Groovin’ Through Every Era With Rom-Com Royalty, Taye Diggs

Taye Diggs has been killing it on stage, screen, and now all over social media…let’s just say, he never really needed to get his groove back! Today, he’s choppin’ it up with Keke for a deep, hilarious, and unfiltered convo about his career wins, the missteps (c’mon HONESTY), working with THE Angela Bassett and going viral while raising a teen who is not feelin’ his dad’s TikToks. From Broadway to The Wood and Brown Sugar (Keke’s all-time faves!), this one’s a must-watch for fans of the golden era of Black rom-coms! 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.

• 0:04Keke Palmer?

  Y'all, I am so excited about my guest today. He has been killing it for over 30 years in the industry. We're talking about a man who has literally done it all. Going from stage to screen and back again. You know him from Rent. And then he had us all trying to get our groove back with Miss Angela Bassett. He's been in some of the most beloved rom-coms of all time. The Best Man, Brown Sugar, The Wood, my favorite. And he's started TV hits like Private Practice and All American. To top it all off, he's also a proud dad. Tay Diggs, welcome to the show.

• 1:04Keke Palmer?

  Come on out here, Tay.

• 1:08Keke Palmer?

  That was perfect.

• 1:11Speaker 01

  What's up?

• 1:12Keke Palmer?

  It's so good to see you.

• 1:13Speaker 01

  Likewise.

• 1:13Keke Palmer?

  Oh, my gosh, you know, it's so crazy. You know, we see each other around.

• 1:17Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:17Keke Palmer?

  All the time, but I ain't never got a chance to really sit down and talk to you.

• 1:21Speaker 01

  No, no, and you have, you're one of these people, we were just talking about you today. Me and my son. Can I tell?

• 1:27Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, I messed up.

• 1:29Speaker 01

  Yo, I came in with one of my best friends, my assistant, and he's in his 30s. And she was like, oh, oh, is that your son? Like with confidence. And my heart was like.

• 1:42Keke Palmer?

  Literally, it's because Walker is on my mind. You're saying Walker's on my mind, so I'm like, that's Walker.

• 1:47Speaker 01

  He, he just came from his basketball game, yeah.

• 1:50Keke Palmer?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 1:50Speaker 01

  But that's not my son. Walker's 15 years old.

• 1:53Keke Palmer?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 1:54Speaker 01

  And he's, he's playing AAU. Yeah, and he won his first game and we left in the, in the middle of the second game.

• 2:02Keke Palmer?

  Oh, my gosh, I'm glad you were able to come down here and hang with me.

• 2:05Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 2:12Keke Palmer?

  This episode is presented in partnership with Airbnb. Baby, summer's calling and she's got one thing on her mind, your next getaway. My take, plan your trip by searching guest favorites on Airbnb because these most loved homes are ready for your next adventure. Let's get into it. I mean, you're all over TikTok. I mean, you're here with me. I mean, it's so funny because I was hearing an interview where you said you actually are an introvert, which is so interesting because...

• 2:41Speaker 01

  That's why, but that's why I mess with that. Because it's just me and the phone. And I can do it in my car. You know what I mean? I can just express. But sometimes, I mean, you know how those moments when anxiety comes and all of a sudden? Like, I was nervous for this. You know what I mean? When I think about it, yeah. I mean, you're like, you're one of those people where, you know, I'm older because I can have a 30-year-old son. And I saw you in Akela and the Bee.

• 3:09Keke Palmer?

  Yes.

• 3:10Speaker 01

  And you were like talented then, and then you just came, and then you were like everywhere.

• 3:16Keke Palmer?

  Oh, man.

• 3:16Speaker 01

  And you have such an amazing personality and energy.

• 3:21Keke Palmer?

  Tay, you want to talk. You want to talk.

• 3:23Speaker 01

  No, no, no, but I'm not like you, though. Like, you come with, you know, batteries included. You know what I'm saying? And I'm like, what is, what is her life like?

• 3:34Keke Palmer?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 3:34Speaker 01

  Like, every time we see you, you're like just a bright light. And I just, you know, it's great to see.

• 3:40Keke Palmer?

  I really received that. Well, you know, we got that Capricorn Virgo energy going on. And I really do live for your social media personality. I mean, when you started out and when I started out, social media and content creation, it wasn't a thing. It didn't exist. It was just traditional, and that's it. So how do you feel that has kind of impacted the way that you approach performance?

• 4:00Speaker 01

  Ooh.

• 4:01Keke Palmer?

  Because we get to see the side of you that we didn't always get to see.

• 4:04Speaker 01

  I look at it, and I'm still not quite, you know, because I'm older. I still don't quite understand it. And it's one of those, one of those ways the industry is changing that I don't understand. Like, I came up, I came up in a, when the business was like, you know, if you're talented, you show your talent, people will appreciate it. They'll go see your movies.

• 4:26Keke Palmer?

  Yep.

• 4:26Speaker 01

  And if they go to see your movies, someone will put you in another movie. Then all of a sudden, people were like, you gotta have followers. And I was like, are followers fans? I got fans. No, no, no, you gotta be on Instagram and da, da, da, da. And I was like, oh, wait, but these people, they're not actors and they have all these followers. Why are they in the same category? And it didn't make sense to me. But it didn't matter. They were still hiring. So I was like, oh, I guess the game is changing and I gotta change with it. So how can I keep up with it and still kind of be true to myself? So for me, what made it work was it was like a way of, uh, it's therapeutic.

• 5:04Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 5:04Speaker 01

  Whatever I'm feeling, I can get on the phone and like perform, do it and then see how people, you know, react. And luckily, you know, a certain amount of people dug it. So, so it worked for me, so.

• 5:15Keke Palmer?

  Do you feel like that was just the changing of the times or also the changing of your life? Cause you went from being married, I think you were married to Adina for 10 years and then divorced. I mean, that does, our work and our art always changes. You know, so how did that impact kind of the way you approached art?

• 5:31Speaker 01

  You're exactly right, yeah. And then having a kid, yeah, being divorced, all of that, uh, in a good way, started to kind of break me down. And, and then allow me to grow in a different way. So what's the opposite of, of being, um, I said, I'm very.

• 5:47Keke Palmer?

  Introvert, extrovert.

• 5:48Speaker 01

  Extrovert, that, that part.

• 5:49Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, it kind of pushed you, yeah.

• 5:50Speaker 01

  Uh, I had stuff to say.

• 5:52Keke Palmer?

  Yes, yes.

• 5:53Speaker 01

  I had stuff to say. I was feeling a very, very, you know, working on yourself spiritually, kind of.

• 5:58Keke Palmer?

  That's right.

• 5:58Speaker 01

  Kind of like chops you down and makes you more sensitive. So I was very, very much more, uh, you know, reactionary, reactive.

• 6:05Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 6:06Speaker 01

  So it helped. It lent itself to, to social media and having little outbursts and singing how I feel and acting out this little skit and whatnot, so.

• 6:14Keke Palmer?

  Well, speaking of your son, he's 15.

• 6:16Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 6:17Keke Palmer?

  Does he have any interest in acting? Would you be, be happy or not, you know, happy if you wanted to be in entertainment?

• 6:25Speaker 01

  It's, well, you know, it's a corny answer, whatever makes him happy. He's so, you know, staunchly against it just because his mother and I do it.

• 6:33Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 6:34Speaker 01

  It's the last thing that he wants to do. But he cracks me up. He does like spot on imitations and.

• 6:41Keke Palmer?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 6:42Speaker 01

  And, you know, he does all the little Tik, he teaches me the TikTok dances and, um, but he don't want to like perform. I'd be like, do this with me, like selfishly do that with me and we could get however many views.

• 6:52Keke Palmer?

  We can be the father and son duo.

• 6:53Speaker 01

  I'm good, I'm good.

• 6:57Speaker 01

  But uh, but he teaches it to me, you know, and he uh, basketball is his thing.

• 7:02Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 7:02Speaker 01

  Basketball, he's a little hooper.

• 7:03Keke Palmer?

  It's so interesting when you talk about your son being funny and then also you're so funny. And I feel like we've seen your humor in your work, but I feel like we've gotten to see it more. Was it just in those early days where you focused on dramas and romances? Or was that just really what was coming to you?

• 7:17Speaker 01

  I don't know, you know, as actors, you know, we think we can do everything. So I would get so annoyed like when a casting director be like, you know, I go in to read for something. Um, and they'd be like, hey, oh my goodness, you're really funny. And I'm like, didn't you see like, I'm funny and the best man, I'm funny. Like I could name, but that's me.

• 7:39Keke Palmer?

  My divorce.

• 7:41Speaker 01

  I'm the same dude that did that. So how you saying, why am I funny when do you just, but um, I have no idea.

• 7:49Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, it just kind of is what happens.

• 7:50Speaker 01

  That's my, that's my favorite thing to do. I love to dance and I love to, to be a fool, so um, you know, I don't know, I don't know why, why people don't.

• 7:59Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, one of your, one of my favorite lines, another one of my favorite lines of yours is um, The Wood. And only people that watch The Wood as many times as I did will catch it. I'mma make her booty jiggle dude. Like, why would you, why would you do it? It's so good, there's so many quotables, like, I'm telling you man.

• 8:16Speaker 01

  Makes me happy.

• 8:17Keke Palmer?

  For me, growing up, The Wood, hands down, was my all time, to this day, favorite movie. And you walk, you were through, I don't think people understand, to be funny, to be grounded, and to play drunk for half of the whole movie? Your character was drunk, Roland was drunk the whole movie.

• 8:36Speaker 01

  That was so much fun.

• 8:37Keke Palmer?

  And we saw you become sober. I have to ask you about that because that movie was so iconic to me. And it was the first time I feel like I saw my family, like my uncles. You know what I'm saying? Like where it wasn't about. We in the hood.

• 8:50Speaker 01

  Right, right, right.

• 8:51Keke Palmer?

  It was like, yeah, there's troubles in life, but this is brotherhood and family and friends.

• 8:55Speaker 01

  I miss those days.

• 8:56Keke Palmer?

  Oh, my God.

• 8:56Speaker 01

  Those were, those were the days when that was, those were one of the, that was one of the first movies that, that portrayed us like that.

• 9:02Keke Palmer?

  That's right.

• 9:03Speaker 01

  This Man was one of the first movies that portrayed, you know, different kinds of, of, of, you know.

• 9:08Keke Palmer?

  Blackness.

• 9:09Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 9:09Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 9:10Speaker 01

  So, I, I miss those days.

• 9:12Keke Palmer?

  Me too, me too. That work, you know, that work is the foundation of what I love about arts.

• 9:17Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 9:17Keke Palmer?

  But let's go back to the beginning for you, because you grew up in, you're the oldest of five siblings?

• 9:21Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 9:21Keke Palmer?

  You grew up in Rochester, New York.

• 9:23Speaker 01

  I did.

• 9:23Keke Palmer?

  How did you get involved with acting? Were you always, you know, your family doing stuff?

• 9:28Speaker 01

  My mother, my mother. So, my mother, I'm the oldest of five. Uh, my mother raised us all to a certain age, and then she went back to school for theater.

• 9:38Keke Palmer?

  Oh, fabulous.

• 9:39Speaker 01

  And, uh, dance. So, we would go to her rehearsals, you know, and, and, uh, she would do community theater. And, and I remember going, yeah, oh, for real?

• 9:50Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 9:50Speaker 01

  Oh, okay.

• 9:51Keke Palmer?

  Thank you, my dad.

• 9:52Speaker 01

  That makes sense. Uh, I'd go to her rehearsals and see all these pretty girls and then, you know, watch her go on stage and watching her transform from mommy to, you know, she was Charlotte in Charlotte's Web and, you know, in Godspell. And I was amazed at watching the transformation. So, that kind of ran over me, rushed over me. And then, um, before I really became exposed to the arts personally, I was very kind of nerdy, insecure, you know, way, way more introverted than I say I am now.

• 10:25Keke Palmer?

  Wow.

• 10:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, I thought I liked sports, but I was always too small. And my mother had the foresight, I think it was 10th grade, to, uh, to enroll me in a school for the arts. And I had just enough talent to make it in. And then, once I entered that school and was accepted just because I had a modicum of talent, the whole world changed. Everybody, you know, you know, it wasn't like I was popular, but I got attention and I was in the play and in the musical and took all these classes. And then that boosted my, my, uh, confidence level. And then, once I was like, oh, okay, I got people's attention. I'mma stick with this. And then I studied and just took it all, took it all the way.

• 11:07Keke Palmer?

  Wow.

• 11:08Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 11:08Keke Palmer?

  What do you remember that, if you remember the play or the moment you were first on stage, what do you remember that you felt? Uh, especially when you're saying you're an introvert, like, you know, what was that like? Was it a rush for you?

• 11:18Speaker 01

  Yeah, oh, just that applause, applause.

• 11:21Keke Palmer?

  That instant gratification.

• 11:21Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, like, I did something that not just my mom or my cousin or my aunt liked, but all of y'all are clapping for just me. Okay. And then afterwards, you know, the little cute little girls, like, all that attention, I was like, oh, okay, I'mma ride this out.

• 11:40Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 11:41Speaker 01

  I'mma ride this out.

• 11:48Keke Palmer?

  Summer is here, and you know what that means. It's time to live your best life. This couples' trip I took to Turks and Caicos a while back lives rent-free in my mind. Okay, let me paint the picture. I stayed in this gorgeous Airbnb right on the beach, waking up to the sound of waves and stepping out onto the pristine white sand. That memory is still giving me summertime magic. Now, whether you're for a beachfront paradise like I had, a cozy cabin in the woods, or a chic city apartment, Airbnb's got amazing homes waiting for you. We're talking better locations, more privacy, and the kind of space that'll have you feeling like the star of your own summer blockbuster. So, don't let the summer slip away. Book your Airbnb now and get ready to live that main character life. Trust me, you're gonna have a time.

• 12:34Keke Palmer?

  Baby, I have never, and I mean never, been more devastated than when I found out that some of y'all been sneaking around behind Domino's back just to get your stuffed crust fix. Now, you know us Virgos are incredibly loyal, steadfast even. Cheating, especially on something as serious as Parmesan stuffed crust pizza, ain't gonna fly in this house. I saw y'all slide into those other pizza spots, drive-throughs, ordering that cheese-filled crust like Domino's, and I wouldn't find out about your little rendezvous. But, sweetie, the healing starts today because Domino's just dropped their own stuffed crust, and now y'all got no excuse to keep stepping out on them like this. It's time to put those pizza cheating ways to rest.

• 13:17Keke Palmer?

  Domino's new Parmesan stuffed crust is serving pure decadence with that buttery handmade dough wrapped around a cascading stream of 100% melty goodness. These are the cheese pools of your dreams. It's very much a goofy movie level of ooey gooey cheesy deliciousness. And of course, your girl can't forget about that signature garlic seasoning and Parmesan sprinkle dance on top of that perfectly baked crust, making every single taste taste like it was blessed by the pizza gods themselves. Good thinking about it now. I'm already imagining the Parm stuffed pie I've been plotting on. Next time I'm placing my order, you best believe I'm having mushrooms, grilled onions, and some extra peppers just to, you know, keep the vegetables on top. Now, this is the kind of commitment I'm talking about.

• 14:00Keke Palmer?

  No more pizza cheating needed when Domino's is bringing this level of excellence to the table. Order Domino's new Parmesan stuffed crust pizza on the Domino's app and use code KIKI to get any three topping Parmesan stuffed crust pizza for $11.99. Price is higher for some locations. You must ask for this limited time offer. Prices, participation, delivery area, and charges may vary. Delivery orders subject to local store's delivery charge. I'll let you, girl.

• 14:30Keke Palmer?

  So you made your Broadway debut with Carousel in 1994.

• 14:33Speaker 01

  Okay, you did your research.

• 14:34Keke Palmer?

  You know, we gotta do, um, baby, this Keke Palmer, we gotta be correct. But your first big role, and when I, when I really understood the origination of your role in Rent, 1996, I mean, that is like, that's so profoundly iconic. Did you realize that that would be the impact of that project? I mean, I, I guess you can't imagine, but I mean, Rent is one of the most popular pieces of art we have.

• 15:00Speaker 01

  It was a trip. And this is funny that you say that, cause now, now in hindsight, I'm, I'm realizing, cause you know, when you talk about the world and when people talk about the best man, I was so focused on like getting somewhere that I never really took the time to appreciate where I was, even when, um, cause Rent was just another job for me. You know what I mean? Um, I remember I was, I told my agents, I don't want to do any more auditions for musicals. I want to go for film and TV because I keep getting told, you know, uh, you have a lot of musicals on your resume.

• 15:35Keke Palmer?

  Rick Fenn, you were told that.

• 15:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 15:37Keke Palmer?

  He was like, when he met with you for the wood, he was like, this is a big theater actor.

• 15:40Speaker 01

  Exactly. And I was so tired of, um, of, of hearing that. So I told the, the people, you know, when they sent me out for Rent, I like, I skipped the audition like two times. And then, uh, my agent was like, just go, just go get in front of them and just see what happens. And then once I got the call back as an actor, then I was like, okay, well, no, I gotta get this job. And that was the thing that, you know, uh, catapulted me to, I got a soap opera, then after that soap opera.

• 16:05Keke Palmer?

  Stella got a groove back.

• 16:06Speaker 01

  Yep, and Angela Bassett went and came to see Rent, then, and she wasn't impressed.

• 16:12Keke Palmer?

  Wait a minute.

• 16:12Speaker 01

  She wasn't impressed, but she saw the soap opera. And I was playing this character on, uh, Guiding Light called, uh, Sugar Hill.

• 16:19Keke Palmer?

  Come on, I love it. My Sugar Hill child, ooh.

• 16:22Speaker 01

  And she saw a little bit of sexiness in Sugar Hill, and then she was like, okay, bring him in.

• 16:26Keke Palmer?

  Now, we gotta go back to her not being impressed with Rent. How did you know? Did the producers tell you this or how did you know she wasn't feeling it?

• 16:31Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, the, um, my agent. Cause, cause she, cause you know, Rent was, it was, it was that show where everybody was like, okay, well, come see these kids in Rent.

• 16:39Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 16:39Speaker 01

  And they were like, okay, well, we have this young man, um, who's auditioning. Uh, how, how can I see him? Okay, come see the show Rent. And I had the smallest role in Rent of the main character.

• 16:49Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 16:49Speaker 01

  So I was like, okay, this isn't gonna be, I'm not gonna get any jump off from this. I'll just ride it out as, as hard as I can. And then the next thing, that'll be my jump off. And, uh, and luckily, that's, that's what it was, uh, uh, Angela Bassett.

• 17:02Keke Palmer?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 17:03Speaker 01

  And I saw like, got her groove.

• 17:04Keke Palmer?

  I mean, I went through many situations like that myself. I mean, with Barbershop Two, trying to get my chance with Ice Cube. I remember my mom sent in so many random tapes. This is something that's so big with acting. You get that feedback and you just keep, keep on pushing. So when you got on set and you're with Angela Bassett, and this is obviously after Willis Love got to do with it. She had already done all that, had all that great success.

• 17:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:25Keke Palmer?

  Whoopi Goldberg, what were you, what was your experience now jumping into that film? That film side you were trying to get into?

• 17:30Speaker 01

  Once again, I was like, okay, well, what's next? What's next? Cause at the time it was, um, I was like, okay, I wanna be. The next Will Smith. Cause I was looking in.

• 17:41Keke Palmer?

  Who could be, who, what is the representation?

• 17:43Speaker 01

  You know what I mean? I was like, I want that. Cause he has just, he's just black enough where he can be black. But just, you know, but enough, but, but not threatening to the white people. He could cross over and I was like, you know, if I smile a certain way, all the white people like that. And I'm dark, so I was like, I had it all, you know, Capricorn.

• 18:00Keke Palmer?

  Had all that, come on, Capricorn.

• 18:01Speaker 01

  I was like, do, do, do, do, do. Um, and there's a way you want it, and then there's a way the universe sets it up.

• 18:07Keke Palmer?

  Yes.

• 18:07Speaker 01

  Um, but for a while, you know, I, I really wasn't really enjoying where I was. I was like, okay, we got this. I was expecting to get How Stella Got, I was expecting it. Like, it came too late for me. I was the last one, I was in Rent, you know, with Dina. She had got a record deal, Jesse Martin had got a TV show. I was the last one to hit, so I was like, damn, y'all what?

• 18:30Speaker 01

  In my head, I was like, I'm talented, more talented than all y'all, and I'm the last. What's going on? And then finally I got How Stella Got a Groove Back, and I was like, okay, now we at the party, let's go.

• 18:40Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 18:40Speaker 01

  And then, you know, then the black movies started coming in.

• 18:42Keke Palmer?

  So let's talk about that renaissance, cause I mean, that, we don't have.

• 18:46Speaker 01

  No.

• 18:47Keke Palmer?

  Even if I'm trying to put together what the black led rom com crew could be.

• 18:51Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 18:52Keke Palmer?

  I don't even know what it could be right now. That's no shade, no tea, I just don't know. I mean, we had an ensemble, it was like, we know it's gonna be K. We know Sinai gonna show up, Neil might pop in, Morris gonna be there. Like, you know, I mean, we got The Wood, we got Brown Sugar, we got The Best Man. I mean, oh my goodness. Again, I know you was working, working, working, but did you know those were special? Did you know that it was a renaissance happening? When you talk about Rick Femiou, we talk about Malcolm D Lee. You know what I mean? And what's my dude that did Soul Food? He was great too, you know what I'm saying?

• 19:23Speaker 01

  I wanna redo that too, yeah. Um, we were so hun, I, I can only speak for myself. I was so hungry for it. That, you know, we didn't know if it would stick around. We were just like, oh, let me be a part of, let me be a part of this project. Cause it's one of the first ones of its time.

• 19:37Keke Palmer?

  That's right.

• 19:37Speaker 01

  So, but we didn't think it would be, you know, a movement. You know what I mean? And even when it was, we're like, oh, well, maybe this is just how it's gonna be.

• 19:47Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 19:47Speaker 01

  You know what I mean? But then, you know, when you're around long enough, it would ebb and flow.

• 19:51Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 19:52Speaker 01

  They would come and then they would just not, not come at all. And then Tyler Perry came on the, you know, then it was, people only want to mess with Tyler Perry. So, you know, we were just.

• 20:01Keke Palmer?

  This business aspect of our industry is so important. I'm, I'm curious of what you did in those lulls. Because honestly, we don't, I mean, there's also people that decide to do production companies and try to get they produce, produce their own projects or TV or whatever. But sometimes it's like, you know, so what were you doing in those times in between those projects?

• 20:17Speaker 01

  TV.

• 20:18Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 20:18Speaker 01

  Yeah, that was a, and that paycheck. That paycheck, you know, cause there's like what you get paid during, during, during black movies at that time. Cause they weren't paying us anywhere near what we should have been paid when you compare. And I, I know people hate when people bring that up.

• 20:33Keke Palmer?

  But yeah.

• 20:33Speaker 01

  But it was so true. Um, but that TV money, boom.

• 20:37Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, it's our version of like a nine to five. It's our coming in and having a corporate gig of just, boom, I know I can depend on this check.

• 20:43Speaker 01

  Uh huh, yup. And, uh, and you could be more in control.

• 20:46Keke Palmer?

  That's right.

• 20:47Speaker 01

  You know what I mean? You could really sink into a character, you know, go to the job every day. You, you know, all the cast members and you have a, a repertoire with the writers and producers and. Um, so it was less stressful. It was less mercurial than, than films. So I, I saw that and that's one of the first changes where I was like, oh, I wanted to be Will Smith, but this feels good right here.

• 21:08Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 21:09Speaker 01

  I don't have to worry about, you know, callback after callback and, you know, the, the comfort, uh, and security of, of the TV job. And being able to go to the writers and say, why don't, having input.

• 21:20Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 21:21Speaker 01

  All of that, I couldn't go to a, you know, a, well, in the black movies you could, but, but I didn't know if I had gotten like, oh, you know, the white movies that I was a part of. I would never have thought to go to the director and be like, well, what if my character were a saddleback? You know what I mean? Like, um, I would never. But with TV, you have, you have. More of that power. So that was.

• 21:40Keke Palmer?

  I love hearing you talk about that because I feel like people really got to know that more that it's like it's just about doing the thing. You know, we can have an idea of what we think it should be or how we think we should look, but it's like, I love acting. I'm gonna do it wherever I can do it at, whether that's on a stage, on a TV, on a movie set. That's why I'm gonna do it.

• 21:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:57Keke Palmer?

  Um, we've always loved seeing you and Sanaa together. The chemistry is incredible. Now, as I've gotten older and started getting into possible romantic dynamics, it is hard to have chemistry with somebody. I get so spooked and shy. I'm not shy about much, but whenever it gets to the intimacy or we're in love. So I mean, what do you think made it easy for you guys to have such an amazing dynamic together on screen?

• 22:21Speaker 01

  Oh, man, I've been really lucky, you know, with Sanaa, Sanaa's just, I mean, I didn't have to really act, you know what I mean? Like, she's just so cool.

• 22:33Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 22:34Speaker 01

  You know what I mean? Now, I'm trying to figure out a way to say this, like with Angela Bassett, she was sweet.

• 22:40Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 22:40Speaker 01

  But she was Angela Bassett. I was a beginner. It was my first pimp. So I had to act because I didn't feel comfortable around her. She made me feel as comfortable as possible.

• 22:52Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 22:53Speaker 01

  But she was Angela Bassett. Yeah. Like I was, I had to, you know, you're acting and you're like, I'm like, like, I'm supposed to be here, but you are Angela Bassett and I'm supposed to be in love with you and you, you know what I mean? Like, what is, so I had, so I was acting.

• 23:07Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 23:09Speaker 01

  With Sanaa and Regina and like that, I was, I could, I could just, that was a testament to them. We just were all so cool with each other. It was, it was, it was such a great time.

• 23:19Keke Palmer?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 23:21Speaker 01

  It was just real easy.

• 23:22Keke Palmer?

  Yes. I mean, Sanaa said, uh, what did I think it was in, uh, Essence 2022, that the iconic my divorce line from Brown Sugar, you improv. I mean, I mean, I feel like you probably improv so much. Again, I'm talking about the wood, anything. I mean, was that always a thing? Would they say, hey, do it? Or would you just do it yourself?

• 23:40Speaker 01

  But those directors were Malcolm Lee, Rick, they were, they were awesome. Were, uh, and I was, you know, new to the game. But had come from theater, so this was what I thought it was always like. Cause in theater, yeah, yeah. It really prepares you. So they just allowed me that, uh, that freedom and that space. And I ate it up. It was, it was, it was, yeah. Like, I wish I could have just appreciated it more then. You know what I mean? Um, cause I look back now and, uh, and those are some really good times.

• 24:12Keke Palmer?

  Isn't that how life is though? For whatever reason, I don't know why it's that way, but it's always a little, you know, hindsight.

• 24:18Speaker 01

  Yeah, I guess that's how it's supposed to be.

• 24:20Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 24:21Speaker 01

  There was only a way, I'm trying to do it now. You know what I mean? But I won't lie, it's not as cool as it was back then. You know what I mean?

• 24:29Keke Palmer?

  Well, that's what messed us up last time, so maybe we gotta think it's hella cool right now.

• 24:32Speaker 01

  Right, right, exactly.

• 24:33Keke Palmer?

  Um, well, give me a little behind the scenes tea, if you have any, on Brown Sugar. Because, I mean, this was a movie about black love and, and as I get older, I really appreciate this so much. Now seeing where hip hop has grown and how it has changed and been affected by its popularity. From being taken from being this niche thing. And it's like, it was a parallel of our culture as black people, the hijacking of, and the hijacking of hip hop at the same time. And so I'm curious, at that time when you were working on that, was that something that Rick talked about? Or was that just you guys were trying to process what was happening in real time?

• 25:08Speaker 01

  The, the, all of it.

• 25:09Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 25:09Speaker 01

  All of it. I remember talking the most deaf, you know? And I never was a hip hop head. I just like, whatever kind of, whatever kind of music I could bop my head to is the music, the music that I would listen to. And I would listen to most deaf and he was naming, he was, you know, a rattling off. Names like Kanye West and, um, you know, all these producers. And I didn't know who they were, but the way he was talking about them, I was like, oh, this is like, this isn't just music to bop your head to, this, this dude studies. And he was explaining, you know, how the rap battles and I remember being on set when um, I remember this specifically, Rick Fumayewa thought that it was not cool.

• 25:50Speaker 01

  He had written in the script, you know, a rapper that used another rapper, what are they called? Ghostwriters.

• 25:56Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, that's right.

• 25:57Speaker 01

  He was like, oh, but wait, ghostwriters aren't cool. And Mos F was like, no, no, no, no, no. Some people are like, they use them and it's not looked down upon. And Rick was like, because it didn't make sense to him.

• 26:09Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 26:09Speaker 01

  He was like, you can be a real rapper, uh, Mos was like, you can be a real rapper, but then sometimes if you're going up against such and such, or you're trying to get a, you know, a, a hit, a hit that, that is, you know, appealing to the people. You go over this next dude and be like, can you, and there's no shame in that.

• 26:24Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 26:25Speaker 01

  And then Rick was like, hmm. And I was like, oh, this is, this is a whole world that I know nothing about. So that's when I started to listen to hip hop differently. And so it was all, you know, I was like an actor.

• 26:38Keke Palmer?

  That's right. That's what I'm hearing when you're saying it.

• 26:41Speaker 01

  And then everything else, I, I learned, even black culture. You know what I mean? Because I grew up, I spoke properly. You know, my mother was a teacher and I was, I always got called white, always got called Oreo. And that was another great thing about The Best Man. And I was around other people that spoke like me and, you know, but, but were confident. They weren't ashamed of, you know, who they were. I was like, oh wow, like when I heard Sinah speak. I was like, oh, okay, but, but she could, she could code switch. Do you know what I mean? And I was like, oh, so, all right. So let me just listen to how, and I got a little, oh, a little swag and it's, it's cool. Because they're doing it so, oh, this feels, this feels, you know, I mean, all that. I was like, oh, I'm with other people like me.

• 27:26Speaker 01

  And I could just like, just relax, you know what I mean?

• 27:29Keke Palmer?

  I'm so happy hearing this because I think that's also why, you know, maybe you also have another add on to this. But I think that is why those movies resonated so much because whether I'm looking at The Wood, it's a friendship, it's a movie about brotherhood, friendship, nuance within the black community, while also growing out of being a kid where it's like, sometimes our friends aren't our number ones anymore. And it's time to move on to love or the best. Man where similar type of thing, but then also we're seeing Harper's a writer and he's an author. I had never like those movies, you know what I'm saying? You was a rec- a marketing record label executive and brown sugar.

• 28:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 28:01Keke Palmer?

  I mean, obviously, we saw some of that with Boomerang. You know, I mean, Eddie Murphy showed us what that could look like on screen. Were those things y'all were talking about at that time? Or is that really just what the world was reflecting back at you? And it was kind of normal to play roles and people, black people in those spaces?

• 28:16Speaker 01

  I knew they existed, but that's why we were so excited to play them. But I had never seen as, like you said Boomerang, and for me, that was it.

• 28:25Keke Palmer?

  That's right.

• 28:26Speaker 01

  So I was, okay, I can't, I can't, I'm so fortunate to, um, let me play this role.

• 28:31Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 28:32Speaker 01

  Oh, oh, this is, this is for me. I could do this, you know what I mean?

• 28:35Keke Palmer?

  Mm hmm.

• 28:36Speaker 01

  I can see myself in this role. Um, so it was, once again, it was, it was an amazing time. Yeah.

• 28:42Keke Palmer?

  Without being biased, what would you say and how would you say that's missing in today's day? Meaning, you know, I can frankly say there's not a movie that I direct to say, this is the sister of The Best Man. This is the sister of Brown Sugar. This is the sister of The Wood. Do you have any thoughts as an artist as to why that could be?

• 29:00Speaker 01

  You know, after this social media thing, I stopped trying to figure it out. You know, before, there used to be a time when you could, you know, dissect it and it made sense. We are at a, at a space, it's also very exciting, but it's harrowing in that I don't think anybody really knows what's going on or why things are, you know, why things are successful, why things are failing. Um, it's like, it's a weird, weird time where it's like, uh, the Wild West. You know, I don't, I don't know why. Um, I know it has something to do with fear. You know, I think people are afraid to make movies like The Best Man. Maybe they don't think it's marketable. I don't know.

• 29:40Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 29:41Speaker 01

  Um, but once again, that doesn't make sense to me if this.

• 29:43Keke Palmer?

  Because those work.

• 29:44Speaker 01

  This used to work.

• 29:45Keke Palmer?

  I will say there was a thing, you know, obviously those movies were successful in the box office, but they were also successful in DVD. So I don't know, you know, obviously DVD don't exist no more. Like when you should be going and getting movies and buying them and having them. So I don't know if that, if that is the. Impact of no longer having a tangible outside thing? Is it just about it going to streaming? Because I don't even see him on streaming.

• 30:05Speaker 01

  I know.

• 30:05Keke Palmer?

  You know, so I don't, I don't know either.

• 30:07Speaker 01

  I don't, I don't get it. I don't get it. Uh, I think it, it will reveal itself really soon.

• 30:11Keke Palmer?

  That's right.

• 30:12Speaker 01

  But what I am excited about is that people are more in control.

• 30:16Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 30:16Speaker 01

  You know what I mean? Like, uh, I love the fact that you can be like, what, what, uh, uh, I'm gonna excuse me, Ryan Coogler?

• 30:25Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, Ryan Coogler.

• 30:26Speaker 01

  Right?

• 30:26Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 30:26Speaker 01

  Coogler, not Cooglin. You know, black folk. Ryan Coogins, Ryan Coogins, Coogler. He's so brilliant.

• 30:35Keke Palmer?

  Please say please.

• 30:40Speaker 01

  Who that director, Ryan Cookie?

• 30:42Keke Palmer?

  Because my mom does that all the time.

• 30:44Speaker 01

  That's how I know I'm getting older.

• 30:46Keke Palmer?

  She's still doing it.

• 30:46Speaker 01

  Who, what's his name? I said Joey's the other day. The restaurant Joey's. It's Joey.

• 30:54Speaker 01

  We meeting at Joey's tonight?

• 30:55Keke Palmer?

  Why do we always put an S on it?

• 30:57Speaker 01

  I don't know.

• 30:58Keke Palmer?

  I don't know what that is with us.

• 30:59Speaker 01

  Uh, anyway.

• 31:00Keke Palmer?

  Ooh, anyway.

• 31:07Keke Palmer?

  Summer reading, more like summer listening. I've been living for Emily Henry's Great Big Beautiful Life on Audible. Okay, it's got everything. A mysterious heiress, competing biographers, and that slow burn romance that makes you want to just throw your phone across the room, but don't because how else are you gonna keep up listening? That would be crazy. And that's what I love about Audible. You can dive into these amazing stories while doing literally everything else. Working out, listen. Meal prep, listen. Pretending to clean but really just dancing with the vacuum? Baby, listen. With over a million titles and thousands included with membership, mm-hmm, Audible's got all the audiobook, podcasts, and originals you could want.

• 31:52Keke Palmer?

  Your imagination deserves this. Head to audible.com for a free 30-day trial and your first audiobook is on me. Visit audible.com/keke and sign up today. There's more to imagine when you listen. Y'all, in celebration of their 20th anniversary, Apple Podcasts just named our show one of the 20 podcasts they love. Can you believe it? These are the shows they say bring the best stories, the freshest voices, and are changing the game in how we all listen. I mean, what an honor. We are so proud to be a part of this moment and excited to help shape the next 20 years of podcasting. If you're just joining us, go check out some of our favorite episodes. This is what we do on Baby. This is Geeky Palmer.

• 32:36Speaker 01

  One of the great things about these influencers, someone can go on Instagram, sing, and they get 50 million followers, and it doesn't matter what a record label said.

• 32:46Keke Palmer?

  That's right.

• 32:47Speaker 01

  Doesn't matter if an agent, you can actually make yourself, you have control over your own destiny to a certain extent. So I love that part about it.

• 32:55Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. You said something on an interview with Cocoa Butter that intrigued me, where you sometimes didn't like to be asked about your old movies, but now you feel differently. I'm curious, when did you not like to be asked about them?

• 33:07Speaker 01

  When I was focused on the future.

• 33:10Keke Palmer?

  What do you mean by that?

• 33:11Speaker 01

  Meaning, I was like, okay, I'm done with that. Either tell me something good about what I'm doing now, or give me the next [BLEEP]. I don't want to know about, you know, but that's now I know, this is how I know I've grown. Now I can accept it, and I can really settle into it and feel, and be proud.

• 33:30Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 33:31Speaker 01

  You know what I mean? You know, when you're younger, it's like, if they're talking about the old [BLEEP], then you must not be on the new [BLEEP], because they talk about the old [BLEEP]. But now, I'm old enough where I'm like, you know what? Like, good for me.

• 33:44Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, I have an incredible legacy. I'm iconic. I've shifted culture.

• 33:48Speaker 01

  It's when people started saying that, where I was like, ew, ew, oh gee.

• 33:55Speaker 01

  I'll slap you. I'll give you your autograph, but don't call me that. And then, I don't know if it was after I had a kid, or, I don't know, then I started really like, listening and being like, oh wow. Oh, we weren't just working. We were setting up something that people, you know, were it not for you, we would not have. I started hearing that, you know, when you hear somebody say, oh, you know, I grew up on you. At first, there was a cringe. But then when it's other talented actors.

• 34:27Keke Palmer?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 34:27Speaker 01

  I remember I was at this club one time, I hope I'm not blowing his spot. And Idris Elba sat down and he was like, mate, mate, mate, mate. And it was like, you're this, you're that. I was like, you're, why are you telling me? And I had to like, you know, take that in, you know? Because you know what it's like being black in this business. You gotta like, put on your helmet, put on your pads. I'm, I'm driving towards this. I got my blinders on. I can't let anybody else get in because I'm going on this path.

• 35:02Keke Palmer?

  That's right.

• 35:03Speaker 01

  Racism, I can't, I gotta let all that bounce off me.

• 35:05Keke Palmer?

  That's right.

• 35:06Speaker 01

  And with that, you let the compliments bounce off you and your flowers. You don't let any of that in either. So, once I took off that armor, yes, you can't, right. You can't let anything weaken you. But once you take that armor off, it makes you better as a performer. Because you're, you're more vulnerable and you can react. And you can just appreciate yourself and, and just really revel in, in, in what you've done and where you are in the moment.

• 35:32Keke Palmer?

  I think people gotta hear that too, especially for us. Because I think it's, you know, as black people, while there is truth to obviously our white counterparts and how we're having to exist in any industry. When we lead with those comparisons and what we're up against on things that really we can never, not really quite change in totality. We don't get to appreciate what we are achieving and what we are doing, which is success on a grand level, no matter what color or gender you are. Because it's like, a lot of people not even touching their dreams, let alone thriving and expressing and living in them. So, I constantly have to remind myself that and constantly want to, you know, whenever I'm at the BET Awards or the NAACP Awards, like, guys, this is, this is the [BLEEP] here. You know what I'm saying? All that other stuff is cool. It's great, I love it.

• 36:14Keke Palmer?

  But guys, we, you can't, I can't go to somebody else's mama's house and expect her to love me the way my mama is.

• 36:20Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 36:21Keke Palmer?

  That just don't even make sense.

• 36:22Speaker 01

  It didn't used to be like that. We, people used to look at that like the lowest.

• 36:25Keke Palmer?

  Which I hate. And we gotta change that.

• 36:28Speaker 01

  It's changed though, yeah.

• 36:28Keke Palmer?

  Yes, yes, yes. Now, you've gone between, obviously, we talk about TV, film, theater. Whole career and that really wasn't common. I mean, you were speaking on a little bit before, you know, just about how, you know, people bringing up the past and wanting to keep you in a particular lane. And obviously you continuously, whether intentionally or unintentionally, broken that down even now with being the social influencer and even having that under your belt now. You always welcome to other spaces. How hard was it for you with your team and in just in the direction of your career to make sure that you didn't get boxed in?

• 37:00Speaker 01

  That's a good question. Okay, so I'm gonna tell this in a quick manner of speaking. Like, um, letting things happen and being comfortable where you are.

• 37:11Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 37:12Speaker 01

  You know, so things were going really, really well for me. You know what I mean? I had this confidence. I was, you know, I felt, you know, propelled. Things were coming very easily to me. And that that stays in line with like kind of manifesting and the law of attraction.

• 37:30Keke Palmer?

  That's right.

• 37:30Speaker 01

  Stuff. I just, I knew it was gonna happen. I didn't know why, but I was like, I'm gonna get to this point. And the moment I took my eye off the ball and looked at like what white people were doing, I remember, I was on the Upper West Side and I looked at this Vanity Fair on the cover was, um, Matt Damon. And I had been in like the same amount of movies as Matt Damon, but two of my movies had been number one. None of his had been number one yet. And I was like, I want that. I wanna be that. So it went from Will Smith.

• 38:04Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 38:04Speaker 01

  To Matt Damon. So I went to my agents, stop, I don't wanna mess with no more black movies. I only wanna be submitted for like the way, I don't wanna be the black dude in a white movie like, and that's, that's climbing the ladder. That's what you do. You know what I mean?

• 38:19Keke Palmer?

  That's what they said.

• 38:19Speaker 01

  You look at all of us. That's what happens. But I was like, uh-uh, I got, I got off, I got, I was out of my bag. You know what I mean?

• 38:26Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 38:27Speaker 01

  And I was like, and my agents weren't honest enough to be like, wait.

• 38:34Speaker 01

  You're black. This is how you're on the right path.

• 38:38Keke Palmer?

  For your

• 38:39Speaker 01

  Just they're like, oh, I agree with you. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You should be.

• 38:42Keke Palmer?

  No.

• 38:43Speaker 01

  They were like, no, they, nobody told me, business is still kind of ready. They ain't ready yet. They ain't ready. Like, right now, you're the black, you're the black flavor of the month. Just be cool. And slowly, you then you'll be the black dude in the white movie state. Right at that moment, right when I was like the black dude in the white movies, I was like, nope. Put me in the room with the Matt Damons and the Ben Affleck's and the. And then every, I switched to every agency I went through. And then I was like, what is going on? And I was like, ooh, oh, okay. I wasn't, I wasn't, I didn't stay in my line. I didn't stay in my lane. And I was like, okay, let me just get back. And then I got a TV gig.

• 39:27Speaker 01

  And I was like, okay, let me go back to the original and just like feel where I am, feel what feels good. Not try to be like nobody else.

• 39:34Keke Palmer?

  This, this is really, really important. And I think it's so important, again, for people of color to hear this because the discrepancies are true. It's the same thing with gender discrepancies are there. That's not incorrect. But what do you say to the young people coming up? To keep them inspired, excited, and to not feel that they're not being valued when this is the reality? Like, how do you, how do you realize and know and validate your own lane despite the circumstances?

• 40:03Speaker 01

  Just be in contact with what's happening right now. You know what I mean? Like, if I had just taken a minute to see where I was, I was having, I was really enjoying myself. Go with that. Go with what feels right. Um, but I went with where I thought I should be as opposed to really appreciating. I was having a ball where I was. I was with the, I was CA, the top agency. CA, you know what I mean? Take a look at what's around you. And then do the math. You know what I mean? Sometimes you need to just tread water for a little bit.

• 40:34Keke Palmer?

  That's right.

• 40:34Speaker 01

  You know what I mean?

• 40:35Keke Palmer?

  So true.

• 40:35Speaker 01

  It doesn't mean you have to completely forsake, you know, being ambitious. But sometimes if things are working, let them work.

• 40:42Keke Palmer?

  That's right.

• 40:42Speaker 01

  Let, you know, what do they say? Uh, trust the process.

• 40:45Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 40:46Speaker 01

  I wasn't trusting the process. The moment I stopped trusting the process, the process didn't trust me.

• 40:54Keke Palmer?

  That's real, man. That's real.

• 40:56Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 40:57Keke Palmer?

  Um, you've obviously had major success on TV as well. We talked about that from private practice to Empire, All of America. I just gotta tell you, All American, I love seeing you on there. And I watched every season of that damn show.

• 41:07Speaker 01

  That was a sleeper, bro. More people know me from that than everything combined.

• 41:11Keke Palmer?

  It's so good, that show. I mean, who doesn't love a teen soap? So I had to shout that out.

• 41:16Speaker 01

  Man, these young people. Hey, today at the basketball game. Hey, Coach Baker. Hey, Coach Baker. Can I get a picture with you, Coach Baker?

• 41:24Keke Palmer?

  It's so good. It's so good. And then you also returned to Broadway with, what was it? The Hedwig and the Angry Limp?

• 41:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 41:31Keke Palmer?

  How was that?

• 41:31Speaker 01

  Crazy, petrifying, the hardest thing I've ever had to do. But, uh, but I'm going back. I'm going back, uh, uh, next month to do, uh, Moulin Rouge. You gotta, you gotta keep, uh, have you done Broadway yet?

• 41:42Keke Palmer?

  I did Cinderella, Rodgers and Hammerstein. Yeah, and I loved it. And I wanna go again.

• 41:46Speaker 01

  You need to.

• 41:47Keke Palmer?

  I want to do it again so bad. I, like you said, so it's funny. My parents, they started out in theater and they taught me as a theater actor, but I just jumped into film and TV first.

• 41:56Speaker 01

  Well, you could, yeah.

• 41:57Keke Palmer?

  And so I, I, but when I actually got on stage, I was like, oh, this is my juge.

• 42:01Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 42:01Keke Palmer?

  This is actually, that's why I'm so vaudeville-esque is because I'm really for Broadway. You know, like, that's actually my vibe, man. So it's like, for me, I gotta, I mean, I need a multi cam sitcom, something. Because that, that straight to the audience vibe, that's me all day.

• 42:17Speaker 01

  You feed off that energy.

• 42:18Keke Palmer?

  Oh, my gosh, yes, yes. I wanna do a game. I do a game with all my guests and I did this one specific for you. It's called You Dig or You Don't. So pretty much I'm gonna throw you some modern day scenarios, right? About love and you tell me which one of your iconic characters would dig it and which one would absolutely not.

• 42:37Speaker 01

  The characters that I have played.

• 42:38Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, that would dig the scenario.

• 42:40Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 42:40Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, like, like, this would be for him, or this would be for him. And so the characters are, obviously, I give these to you.

• 42:46Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 42:47Keke Palmer?

  So Andre Ellis from Brown Sugar. We got Harper Stewart from The Best Man. Winston Shakespeare from His Stella Got a Groove Back. And Benjamin Benny Coffin III from Rent. You ready? Aren't those pictures so good? I had hair.

• 43:05Speaker 01

  Look at that.

• 43:06Keke Palmer?

  Say, you are too.

• 43:07Speaker 01

  I had a hairline.

• 43:08Keke Palmer?

  But, by the way, out of, out of all of your movies, do you have a favorite one? Or a favorite experience? Because, you know, it could be different.

• 43:15Speaker 01

  It's all, I can't, because I had, I was so lucky, I had so much fun on every, I know, I, I never laughed more than I did when I, when it was, um, Malibu's Most One. Every day.

• 43:25Keke Palmer?

  Oh, my gosh, so good, too.

• 43:26Speaker 01

  We laughed all day, every day.

• 43:29Keke Palmer?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 43:29Speaker 01

  And that was just, you know.

• 43:31Keke Palmer?

  I miss those movies, too.

• 43:32Speaker 01

  Regina was in that one, you know, Anthony Anderson, all day, every day. And that was like, that's when I realized, if I could do this, this is, this is a nice little living. But if I could find something where I could be funny every day, all day, it was that.

• 43:45Keke Palmer?

  All right, here we go. This is what we're working with, the first one. Going on a first date at Cheesecake Factory. Who's digging it?

• 43:51Speaker 01

  At Cheesecake.

• 43:53Keke Palmer?

  Who's not digging it?

• 43:54Speaker 01

  Factory. At Cheesecake Factory? Who is digging it? At Cheesecake Factory?

• 44:01Keke Palmer?

  The repeating is giving me life.

• 44:03Speaker 01

  Okay, probably.

• 44:07Speaker 01

  Probably, uh, Winston Shakespeare.

• 44:09Keke Palmer?

  Yeah, he's definitely digging it. He was digging anything.

• 44:12Speaker 01

  Yeah, he was. I like it here.

• 44:17Keke Palmer?

  How is it with you with that accent? Did they give you a dialect coach?

• 44:20Speaker 01

  They did, they did, they did.

• 44:22Keke Palmer?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 44:23Speaker 01

  I get a mixed reaction. Some people were like, I love that movie. The accent was way off mine, but I love the movie. And then other people were like, oh, yeah, that's spot on.

• 44:33Keke Palmer?

  Okay, subtweeting your ex. Who's digging it? Who ain't digging it?

• 44:37Speaker 01

  Subtweeting?

• 44:38Keke Palmer?

  Subtweeting, you know what that is?

• 44:39Speaker 01

  Uh-uh.

• 44:39Keke Palmer?

  So it's like, if I put on my page a caption where it's like, at the end of the day, if you ain't paying, I ain't staying. But it's like to somebody I know.

• 44:48Speaker 01

  Oh, okay. Okay.

• 44:49Keke Palmer?

  Who's digging that?

• 44:50Speaker 01

  That would be...

• 44:52Keke Palmer?

  You already know.

• 44:53Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 44:53Keke Palmer?

  My divorce.

• 44:56Keke Palmer?

  Because he was petty as hell. When I tell you I love that character. He was the petty, he had to be a Virgo man.

• 45:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 45:03Keke Palmer?

  Because he was petty as [BLEEP].

• 45:04Speaker 01

  He really was.

• 45:05Keke Palmer?

  He really was. He was always on [BLEEP]. He know he didn't like that wife. Poor Nicole.

• 45:10Speaker 01

  Oh, no.

• 45:11Keke Palmer?

  He didn't want her, he was wanting Sanaa bad.

• 45:13Speaker 01

  I know it.

• 45:14Keke Palmer?

  And Sanaa was just doing that best friend role. And she was like, no, no, no, but... Like, stop playing. And he's sitting up on that thing, talking, I'm gonna quit my job. Oh, hell. Too good. Okay, um, getting left on read because of grammar in a text. Who's doing that? I think I have an idea of who would...

• 45:32Speaker 01

  Getting left on read because of grammar.

• 45:35Keke Palmer?

  Who would do this? We know who.

• 45:37Speaker 01

  What I, meaning would my character leave somebody?

• 45:39Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 45:39Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 45:40Keke Palmer?

  Harper.

• 45:40Speaker 01

  Oh, Harper, yeah.

• 45:41Keke Palmer?

  He was so uptight. You know what I loved about Harper in The Best Man, the TV show?

• 45:45Speaker 01

  She said, "Lie, Barry."

• 45:48Speaker 01

  She said, "Lie, Barry." How am I supposed to...

• 45:53Keke Palmer?

  Harper was, and I love when they had that conversation with, with Sanaa's character on The Best Man, when you guys did the TV show.

• 45:59Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 46:00Keke Palmer?

  I loved, I loved how you guys expanded on the dynamics.

• 46:03Speaker 01

  I wish you could do more of that.

• 46:04Keke Palmer?

  Me too. I thought we, I thought we was doing a second one.

• 46:06Speaker 01

  Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I know that the, it was, the director was like, okay, this, this'll be it. Cause it was, we were a lot to handle. We were a lot to handle. We were a lot.

• 46:15Keke Palmer?

  Not y'all was, y'all turned into Sex and the City.

• 46:17Speaker 01

  You know what I mean? We were a lot.

• 46:19Keke Palmer?

  Child.

• 46:19Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 46:20Keke Palmer?

  Friends. Okay, here we go. Um, sending a "you up" text at 11:11 and calling it manifesting.

• 46:31Keke Palmer?

  Shout out to my producers for these. They're very good.

• 46:34Speaker 01

  That would be, is there a regular Tay Diggs? No, I'm just kidding.

• 46:40Speaker 01

  "You up." That might be "you up." Oh, that might be Benjamin Kaufman, the... Yeah.

• 46:46Keke Palmer?

  Yeah.

• 46:46Speaker 01

  That might be Benjamin Kaufman.

• 46:47Keke Palmer?

  Look at Benjamin. Hey, Benj.

• 46:51Keke Palmer?

  Okay, make up sex after a 24-hour argument. We know who that is. I can't believe y'all don't have Roland up here. Yeah, for sure. I mean, he was the most toxic. I think he was the most toxic character, for sure. He was. Oh, my gosh. Okay, um, getting a matching tattoo after the third date. We know who that is.

• 47:13Speaker 01

  After the third day. Oh, right, yes.

• 47:17Keke Palmer?

  He was ready to leave this whole country.

• 47:19Speaker 01

  That's a little bit like me, too.

• 47:22Keke Palmer?

  Oh, that's a good question. Which one of your characters did you feel you were most like?

• 47:27Speaker 01

  Um, probably the best man, um, Harper. Harper, because that was early, early enough in the career where I was like, oh, this guy is kind of me. You know what I mean? And then, um...

• 47:41Keke Palmer?

  Very educated.

• 47:42Speaker 01

  I had to do the least amount of, of acting um, with, with that character, yeah.

• 47:49Keke Palmer?

  Okay, this is the last one. The I'm not ready for a relationship type after consistently dating for a month.

• 47:57Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, that's why I'm in this cat.

• 48:01Keke Palmer?

  He's the, that's my boy. Brown sugar. Oh, my gosh, Tay. I'm so glad to have had you on the show and to finally have had a conversation so you can know how deep of a fan I am of you. Seriously, man.

• 48:15Speaker 01

  And, and vice versa, vice versa. Look at you just doing this. I'm listening to your vocabulary.

• 48:28Speaker 01

  I see you.

• 48:29Keke Palmer?

  Please, Tay.

• 48:30Speaker 01

  This is not easy, y'all.

• 48:31Keke Palmer?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 48:32Speaker 01

  This is not easy.

• 48:34Keke Palmer?

  Now, that's where Walker gets it from, because you just mimicked me. That's where Walker, Walker getting it from you.

• 48:40Speaker 01

  Very, I'm very impressed, so keep, keep it up.

• 48:42Keke Palmer?

  Thank you so much. Give me some love. Thank you for coming on Baby This.

• 48:50Keke Palmer?

  I don't know about y'all, but those movies, The Wood, Best Man, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, and so many others, literally raised me. They were my comfort watches, and still are. But also, they were the culture. They showed us black love, family, friendship, and ambition with depth, joy, and realness. And Taye Diggs was right there in the center of it all. He's one of those entertainers that's never let himself be boxed in. Broadway, films, TV, he stays booked and busy and present for his son. That's the power of versatility. You don't have to do just one thing or be only one version of yourself. You can evolve, pivot, and show up fully in any space that calls your name. And if y'all take one thing from this conversation, it's that we need to be present and receive our successes as they come.

• 49:34Keke Palmer?

  We have to sit in our accomplishments and appreciate every chapter of life. Now, I feel like it might be time for a little brown sugar re-watch. So, until next time, you know it's your girl.