“Saturday Night Live” returned on January 18 after a winter hiatus with Drake as the show’s host and musical guest. However, it seems like people were talking less about Drake’s comedic stint and more about SNL’s new cast member, Sasheer Zamata.
Zamata joined the cast, coincidentally, on Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend, as the first black female cast member since Maya Rudolph, who left the show in 2007. This addition comes after somewhat of a scramble to bring a black woman into the mix, a result of Keenan Thompson’s announcement in the beginning of this season that he would no longer continue doing drag. Keenan’s refusal to play a black woman created a significant dent in the number of sketches that could be performed, a fact that was made fun of when Kerry Washington hosted.
SNL also added two new writers, also black females, Leslie Jones and LaKendra Tookes, an alumnus of UF.
I was excited to see Zamata in action this weekend, but I have to say I was greatly disappointed — not with her performance but with how the writers chose to use her. Zamata had no central role in any sketch and, instead, was awkwardly stuck in the middle with few lines. Her only celebrity impersonation that night was a non-speaking Rihanna. Oh, and her very first line on the show was “Mazel tov.”
There were endless possibilities for Zamata, an extremely talented comedian, but, as a random actor in every sketch, SNL basically paraded her around as though she is Lorne Michaels’ new toy. It felt like overcompensating for finally having a black woman on screen again. If the writers didn’t have a central, or at least necessary, roles for Zamata to play, she should have been treated like every other new castmember: given little screen time while the veterans took center stage.
This situation could be construed as racist, but I personally choose to give the benefit of the doubt. I don’t think the absence of a black female on SNL was intentional, but it is important that this is no longer the case. For some reason, American audiences are okay with a white person impersonating characters of other ethnicities such as Latino, Arab and Asian, but consider it racist when a white person impersonates someone black. It would be ridiculous to ask Kennan Thompson and Jay Pharaoh to do drag indefinitely, so adding a black female cast member opens writers up to a whole world of possibilities (i.e. Michelle Obama, Beyoncé and Oprah impersonation).
The addition of the two new writers may even turn out to be a bigger deal than a new cast member. New writers means fresh perspectives at the writers’ table, which in turn means better jokes. This first episode back was hilarious, and the new writers are clearly already making an impact. One of the most memorable moments of the night was the sketch in which Drake celebrated his bar-mitzvah, a scene credited to LaKendra Tookes by Seth Meyers over Twitter. (As GainesvilleScene’s resident Jew, it was obvious Tookes has not been to many bar-mitzvahs.) It’s even possible that Tookes and Jones will follow the path of writers-turn-cast-members like Tina Fey. I’m very optimistic about the near future of SNL and hopefully their success will help bring more diversity to mainstream television.
Throughout television’s history, series have avoided mixed-race casts. The most popular shows of our generation have blatantly left race out of the question. Until very recently, TV series have had all-white casts, but shows like “24,” which featured a black president, and “LOST,” with its diverse and worldly cast, are slowly forming casts that look more like America today. Sitcoms are doing the best job at bringing in diverse casts. Andy Samberg’s “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” features two black police officers, and “New Girl” has two black cast members. “Modern Family” has also proved that the typical Leave It to Beaver formula is no longer applicable. The short-lived “Happy Endings” modernized the “Friends” formula by including a mixed-race couple and a homosexual character that broke out of the cultural stereotypes attached to male gays.
While SNL’s search for diversity feels like when Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce hired Dawn Chambers on “Mad Men,” it’s coming from good motives and is well-intentioned. The show realized, whether internally or after criticism, that the current cast does not reflect today’s America and if SNL is going to continue being the cultural staple it has been for over 35 years, it has certain responsibilities. I’m looking forward to seeing what Sasheer Zamata, LaKendra Tookes and Leslie Jones will bring to SNL and, given their impressive résumés, I’m sure it’s going to be great.
But I would like to see more Drunk Uncle appearances.
Featured photo courtesy of: Getty Images
