‘SNL’ Goes To The Online Video Well Once Again To Find Sasheer Zamata

Last night, Saturday Night Live announced it had added yet another comic actor to its repertoire of featured players. Sasheer Zamata, an Upright Citizen’s Brigade alum, will join SNL in time for the show’s January 18th episode. Zamata will be the first black SNL cast member in six years, but she’s also notable as yet another talented performer hired from the depths of the online video world.

Unlike many of her fellow SNL rookies, Zamata hasn’t just starred in a few Above Average videos. Instead, like Kyle Mooney and Noel Wells, she has starred in several web series of her own creation. Just seven weeks ago, Zamata and co-star Nicole Byer headlined our Indie Spotlight with The Pursuit Of Sexiness. The success of that series surely helped vault her from the UCB YouTube channel to the most popular sketch group in the world.

Broadway Video also wasted no time featuring Zamata on Above Average, where she starred in an episode of Storytime the morning after becoming an SNL cast member. She tells the story of her encounter with a flasher one late night.

For those of you keeping track at home, that’s five new hires on SNL who have expansive track records in the online video space. Pursuit Of Sexiness was a wonderfully funny series, so I’m excited to see what Zamata brings to the SNL table. For most, she’s a virtual unknown, but I bet she’s up to the task.