Who is Keke Palmer? What is the SNL host famous for?
The former child star made a big announcement on her first appearance as the host of Saturday Night Live.
Last weekend’s episode of Saturday Night Live was hosted by actor, singer and comedian Keke Palmer. It was her first time hosting the show and she certainly made the most of the opportunity.
Palmer made headlines on SNL by announcing that she was pregnant on live television, revealing that she was expecting her first child. She appeared with a trench coat for her opening monologue and said she wanted “to set the record straight” about some “rumors going around”.
“Let the check clear, and then we can get to the damn baby shower,” she joked, after revealing that she had held off on making the announcement to ensure that it wouldn’t cost her a lucrative sponsorship deal with a liquor company.
Who is Keke Palmer?
Now aged 29, Palmer broke through as a child actor, making her acting debut in Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2004). Her first major role was in the film Akeelah and the Bee (2006) in which she played the lead role of Akeelah Anderson.
Shortly after that she released her debut studio album, ‘So Uncool’, in 2007 on Atlantic Records.
She then began a long-running working relationship with Nickelodeon. She played a number a major roles for the channel’s children’s output, such as the title character in True Jackson VP (2008-2011).
Palmer made the move to more mature roles after turning 18 and starred in Fox’s satirical horror series Scream Queens (2015–2016) and Epix drama series Berlin Station (2017–2019).
More recently she has played major role in Hustlers (2019) and Nope (2022), directed by Jordan Peele.
She has been recognised with a number of awards during her acting career and picked up multiple prizes as a child actor. She won five awards at the NAACP Image Awards for her work on Akeelah and the Bee and True Jackson, VP.
Perhaps most notably, earlier this year she won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series. She won the award for her ‘one-woman-show’ entitled Keke Palmer’s Turnt Up with the Taylors.
The SNL episode hosted by Palmer included a cold open mocking Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker, a sketch advising Drake’s exes, and a performance from Sza.