Baby, this is Keke Palmer
Baby, this is Keke Palmer

Michelle Buteau on Being “Too Much” and Turning It Into a Superpower

June 30, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Michelle Buteau was told by a college professor that she was "too fat to be on camera." She was a journalism student at the time, and the comment was delivered as a matter of fact. There were no iPhones, no social media to push back against it. "This is the 90s," she says. "It was pretty lawless." She didn't question him. She went into production instead, learning how the sausage is made. Decades later, she became the first woman to film a comedy special at Radio City Music Hall. She booked the venue knowing she could barely afford it, asked the tour guide if any woman had ever recorded there, and when the answer was no, she felt a thing in her gut. "Some would say acid reflux," she says. "But I say instinct."

The Body as a Truth-Telling Instrument

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What you'll learn

  • 1 Timestamped Outline
  • 2 (00:00) **Opening: Owning Your Story** - Keke introduces Michelle Buteau as someone who turned being told she was "too much" into a superpower
  • 3 (02:04) **Meeting in Real Life & Astrology Check** - Michelle and Keke bond over their airport meeting and dive into their astrological big three
  • 4 (04:34) **Love Languages & What Actually Matters** - Michelle explains why thoughtfulness matters more than money in relationships
  • 5 (06:08) **Punching Up, Not Down** - Michelle discusses why comedians should punch up and the question she hates getting in interviews
  • 6 (07:57) **Meeting Idols & Social Anxiety** - Michelle shares her starstruck moments and admits to having social anxiety
  • 7 (10:23) **The One-Night Stand That Became a Marriage** - Michelle tells the story of meeting her Dutch husband

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

It’s giving girls’ night, comedy special, and therapy session all in one. Comedian Michelle Buteau takes Keke from body shame and bad advice to a one-night stand turned Dutch love story, proving that the things people tell you to shrink can become your greatest superpower. Along the way, they share hilarious stories and talk confidence, sex, rejection, motherhood, Survival of the Thickest, and Michelle’s history-making Radio City Music Hall moment. Plus, a game of Password that goes completely off the rails.

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Baby, this is Keke Palmer

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