Finally, Saturday Night Live hired a black woman! It has been 5 long years since Maya Rudolph left the cast, so this is a real cause for celebration. Saturday Night Live recently came under fire for the lack of diversity on their cast, and since then the producers have been on a hunt for talented black comedians.
We are happy to announce that Sasheer Zamata will join the cast along with musical guest, Drake, on January 18th.
Zamata is a comedic veteran with an impressive resume to prove it. Zamata graduated from the University of Virginia and was performing at the UCB Theater in New York before scoring the new gig. The triple threat comedian writes, directs, and acts.
We particularly love the web series Pursuit of Sexiness (warning: adult humor”> that she created with Girl Code’s Nicole Byer (another amazing comedian”>. See, Kenan? There is talent out there.
In addition to her stand up performances, she has appeared on Inside Amy Schumer and Totally Biased With W. Kamau Bell. And Cosmopolitan just named her one of 13 Women to Watch in 2014!
Of course, at NaturallyCurly, Zamata’s natural hair caught our eye. Whether it is fro’d out or pinned under, we appreciate that she embraces her natural texture. Since natural hair is such a defining feature for black women we can’t wait to see if and how her hair will play a role in upcoming sketches. Let’s hope they don’t all require a wig.
We’re so excited about this new addition because, though we thoroughly enjoyed it, we couldn’t possibly ask Scandal’s Kerry Washington to make another guest appearance in which she plays every single black character again. Nor will we sit and suffer through any more of Kenan Thompson’s female impersonations!
We’re looking forward to seeing more of this fresh new face on SNL in 2014.
