Keke Palmer | Good Hang with Amy Poehler

Episode Overview

• In this episode of the Good Hang podcast, host Amy Poehler is joined by guest contributor Paula Pell and main guest Keke Palmer (actress, singer, writer, and host) to explore how high-achieving, multi-hyphenate performers balance constant optimization and work ethic with restraint, ease, and restorative rest.
• The conversation traces Palmer's personal and professional systems—from her intense organizational habits and Pilates practice to her childhood transition from Chicago to Los Angeles and the emotional toll of early fame on her family.
• Palmer and Poehler examine the interpersonal dynamics of over-functioning caretakers, discussing the spiritual and relational practices required to step back, cut energetic cords, and allow others to provide care.
• The narrative progresses into Palmer's evolution as a mature artist learning from mentors like Angela Bassett, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Lopez, Whoopi Goldberg, and Jordan Peele, culminating in a discussion on safely processing anger and sadness and redefining active versus still rest.

Key Concepts

• Business Ties, Projects, and Sponsor Disclosures: Host Amy Poehler reads advertisements for Uber Eats (promoting back-to-school essentials, snacks, and supplies from brands like ALDI and Staples for $5 or less, with the offer ending September 7th), Allstate (promoting auto insurance quotes from Allstate North American Insurance Company and affiliates in Northbrook, Illinois), and PayPal (promoting the PayPal app for saving offers and "pay now or pay later" options). Keke Palmer discloses several projects and business ties, including the movies I Love Boosters and Spaceballs, the podcast Baby, This is Keke Palmer, hosting the TV game show Password, her music album Virgo Tendencies, an upcoming album and music video, and her television show The 'Burbs, in which she co-stars with Paula Pell (which begins shooting its second season in October).
• Rigorous Organization as a Fight for Ease: Both Poehler and Palmer are Virgos (they also claim Beyoncé, Zendaya, Kobe Bryant, and Mother Teresa are Virgos, and Palmer hedges that while we celebrate it on Christmas, she heard that Jesus maybe was born in September). Their shared trait manifests as intense organization: Palmer labels everything in her home, separates skin masks by hydration versus exfoliation, keeps supplements at the top of her bedside with eye masks and a journal underneath, and tracks her menstrual cycle alongside corresponding foods. Similarly, Poehler spent hours researching the six essential cooking utensils to keep in a steel container next to the stove after seeing it on TikTok. While this level of optimization looks like making life harder, Palmer explains it is actually a fight for ease—setting systems up in advance eliminates future decision fatigue.
• Physical Grounding and Daily Routines: High-energy performers who spend a lot of time projecting outward energy ("being 'wee'") need practices that remind them it is safe inside their own bodies. Palmer, who is a certified Pilates instructor, maintains a strict routine to support this balance: she likes to get to sleep by 10:30 PM, and the night prior to recording she went to bed at 11:00 PM, set alarms for 7:15 AM and 7:30 AM, and attended an 8:00 AM Pilates class at her favorite studio, Forma. (By contrast, 63-year-old Paula Pell shares her own recent health and lifestyle realities, noting she recently bought a blood pressure cuff after feeling dizzy from drinking two drinks quickly in the hot sun, and bought four miniature windshield snow-blowing fans from an internet ad that turned out to be a rip-off.)
• The Vulnerability of Receiving Care: Over-achievers and caretakers often struggle with restraint and letting others step in; both Poehler and Palmer admit that the concept of letting others take care of them initially makes them want to "barf." However, Poehler emphasizes a counterintuitive relational truth: people actually feel closer to you when you allow them to take care of you, rather than always acting as the sole caretaker.
• The Familial Cost of Early Success: Palmer grew up in Chicago, Illinois; her parents met at a speech competition in New Orleans (where they had Popeyes for the first time) and performed in a musical called The Other Cinderella at the Black Ensemble Theater in Chicago, founded by Jackie Taylor. When Palmer was 10 years old, her parents and siblings drove 4 days and 3 nights to move from Chicago to Los Angeles for her career. Her first acting job in LA at age 10 was a TNT movie called The Wool Cap with William H. Macy, filmed in Montreal. Because productions only pay for one guardian to travel with a minor, this job marked the first time her parents were separated 24/7 since her mother was 19. Acknowledging that her success cost her family members something has been essential to their collective healing. (Reflecting on her Chicago roots and comedic influences, Palmer notes that great comedians help the public metabolize difficult topics through entertainment, though she never met Chicago comedian Bernie Mac or singer Whitney Houston before they passed away, having only met Houston's daughter, Bobbi Kristina, on Myspace.)
• Mentorship, Professionalism, and Creative Agency: Throughout her career, Palmer has absorbed critical lessons from industry veterans. On Akeelah and the Bee, Angela Bassett taught her how to access deep emotion on cue without causing emotional self-damage. Queen Latifah (Dana Owens) demonstrated the long-term value of professionalism, recommending Palmer to a director based on watching her work ethic over time (Poehler also recalls Latifah's professionalism during a live Saturday Night Live sketch with Maya Rudolph where the music track failed during a 10-second countdown—10, 9, 8... 5, 4, 3, 2, 1—forcing them to sing jingles a cappella). Palmer also cites Jennifer Lopez (J.Lo) and Whoopi Goldberg as mentors, and notes that while filming Nope, Jordan Peele became the first director to ask for her opinion on where to take a character, teaching her that her opinion is a vital part of being an actor.
• Safe Emotional Processing and Reclaiming Anger: Palmer hedges on her habit of crying by stating that some people could say she has a depression issue, but she loves to cry alone. She pairs this emotional release with confronting the societal perception of the "angry Black woman," holding space for the reality that she is allowed to feel anger without carrying the weight of that stereotype. To release pent-up anger, she recently wrote a couple of rock songs.
• Active vs. Still Rest and Personal Boundaries: Citing Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith—an author and TED Talk speaker who outlines the seven types of rest, specifically spiritual rest, creative rest, and how rest applies to Black women—Poehler asks how Palmer finds restoration. Palmer explains that stillness (such as yoga) does not work for her; her restorative rest is active, consisting of Pilates, playing in the yard with her son, "puttering" around the house, or taking naps during 30-minute to 45-minute car rides between jobs in LA. (Even at home, her comedic energy is kept in check by her young son Leo, who actively shuts her down when she dances or acts silly, telling her, "Mommy, no. Stop it... You need to stop being silly.") Demonstrating real-time boundary setting and bodily ease, Palmer becomes the first guest on Good Hang to take a bathroom break in the middle of recording. In a rapid-fire closing segment, Palmer shares her current personal preferences and boundaries: her favorite old sitcom is Family Matters; she wants her manicure duration to be no more than 1 hour and 30 minutes (preferring a simple color with glaze or chrome, and currently wearing a French tip with glaze); she wants to do a 1-hour stand-up show one day if she finds a writing partner; she is currently listening to a few songs from Drake's album and Don Toliver's last project; her go-to party song is "Candy Coated Raindrops" by Kelis; her go-to baby present is money in a card; and when asked if she has ever seen a ghost, she hedges, "I think I felt one. I think I felt the spirit of a ghost."

Quotes

• At 0:09:38 - "She's positive in the way that you say, 'Oh, cheerfulness is a choice.' And it's a constructive choice. It's a choice that actually changes your trajectory of your day if you look at it and say grateful, cheerful, joyful." - Paula Pell explaining how Keke Palmer intentionally uses cheerfulness and gratitude as a constructive choice on set.
• At 0:15:18 - "I love that kind of thing because honestly, it's really about optimization. I think we're actually fighting for ease. Even though it seems like we're making our life more difficult by doing these things, these things are actually on the path of ease. Because when it's already set up, you don't have to think about it." - Keke Palmer explaining why obsessive organization and labeling are actually strategies to reduce future mental friction.
• At 0:20:16 - "What Pilates helped me to realize is that I've got to have some more balance with this. Because it's fun to be 'wee,' because sometimes you need to be 'wee.' But then it's like you need to also really have the practices that remind you that it's safe inside, too." - Keke Palmer discussing how Pilates helps her balance her outward, high-energy persona with internal safety.
• At 0:23:10 - "Seeing something and knowing something, and not saying it. Having a conversation and deciding to let reality show me instead of pulling for more, asking for more. If it doesn't feel good, right, if I have to contort myself or push in order for it to happen, deciding that I should pull back." - Keke Palmer defining her current practice of restraint and stepping back when a situation requires her to contort herself.
• At 0:24:01 - "It was a hard lesson for me to learn, which is actually people feel closer to you when they get to take care of you." - Amy Poehler sharing a counterintuitive insight for chronic caretakers on how allowing others to help builds intimacy.
• At 0:29:32 - "I think the wonderful thing about any great comedian is to be able to bring up difficult topics and metabolize them, help the public metabolize them through entertainment." - Keke Palmer reflecting on the cultural role of comedians while discussing Chicago comedy legends.
• At 0:35:40 - "It is tough, but it's the truth. And I think that's been such a big part of my healing and my family's healing, because it all cost us something." - Keke Palmer acknowledging the sacrifices and separation her family endured when moving to Los Angeles for her childhood acting career.
• At 0:39:38 - "She taught me a skill of how to get to the emotion without damaging yourself. Because I think for many years, because I didn't have a lot of experiences as a kid, it was hard for me to attach what the character was going through to something that had happened to me without damaging myself." - Keke Palmer describing the acting technique Angela Bassett taught her on the set of Akeelah and the Bee.
• At 0:44:41 - "I'm dealing now with the realities of holding space for the fact that I'm allowed to be angry without wearing the weight of the perception around being an angry Black woman." - Keke Palmer explaining her emotional evolution in allowing herself to experience and express anger freely.
• At 0:50:15 - "He was the first director that made me realize, and this is no shade to any other director, but made me realize that my opinion was a part of being an actor." - Keke Palmer crediting director Jordan Peele on the set of Nope for asking for her input on her character's direction.

Takeaways

• Practice Restraint in Difficult Dynamics: When you notice something in a conversation or relationship that does not feel right, practice seeing and knowing it without immediately speaking on it or pulling for more; if you have to contort yourself or push to make something happen, choose to pull back and let reality show itself.
• Use Visualization and Physical Rituals to Clear Energy: To detach from draining relationships, try the spiritual visualization practice of "cutting the cords" (which Poehler learned from Rashida Jones's sister, Kidada, while Rashida is currently staying at Poehler's house, and which Palmer has practiced for the last month using an axe visualization guided by her friend Melissa Joan Hart), or adopt Palmer's grandmother's practice of sweeping the front and back of the porch to clear out space and energy.
• Adopt Cheerfulness as a Constructive Choice: Approach your daily environment by treating cheerfulness, gratitude, and joy as intentional, constructive choices that can actively alter the trajectory of your day.
• Process Deep Emotions Without Self-Damage: If you need to access grief or sadness (for creative work or personal processing) without traumatizing yourself by reliving past real-life tragedies, use Angela Bassett's technique of imagining a hypothetical loss of your current support system (such as Palmer imagining her mother refusing to help her with acting anymore).
• Schedule Safe Outlets for Sadness and Anger: Instead of suppressing heavy emotions, create intentional, private outlets to metabolize them—such as taking time to cry alone or writing rock songs to safely release pent-up anger.
• Customize Your Rest Around Your Energy Type: If traditional stillness practices like yoga do not feel restorative to you, embrace active rest—such as "puttering" around the house, playing outside with family, or taking naps during 30-minute to 45-minute car rides between commitments.