How Keke Palmer Is Using Microdramas to Make Comedy Her Way

For Keke Palmer, the microdrama isn’t just another digital format. It’s a way to make the kind of comedy she’s been trying to bring back to Hollywood on her own terms.

The multi-hyphenate entertainer has spent years building Lady Miss Jacqueline, the larger-than-life Southern belle she created for her 2016 digital sketch series “Southern Belle Insults,” into a character with a life beyond social media. Now, Palmer is using the bite-sized format to push the character into a more highly produced format, while giving herself a platform to showcase the character work she says traditional Hollywood has not always offered.

“Microdramas take what we love about over-the-top soap operas and deliver endless histrionic moments, and that is right up Lady Miss Jacqueline’s alley!” Palmer said in an email Q&A with TheWrap. “Lady Miss Jacqueline has gone through multiple husbands and hostile takeovers. She is a walking soap opera.”

Palmer expanded her digital series into an Audible original project, featuring voice acting from Sheryl Lee Ralph, Audra McDonald and Danielle Brooks, to name a few. 

In promotion for her latest original “The Weddings of Lady Miss Jacqueline,” Palmer decided to create a three-part microseries “Southern Belle Insults: The Pre-Wedding Shenanigans of Lady Miss Jacqueline.”

The series rolled out on Audible and Palmer’s social channels starting Monday. Viewers will see Lady Miss in a pickle as she wakes up on her wedding day with several suitors (who are not her husband) in her bedroom. 

“The ‘Burbs” star considers herself, and specifically her character work with Lady Miss, as a “throwback to the old vaudeville days.” The microseries allowed her to play within a genre on a tight timetable while still feeling creatively fulfilled. 

“I grew up watching Whoopi Goldberg and reruns of ‘The Carol Burnett Show’ with my grandmother, and I was truly fascinated with all the characters these women created and shared with the world,” she explained.  

“I wanted to do that kind of comedy as well. However, the traditional doors of Hollywood were not necessarily opening for me in this genre,” she said. “If I wanted to show people what I could do in comedy, I had to produce the content myself.”

The camp performance she delivers as the Southern belle is derived from her comedy inspirations. She even emulated her variety show heroes by performing standup as the character on “The Tonight Show” earlier this summer. 

“I kept going back to the original ‘Tonight Show’ with Johnny Carson and even Jay Leno, and how they would have comedians sometimes come out in character and do a whole routine as their alter ego, like the fabulous Flip Wilson as Geraldine, or Ruth Buzzi as the hilariously funny Gladys Ormphby,” she said. “It was scary, but in my heart, I am a throwback to the old vaudeville days, and doing it live was what they did.”

The microdrama series featured appearances from “Real Housewives of Atlanta” alum Phaedra Parks, comedy creator Zachariah Porter and E! News’ Justin Sylvester. 

As for the future of microdramas in Hollywood, Palmer said she sees a real opportunity for the short episodic format to lean into successful brand partnerships and proof of concept storytelling.

“The condensed format and shooting style allow for exciting storytelling possibilities without a long-term commitment, which I like,” Palmer said of the format’s turnaround time. “Also, the opportunity to launch and expand IP alongside promoting established properties within this space is only going to continue to grow, in my opinion.”

“Southern Belle Insults: The Pre-Wedding Shenanigans of Lady Miss Jacqueline” was produced in collaboration with Max Wyeth and Audible. The three-episode series was directed by Kristen Brancaccio, who directed Hoorae’s TikTok microdrama “Screen Time.”