Sasheer Zamata on her SNL experience: "It was not what I thought it was going to be"

The Hollywood Reporter

Zamata quietly left Saturday Night Live in 2017 after four seasons. Her midseason casting in January 2014 made headlines because it followed controversy over a lack of black female cast members, prompting Lorne Michaels to pledge to add a black female to the cast. Speaking at a "How I Get It Done" conference earlier this week, Zamata says of deciding to leave the show: "I'm actually glad it happened, and the way it happened. I feel like I left being a better performer, a better writer, a better communicator, a better team-worker." She adds: "It was not what I thought it was going to be, and I don't think anyone really thinks it's going to be that way because it's not like any other job. So it was a couple years of figuring out, 'Am I OK with this?' Do I want to just accept it as is and be like, 'That's a just a job and I guess I'll just stay and take it like everybody else?' Or do I want to try something else that makes me feel really good and work with people who excite me and who are excited about me and want to create things that makes us feel fulfilled?"