SNL Narrows Down Black Female Candidates To These 3 Women
The newest season of Saturday Night Live premiered in September 2013. While several new cast members were added to the existing crew, none were Black females. Disappointed Black female fans were upset and wanted answers. A social media storm broke out following comedian Kenan Thompson’s answer to a question about the lack of Black females on Saturday Night Live (he stated that the show hadn’t auditioned any Black female comedians who were ‘ready’), and the show’s producers vowed to increase diversity in the sketch series. Auditions for Black female comedians were held recently in New York and LA, and 3 Black women stood above the competition in the eyes of the casting directors.
NYDailyNews has revealed these candidates.
Candidate number 1 is Kerry Coddett. Coddett charmed the audience as soon as she stepped onto the stage. according to the NYDailyNews article “Kerry Coddett, came out she had her purse in her hand and joked ‘I would’ve left my bag in the back, but did you see how many black women there were backstage?'”
Coddett is a viewer of SNL who has payed attention the the treatment of Black women on the show over the past several years. She wrote an article for The Atlantic titled The Real Problem WIth SNL And Casting Black Women in which she concluded that “Perhaps it’s not that black women aren’t “ready” for SNL; it’s that SNL isn’t ready for a black woman. And it won’t be—until the show is ready to change the roles it asks black actresses to play.”
Check out this YouTube clip of Coddett performing on stage.
2. Candidate number 2 is Natasha Rothwell. Information on Rothwell can be found on her profile on the UCB Theatre website.
Natasha graduated from the University of Maryland theater program and she studied at The Peoples Improv Theater. She has performed at comedy festivals across the country, the long list of which can be found on her profile.
Natasha currently performs with a sketch group called the Maude team Dinner, and is a member of the weekend team The Curfew.
3. Candidate number 3 is Sasheer Zamata. You can find more information about her on her website Sasheer.com which includes an about page, a bio, and list of shows and videos in which Zamata has appeared. Here is an excerpt from her bio:”I host a weekly variety show called School Night at UCBNY, Wednesdays at 11PM. I perform improv with Doppelganger, and with BUCKY on Harold Night at UCBNY. I have a webseries called Pursuit of Sexiness. And I perform stand up wherever I can.”
Check out this clip of Sasheer Zamata performing.
