, really, if things would have went the way I wanted, I would be an absolute nutbag right now. Because I had no identity. All I knew how to do was follow scripts and do what people told me. I had no personality. I had no life experience. I didn't have a boyfriend. I had never kissed nobody. I had nothing. Girl, I just knew I had jobs and that's all I cared about. I would have been crazy.

• 36:34Keke Palmer?

  Okay, so we're seventeen. You decide to go to LA on your own. Parents are like, yo, do your, do your big one. Who did you stay with? Like, were you Lily solo? Because that's scary, girl.

• 36:42Speaker 05

  I know, it's so scary.

• 36:43Keke Palmer?

  Oh, my God, she really grown.

• 36:45Speaker 05

  Okay, I was like, making my way downtown. So I, actually, I moved in with a couple that I had met from Let it shine. I guess they were like his mentors and like watching him in a way and his friends in a way, but they were, you know, older than us and they were married. I was like, I don't know what is the correct term for that. Say that and Kenny, y'all know what it is and what it ain't. But yeah, they, um, we just loved them. My mom trusted them to like watch over me like how they would do for Tyler. And so I moved into their apartment, like their house. They had a bedroom and I stayed in one room. And I did that for, I don't know, like six or seven months. And then I booked this theater show in New York. So then I had to go and be by myself. I didn't have like that little leeway into adulthood. And I was like, if you can make it in New York, we can make it anywhere. But yeah, girl, I was scared to hell.

• 37:30Keke Palmer?

  Oh, my gosh, okay. So it's like all these different things. We have Nashville, then we have you moving to LA, then you had to move to New York. Now, for me, when I moved to New York, also doing theater, I feel like it changed my life.

• 37:39Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 37:39Keke Palmer?

  Like, it literally changed my life. I was twenty-one at the time, and I think it was the first moment for me, especially just performing so much as a kid. And I stopped going to real school in fifth grade. I was like, wow, so people care about things other than entertainment. Because you know, in California, that's all anybody cares about.

• 37:54Speaker 05

  That's all they want to ask about.

• 37:55Keke Palmer?

  I don't mean to say it so cliche like that, but it is a big part of California.

• 37:59Speaker 05

  I mean, nobody's there to make friends, they're there to make it. So they really don't know how to like make friends.

• 38:03Keke Palmer?

  And so when I went to New York, it really allowed me to kind of explore different aspects of myself that I think really did help me discover even more for myself, what kind of artist I wanted to be.

• 38:12Speaker 05

  What age did you move there?

• 38:13Keke Palmer?

  I was twenty-one. And I stayed there just for about like six months. And even in that six months, because everybody had other interests, like I could get into a different subculture. It wasn't so entertainment focused. Even though I was doing Broadway, which was entertainment, it was different. And so I just felt like, I don't know, it gave me an opportunity to find myself.

• 38:38Keke Palmer?

  Okay. Let me tell you guys, I have wanted to talk to this guest because he's someone I've been following for a really long time. He acted on All My Children in the 90s, he was in Dream Street. He put out the album Beautiful Soul in 2004, which we all know. He's been making beautiful music ever since. Please welcome Jesse McCartney. Welcome to the show!

• 38:58Speaker 06

  How are you, Kiki? It's nice to meet you.

• 38:59Keke Palmer?

  Oh my gosh, it's amazing to meet you. I love you down. I've been a big fan for years and it's so nice to have you on the show. How have you been? What's been going on lately?

• 39:08Speaker 06

  I've been well. Things have been going great. I just got off tour about a month ago. I put out a new EP just a few months back and been back in the music game now for a minute and things have been going great. Traveling a lot. Been home for the last few weeks, just kind of settling in. My wife and I are doing some construction on the house, so a little bit of a...

• 39:27Keke Palmer?

  Trying to balance, a little bit of home, personal, and a little bit of business.

• 39:30Speaker 06

  Exactly, a little bit of domesticated life as well as like, you know, traveling and touring and performing music, so it's been great.

• 39:37Keke Palmer?

  And are you from LA? Are you from Cali?

• 39:38Speaker 06

  I'm from New York.

• 39:39Keke Palmer?

  Oh, come on, period!

• 39:41Speaker 06

  I grew up in New York, yeah.

• 39:42Keke Palmer?

  What part?

• 39:42Speaker 06

  I grew up, so I was born in Chelsea and then my folks moved to White Plains, like 40 minutes outside of the city, raised a family, you know.

• 39:49Keke Palmer?

  I feel like I do feel that East Coast energy from you. I feel like that totally aligns.

• 39:53Speaker 06

  It's still there, for sure.

• 39:54Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, I feel that. Now, I mean, obviously for me, one of my favorites from you is Beautiful Soul. I have to ask you, how many times you get stopped in the street or do people just come up to you and sing it? Because I've been singing it, getting ready all day to talk to you. I'm like, "I don't want another brand new thing, it's too good."

• 40:10Speaker 06

  I do, it's, I mean, that song has just been such a blessing. It's 20 years old this year. So we released it in 2004, so it's now marked the 20-year part of my life and it's incredible. It's really exciting now to see a whole new generation of young people sing the song.

• 40:25Keke Palmer?

  Yes, for sure.

• 40:26Speaker 06

  Like I said, I got off tour and so there's been a lot of like Gen Z-ers and even younger, like millennial moms bringing their babies to the show

• 40:34Speaker 06

  that are now singing Beautiful Soul. So that song has definitely come full circle and yeah, that record has definitely given me so much.

• 40:41Keke Palmer?

  Okay, so I want to talk today about reinvention because you're somebody like me that went from, I mean, you were a successful child star, then were in a group, you know, and then became a successful pop star. So I want to just go back to the beginning, going from you being a child entertainer. You were on All My Children. How did, you know, what was going on in your life? Were you, had you been acting for a while? How did you get to become a part of that?

• 41:04Speaker 06

  Yeah, so I mean, it was, it was a long road. I started out as a young child actor on, on stage mostly. I did a lot of theater growing up and I attribute that to both my parents in the seventies and eighties. They did a lot of theater growing up in New York.

• 41:17Keke Palmer?

  My parents too.

• 41:17Speaker 06

  Yeah, so they, they kind of raised me in like a very musical family. And by the time I was like eight or nine years old, I was doing local productions with my folks. And somebody told my mom, you know, you should bring him down to Manhattan and see how he tries his hand professionally. And my first role was on the national tour of The King and I. And yeah, and so that was like my first, that's how I cut my teeth onstage. I was nine. I was nine years old, little baby, baby Jesse.

• 41:46Keke Palmer?

  I got my start at nine too.

• 41:47Speaker 06

  Yeah, and then that sort of snowballed and I did what every young child actor does, goes to auditions in the city. And I was auditioning for, you know, Cinnamon Graham's commercials and, you know, Charmin and cha, cha, cha. And doing all the things. And then eventually my first TV gig was on All My Children. I was like 11 or 12.

• 42:06Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 42:07Speaker 06

  And yeah, I got to work alongside, you know, Susan Lucci and Michael Knight and Josh Duhamel and a lot of big actors that came off that show much later. And, um, and I was on the show for a few years. And then, yeah, things just sort of took off from there. But it started in New York on the East Coast.

• 42:22Keke Palmer?

  How was it working on that show, especially coming from doing mostly stage to kind of getting into TV? It's a different vibe. What was your experience like?

• 42:29Speaker 06

  It's incredibly difficult. The soap world doesn't get enough credit for the amount of work and.

• 42:34Keke Palmer?

  Really?

• 42:35Speaker 06

  Yeah, I feel like, first of all, it's pages and pages and pages of dialogue that you have to memorize. They shoot an entire 50-page episode every day. So it's like a real test, you know, a real memory test. And, um, you know, I, that's definitely, I think, kind of, it grew me up pretty quickly in terms of, you know, being a professional and learning your lines and, and having to show up on set and be prepared. Um, and there were a couple of days I wasn't and I really, you know, I got hammered for it, you know? It was like, hey, you gotta know your lines when you get to set. Anyway, but yeah, that was, it was tough.

• 43:07Keke Palmer?

  Some discipline. Discipline.

• 43:09Speaker 06

  Discipline, it definitely instilled a lot of discipline and I got to work with some incredible people and um but yeah, that was sort of my first TV experience.

• 43:17Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 43:17Speaker 06

  And at and then at that point, we moved back more into music and I started with a boy band, Dream Street, right after that.

• 43:23Keke Palmer?

  So for you, coming out of All My Children, did you feel like you had to make a choice like, okay, I'm gonna now focus on music? Or would you be trying to also balance acting with that?

• 43:32Speaker 06

  Yeah, I was so young that really all I cared about was entertaining, like you said, so it didn't really matter where the stage was or who I was performing to.

• 43:39Keke Palmer?

  Mm-hmm.

• 43:40Speaker 06

  Whether it was television or being on stage and doing Broadway, I just really enjoyed um performing.

• 43:46Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 43:46Speaker 06

  And uh, you know, I did grow up singing and acting, I felt like I could kinda jump around from one to the other. Um, but eventually, you know, when you really wanna get great at something, you kinda have to put all of your eggs into one basket for a little bit of time.

• 44:00Keke Palmer?

  It's true.

• 44:00Speaker 06

  And uh, and so that's when.

• 44:02Keke Palmer?

  At least for some chunks.

• 44:03Speaker 06

  It's true, and so that's when the music thing started sort of presenting itself as like a full-time job. And I started writing and started making music and sort of, you know, building this this career as a young solo artist.

• 44:16Keke Palmer?

  So how did Dream Street come about? Like, was this a producer you knew, did your parents help put this together? How did y'all become a group?

• 44:22Speaker 06

  Yeah, so Dream Street was like, you know, right on the heels.

• 44:25Keke Palmer?

  I remember that too, baby.

• 44:25Speaker 06

  Do you really?

• 44:26Keke Palmer?

  Of course!

• 44:27Speaker 06

  I mean, it was such a, it was such a cult little following, I mean, we really started growing in like the tri-state area of New York and that's where we built our fanbase and we were popular among like young Disney fans, like, because we were on Disney Radio back in the day.

• 44:40Keke Palmer?

  Cause that.

• 44:42Speaker 06

  That's it.

• 44:43Keke Palmer?

  Of course!

• 44:44Speaker 06

  You got it, man, you know. So, yeah, I mean, Dream Street was put together, we were right on the heels of like NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys. And I think that the producers were trying to create this new boy band.

• 44:56Keke Palmer?

  Mm-hmm.

• 44:56Speaker 06

  I was 12 years old, 13.

• 44:58Keke Palmer?

  I'm about to say, y'all were younger, y'all weren't, you know, it was kinda really for the getting the kids, yeah.

• 45:02Speaker 06

  Much younger, and uh, yeah, they had like a cattle call of like, you know, hundreds of boys that came in, you know, auditioned, sang, danced, and I was never a very good dancer, so I was sort of like leaning on my vocals to get me through.

• 45:15Keke Palmer?

  Vocals was always strong, though, we just needed.

• 45:17Speaker 06

  That's right. That's it. So, but yeah, so we did that. I was, you know, we were together for a few years. And we got pretty far. I mean, we ended up opening for Britney Spears at one point and like that was, which was amazing. And then the, the band dismembered after, I don't know, a few, a few years, but um, that was sort of the stepping stone and what would become the beginning of like this new solo career.

• 45:40Keke Palmer?

  Go from All My Children then to be in this group and then thrust it into touring. I don't think people understand like how difficult touring is. Like a few times that I've had my experience with touring and never any like, you know, I'm thinking about Britney Spears. You probably guys went everywhere around America. That's a pretty heavy duty tour. That's a lot of work as a, as a, as a kid, but you loved it. Was touring something that came easy for you that you enjoyed? Like all the traveling and kind of being away from home?

• 46:04Speaker 06

  Well, then for sure. Now, now at 37, let me tell you, it's a lot harder. But yes, no, it was, uh, it was something that I just, like I said, it was just, I was with a bunch of guys who I enjoyed being around. I was with my people, you know, it was other, other young people who enjoyed performing and singing and, you know, how a lot of young people uh, get on sports teams. I was part of this like music group. And it was a community that I was comfortable being around. And um, you do grow up fast because you're traveling and you're working alongside mostly adults, you know, who are pulling all the strings. But um, but yeah, it was, it was, I just have nothing but great memories of, of those times where you're traveling and you're opening up for, you know, pop icons like Britney and, and um,

• 46:48Speaker 06

  Justin, actually Timberlake came backstage during one of the shows and he uh, we didn't know he was going to be there, but at the time, of course, you know, NSYNC was like our boy band hero.

• 46:58Keke Palmer?

  Of course.

• 46:58Speaker 06

  And we didn't know he was there and he came backstage and he was like making sure we were ready for the show. He's like, you're not nervous, are you?

• 47:04Keke Palmer?

  Nah.

• 47:05Speaker 06

  We are now and he's doing, he's like doing all of our moves with us and like doing five, six, seven backstage and just kind of getting us ready for the show. But it was like one of those moments of like, oh, we're really doing this. We're, we've made it, you know, and um,

• 47:19Keke Palmer?

  Britney's one of my faves. How was it being on tour with her?

• 47:21Speaker 06

  It was great. I mean, we didn't see much of her, you know, most opening acts, you know how it goes.

• 47:25Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, they're in and out.

• 47:26Speaker 06

  They're in and out, you know, you see them once in a blue moon, like walking down the hallway, but she was lovely. She was super nice and um, I think we were on tour with her for a few weeks. But yeah, I just remember performing in front of like tens of thousands of people every night and just thinking like, this is definitely what I want to do forever, you know, this is amazing.

• 47:47Keke Palmer?

  Palmer from Jump In and you're watching Disney Channel. Wow guys, it's been a while since I've said that, but we love a little nostalgia, don't we? I mean, that's why I'm thrilled to welcome my next guest to the show. You know and love their music and they definitely know a thing or two about Disney Channel. Please welcome to the show, Ally and AJ. What's up, girls?

• 48:08Speaker 05

  Hi.

• 48:09Keke Palmer?

  You guys know I'm obsessed with you as talented, amazing entertainers, but also as humans, because I've known you guys for such a long time. I mean, I'm just so excited that you guys are coming to the show. So, thank you first of all for coming and hanging out on Baby.

• 48:21Speaker 05

  No, we're so happy. We feel the same.

• 48:24Speaker 07

  Mutually obsessed and we're so happy to be on the show.

• 48:27Keke Palmer?

  Oh my gosh. Well, so today, we're obviously talking about Disney Channel and you guys are not new to Disney Channel. First of all, you're icons of it. So, I have to first ask you, what was your favorite Disney Channel show growing up?

• 48:39Speaker 05

  Even Stevens. Yeah, this is a very, very simple answer. I would say Even Stevens, hands down, number one. We were big Lizzie McGuire fans. I would say that was in our number two. Um, I'm curious what yours were.

• 48:52Keke Palmer?

  So, I mean, I feel like we have similar tastes because first of all, I loved Even Stevens. I mean, Even Stevens, Shia on that show, Kristy Callens Romano. I mean, it was just so good. Um, but then also Lizzie McGuire, I mean, who didn't love the little cartoon moment?

• 49:07Speaker 05

  I know, I know. And also I feel like that was like, that was very unique. That was something that wasn't like.

• 49:12Keke Palmer?

  It was her Jiminy Cricket.

• 49:13Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 49:13Keke Palmer?

  It was her, it was like her, you know, being aware of her consciousness. It was kind of deep, but like in a very like kid way. So, love that. Um, what else did I love?

• 49:23Speaker 07

  I loved That's a Raven.

• 49:24Keke Palmer?

  That's so, come on. I can see until the new year.

• 49:30Keke Palmer?

  And I'm not just saying this because I'm on with you guys, but Fill the Future. I mean, come on. Fill the Future was really a great show. Fill, fill up the future.

• 49:39Speaker 07

  The future.

• 49:40Speaker 05

  You know it.

• 49:41Speaker 07

  Twenty first century. Second century, man.

• 49:45Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, the twenty second century, man. I really love that show. Yeah. Oh, my gosh, that's so crazy. Well, I mean, so we have Disney Channel shows, obviously, but then we also have decombs. So what was your favorite Disney Channel original movie? I mean, you could pick your own, but.

• 49:59Speaker 07

  No, no. Ours honestly was not that good, although we were laughing because The Ringer did some like breakdown of like fifty best. We were like forty eight and I was like, okay, that's right. Waited in there, but it's not the top.

• 50:14Speaker 07

  We really loved Johnny Tsunami.

• 50:16Keke Palmer?

  You guys love Johnny Tsunami?

• 50:22Keke Palmer?

  I think most guy, mostly I was always, guys were always like Johnny Tsunami, Johnny Tsunami. I always was like, no, Johnny Tsunami is a boy movie.

• 50:32Speaker 07

  I think we liked some of the boy ones.

• 50:34Keke Palmer?

  I was about to say, did you like Brink?

• 50:36Speaker 07

  Loved Brink. Yep.

• 50:38Keke Palmer?

  Oh, my god.

• 50:39Speaker 07

  Um, um, mot- motocross.

• 50:42Keke Palmer?

  All the boy, the main, that was like Disney Channel being like, these are for the boys.

• 50:46Speaker 07

  Yeah, totally, totally. And we were like, and us.

• 50:48Keke Palmer?

  I love Don't Look Under the Bed because I felt like Disney was trying to be like goosebumpsy. You remember it was like.

• 50:54Speaker 07

  Don't look under the bed, really. I remember that, yeah.

• 50:56Keke Palmer?

  When it was like about the boogeyman, I love that one. It was kind of scary to me too as a kid. Um, love that one. I love, can we just talk about Smart House?

• 51:04Speaker 07

  Smart House, love. Also, such a good idea. Katie Sagal.

• 51:09Keke Palmer?

  Smart House killed it. Who else killed it, um, for decombs? Um, well, I'll take you back. There was a really, really, really old school one that I loved that starred, um, oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh, it was the girl from Grey's Anatomy. You're gonna know her name.

• 51:25Speaker 07

  Wish Upon a Star. Wish Upon a Star. That's a great one. Also, that is for the girls. That is not for the boys.

• 51:30Keke Palmer?

  So, yeah, as you could see, like, even though I'm very, like, I'm totally, like, masculine too at the same time. For whatever reason, Disney Channel movies I loved always were the super girly ones. I always, I mean, Smart House was kind of in between. But like Wish Upon a Star, Honey, Life Size.

• 51:46Speaker 07

  Life Size technically, I don't think Life Size was a decom. I think. Life Size and Wish Upon a Star, I believe those were both purchased. I don't think those were original decombs. You gotta IMDb this to get to the bottom of it. They were bought, like, when a movie is bought for, like, Hallmark or Lifetime.

• 52:02Keke Palmer?

  Also. Yes. I wonder who really made that movie. I gotta look that up.

• 52:05Speaker 07

  Also, I feel like another one of those movies was, do you remember that?

• 52:08Keke Palmer?

  The President's Daughter one?

• 52:15Keke Palmer?

  My day with her.

• 52:19Keke Palmer?

  While I do the note, I'm I'm too much, yo. That movie was, I love, I have to ask you guys, do you feel like the Disney Channel that we grew up on is the same Disney Channel that the kids are watching today? Absolutely not. No. Absolutely not. It has no, it had, I I just think, well, first of all, I think a couple of things. I think one. It was like fresh and new and they were doing something exciting in that like space of television. So good. And it was great. And like the the slow, the slow, did you ever do one, Slow Jump, the Slow Jump thing? Were you ever in one of those? I don't think I did the Slow Jump. I didn't do, I also didn't do the, do the, um, you guys did the actual. AJ never got one, just me.

• 53:02Speaker 07

  Only Ally.

• 53:03Keke Palmer?

  You know why? Because you had to have a TV show. I think so. That's why. If you didn't do a TV show, because I never did a TV show. I did a decom, but I never did a TV show. So if you had, you had your own show. So once you do that, then they let you do the thing.

• 53:15Speaker 07

  And then you're on the jumping.

• 53:16Keke Palmer?

  Proud Family didn't technically count. Yeah, well, Proud Family, I'm on the new one, not the old one.

• 53:22Speaker 07

  Oh, that's right.

• 53:23Keke Palmer?

  I know, and that crazy. You should have been on the, on the original. I mean, that would have been insane if I was on, oh, my gosh. I'm so happy that I'm on the new one too now.

• 53:32Speaker 07

  Penny Pratt.

• 53:33Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, that was Kyla Pratt. Shout out to Kyla.

• 53:36Speaker 07

  Shout out to Kyla. She's really good.

• 53:38Keke Palmer?

  She's great. I know, you know her, Dr. Dolittle, loving basketball.

• 53:40Speaker 07

  Right, no, of course, of course. She's amazing.

• 53:42Keke Palmer?

  So I agree with you guys. I actually do feel like the Disney Channel that we grew up on is not the same. And for a while I was kind of thinking like, is it just because I'm an adult? You know what I mean? You know how that is, when you're like, oh, maybe it's actually me, like, I'm not a part of the current generation, so I don't like, get it. But I do think it's different and I wonder like, I don't know, I think, when I think about the, the late nineties and the early two thousands, the version of Disney Channel that we grew up on. I agree with what you guys are saying where it was like, it was fresh, it was new, but then I also feel like it was also like not talking down to the generation. Like, I feel like it was, it was comedies and it was funny, but it was also talking. About real issues?

• 54:20Keke Palmer?

  So now I gotta ask you guys, um, I mean, I know this could be controversial, but I think you, you know, you gotta ask it. Were you always a Disney kid or were you a Nick kid at a certain point?

• 54:30Speaker 07

  Always Disney.

• 54:31Speaker 05

  Always Disney and it's funny because.

• 54:33Speaker 07

  From little.

• 54:36Speaker 05

  Yeah, from little kids, we were always obsessed with, especially me, like with Mickey Mouse. A thing.

• 54:42Speaker 07

  Would cry at Disneyland when she saw Minnie.

• 54:46Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 54:48Keke Palmer?

  Original Disney kid.

• 54:49Speaker 05

  Right, no, you're right. That is true. You are original Disney kid.

• 54:52Keke Palmer?

  That's an original Disney kid.

• 54:53Speaker 05

  We still watched Nickelodeon, like I remember we would watch like I, we would watch honestly, the things that were like our, our shows on Nickelodeon was like some of the.

• 55:03Speaker 07

  Cartoons.

• 55:04Speaker 05

  Old school cartoons like. And Rugrats and recess and those ones, you know?

• 55:11Speaker 05

  And then honestly, all that absolutely.

• 55:17Keke Palmer?

  The children's SNL.

• 55:18Speaker 07

  It's the children's.

• 55:18Speaker 05

  It's the children's SNL.

• 55:20Speaker 07

  All that was unbelievable and so was the Amanda show.

• 55:29Keke Palmer?

  Why was that?

• 55:30Speaker 07

  I love that you know every.

• 55:31Speaker 05

  I love that you know all of them.

• 55:32Keke Palmer?

  Oh my gosh, that was the thing that tied us in. That's also a thing that's missing as well. I think the theme songs and the.

• 55:41Speaker 02

  The three of us need to be writing theme song hooks for these new TV shows.

• 55:44Keke Palmer?

  We would have it whipped up into shape, girl, cause y'all's pen is.

• 55:50Speaker 07

  Your pen.

• 55:53Keke Palmer?

  I mean, you guys have been writing all your lives. I mean, let, let, let's take a, a quick break and just talk about your intro into Disney because, I mean, how did they discover you guys? Like, what was the relationship there? Like, I mean, they, you, you, you started working with them at how old?

• 56:08Speaker 05

  So when I, I guess when I booked Phil. I had just gotten my braces off. I was like, literally like, I think I had gotten them off like three months in advance.

• 56:19Speaker 07

  Girl wasn't booking with braces.

• 56:20Speaker 05

  I was not booking with with braces on.

• 56:21Speaker 07

  Now it's cute. Now it's like you can book a commercial. You're like, I'm a normal kid. I've got braces.

• 56:25Speaker 05

  Yeah, but then it was like, ooh, she looks wrong. So, um, so I remember I booked it and I was thirteen when I booked the show. Um, by the time that we shot the pilot and then the, by the time the show went, I think it was like I was fourteen. And I remember after the first season, I want to say they had some music element thing that was involved with my character, like singing on stage and being nervous and having stage fright and

• 56:54Speaker 07

  Like a talent show.

• 56:55Speaker 05

  Having a mini, mini Phil on the mic to help me sing, which is so funny. So we got shrunk down.

• 57:00Speaker 07

  To help her.

• 57:01Speaker 05

  Yeah, it's pretty cute. And I remember I came to them and said, I write songs with my sister. Like, we have this one song that we've written. Like, could I put it on the show? And they were like, uh, can we hear it? And the, the song actually was perfect for the scene. So they literally put a song on the show that was

• 57:19Speaker 07

  That we wrote at ten and twelve.

• 57:20Speaker 05

  Wrote at ten and twelve, but it hadn't come out yet. Like, it was like a song that would then be on our debut record at Hollywood. So it was this very strange connection. Yeah, so.

• 57:30Keke Palmer?

  So were you guys already signed to Hollywood? Or you became, you got, you got signed to Hollywood through this?

• 57:36Speaker 05

  Got signed to Hollywood through this. And it was like, I want to say going into the second season, I think was when we got signed. And we made the record. I came back to set. We did our second season around that time. I think I had maybe done that Magic movie, uh, Decon, the Now You See It one on my own and then

• 57:57Speaker 07

  I forget you've done two.

• 57:58Speaker 05

  And then, and then we did ours, I think after I had wrapped Phil. But then everybody always thinks we had a damn show together.

• 58:04Speaker 07

  We didn't have a show.

• 58:05Speaker 05

  Makes me laugh. I'm like, we did not have a show.

• 58:07Speaker 07

  I never got the wand.

• 58:08Keke Palmer?

  But it's because we always seen you got, you know, like when I, I mean, it's like Alan and AJ, Alan and AJ, we just know. Cause also the music videos, you remember Disney Channel used to have those music videos in between? We were like, Alan and AJ, Alan.

• 58:20Speaker 05

  MTV.

• 58:21Speaker 07

  They used to play the best music videos. BB Mack, I mean, remember the music videos they'd rock?

• 58:25Keke Palmer?

  Oh my gosh, and remember, what was the one boy, the blonde boy, y'all know his name?

• 58:29Speaker 07

  Aaron Carter.

• 58:30Keke Palmer?

  Nope, not Aaron Carter. Je- Je- Was it Jesse, was it?

• 58:33Speaker 05

  Wesley McCartney.

• 58:35Keke Palmer?

  Jesse McCartney.

• 58:36Speaker 05

  Yeah, and he was a label mate with us and we did a lot of shows together. He was very, he was very sweet to us.

• 58:42Keke Palmer?

  Face, I don't want just anyone to hold, I don't wanna none of that go away. That was so.

• 58:53Keke Palmer?

  Yo, that is insane. I think that is so cool and so impressive that you guys so young were literally like, hey, you know, advocating for yourselves in that way to the point that you actually got a record deal and were, was able to get your music into a Disney show. I think Disney is interesting in that way that like, if you push things to the forefront, like, I think about it with my career. Like, I started doing stuff with Disney, just did decombs and then slowly I did, started doing hosting for them, ended up working in their news division and it's like, in Disney, it's interesting how you can grow, I think, because they have so many different tentacles, you know?

• 59:28Speaker 05

  Yes, and I feel like they.

• 59:30Speaker 07

  It still helped us, like, to this day. Like, it still follows our career in a way that's really kept an umbrella of people around our music and our acting. It's amazing.

• 59:39Speaker 05

  Well, and I believe that it's one of those companies where like, yes, there's, people can have like, a great experience there, they can have a bad experience, it can be a mix of, of all of it too. But I do believe that they also really gravitate towards kids that are like, like, want to do it and are precocious and into it. And Aiden and I were those kids. We weren't, thank God, coming from a family where our mom and dad were pushing us into the spotlight to do this to like, pay for the bills. Not that also, that also makes sense at some, you know, point. I'm like, I get it. Maybe your kid is like, helping you keep the lights on and that's, that's a tough responsibility to put on your child.

• 1:00:18Keke Palmer?

  I mean, being a child actor, it can go either which way, is you're right. It can be stressful or it can be just completely, utterly fun and, you know, kids are brave, you know?

• 1:00:25Speaker 05

  But for us, it was really, it was fun. And so it wasn't like, uh, we're doing this because you kids have to like, make money for the family, thankfully. And the funny thing too is that like, even, um, the fact. That like how I auditioned for fill the future was all because I was in one of those and you know all these old school workshops because I a hundred percent believe.

• 1:00:44Keke Palmer?

  No, tell me about the workshops because I need to know about the workshops. What, what, what, tell, what?

• 1:00:48Speaker 05

  Donna, Donna Jean Goheen.

• 1:00:50Keke Palmer?

  Donna Jean Goheen.

• 1:00:51Speaker 07

  Donna Jean Goheen, baby. Donna Jean.

• 1:00:53Keke Palmer?

  Not Donna Jean Goheen. Come on, Donna Jean.

• 1:00:56Speaker 07

  Come on, Donna Jean.

• 1:00:57Keke Palmer?

  She was a kid. And so they would do, they would do workshops and you guys would go in and then.

• 1:01:01Speaker 05

  Yes, and that's what they scouted. And I was in one of those workshops and she was like, I think you'd be really right for this show I'm putting together for, for Disney.

• 1:01:09Keke Palmer?

  Wow. I think that's also missing, guys. Now we're, you might be getting to the root of it. They don't have a lot of those people anymore.

• 1:01:16Speaker 05

  Yep.

• 1:01:16Keke Palmer?

  That are going out there, hitting the ground and finding the real kids. Do you know what I'm saying?

• 1:01:21Speaker 05

  Yes. Right, but it's not just a kid that's like, that's like an actor kid, but a kid that's like, like, like wants to do it and is fun and has these little quirks and is like.

• 1:01:29Keke Palmer?

  And is a real kid.

• 1:01:30Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 1:01:31Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 1:01:31Keke Palmer?

  That is, that I think was so important. I wonder what, what the missing piece could be to that as to why tho- why those workshops don't happen as much anymore.

• 1:01:39Speaker 05

  Do we need to all form a, a threesome of a workshop between the three of us and we are casting this shit out of these kids?

• 1:01:46Speaker 07

  I would scout everywhere. I'd go to Eureka, I'd go to Ojai, I'd go to San Diego. I would keep it fairly local, but I would scout the hell out of Disney kids.

• 1:01:54Keke Palmer?

  We have to reconvene on this because the kids need us.

• 1:01:57Speaker 05

  Yeah, this is a great idea.

• 1:01:58Keke Palmer?

  Do you guys remember, um, the Disney Channel games, like the website and the games, like Lilo and Stitch hamburger stack and all that? Did you guys ever play any of those?

• 1:02:06Speaker 07

  I loved the games.

• 1:02:08Speaker 05

  And by the way, we were obsessed. Like I, which is funny because we were on the channel and we loved it.

• 1:02:12Speaker 07

  I used to go on a Disney Channel dot com.

• 1:02:14Speaker 05

  On our parents' computer.

• 1:02:15Speaker 07

  Night.

• 1:02:16Keke Palmer?

  Girl, I would be playing the Kim Possible game. That was also a really fun game. Like, it's so insane to imagine like all this nostalgic stuff and it makes me wonder like, what is millennials obsession? What is our obsession with nostalgia? Is it like, does everybody have this obsession with nostalgia? I mean, I've never heard Gen X be like, oh my gosh, remember when? But I mean, maybe they do. I, I just feel like we're obsessed with nostalgia in such a like aesthetic-y way. Like it's like a part of our DNA. I'm just so curious as to what, why, why is that?

• 1:02:44Speaker 07

  I don't know. I think it's a longing for the past to grab your childhood again. Like I.

• 1:02:49Speaker 05

  And we're all just really sad being adults. I think it's a little bit of that. Like we all were still a part of that pre-internet era. Or like really heavy internet. You know what I mean? So I think that's a little bit of it too. Is like being on your parents' computer and it's like, but you didn't have like. A cellphone. You know, you didn't, you, you didn't have Twitter. You didn't have Instagram. It was like you go on that lap, on that like PC.

• 1:03:13Speaker 07

  We had a Dell.

• 1:03:14Speaker 05

  Be on there or Dell or whatever, you know? And you were on the computer and it was like, okay, you have your 30 minutes are up for playing games tonight. Like, it was very wholesome.

• 1:03:22Speaker 07

  You know, one thing I was really sad we were never a part of was Disney games, as in the game challenges that people.

• 1:03:28Speaker 05

  We never did that.

• 1:03:29Speaker 07

  And I was really sad.

• 1:03:30Keke Palmer?

  They never called me either. I wanted to do the Disney games as well.

• 1:03:32Speaker 05

  I feel like we would have crushed it.

• 1:03:33Keke Palmer?

  That's why they didn't invite us. They knew we would have been eating them kids up.

• 1:03:36Speaker 05

  Correct, correct. They're like, don't bring them.

• 1:03:38Speaker 07

  They're like, no, those girls are gonna kick way too much ass.

• 1:03:51Keke Palmer?

  Enjoy Baby This is Keke Palmer on the Wondery app, wherever you get your podcasts, and now on YouTube where you can watch full episodes. Subscribe to the Wondery channel on YouTube and don't miss any episodes. You can listen to Baby This is Keke Palmer early and ad-free on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.

• 1:04:15Keke Palmer?

  Baby This is Keke Palmer is hosted and executive produced by me, Keke Palmer. Lucas Segal is our post-producer. Music supervisor is Scott Velasquez. 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 producers are Tristan McNeil and Candice Enriquez-Rin. Our executive producers are Emily Feldbrake, Dave Easton, Erin O'Flaherty, and Marshall Louie.