Sasheer Zamata has earned fans for her Saturday Night Live impersonations of Michelle Obama, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Tyra Banks, and Beyoncé. But she’s become a force all her own through stand-up specials like The First Woman and her critically heralded portrayal of midwife/witch Jennifer Kale in the musical MCU spinoff Agatha All Along, for which the actress earned the Breakthrough Performance Award at the Critics’ Choice Association’s 2nd Annual Celebration of LGBTQ+ Cinema & Television.
Following the award ceremony, Zamata sat down with Mashable Entertainment editor Kristy Puchko for Say More to discuss her career, online obsessions, and — of course — witches. You can watch the full interview on YouTube. The clip above focuses on how Zamata was already falling down a witchy rabbit hole in writing The First Woman before Agatha came knocking.
Zamata also shared the research she did on how mystics, witches, and women have been “demonized” in trying to better understand their own bodies and the world. “I hope we get to see more coverage of that because it’s fascinating, and also it still happens,” she said.
Could we see more of Jen in a second season of Agatha All Along? Zamata would be game. “I’m so interested,” she said, “I’ve made it very clear that I would love to keep playing this character in any capacity. But I haven’t heard anything. We’ll see.”
Zamata also spoke to how she uses stand-up to share her own story, which creates a space in her sets where people can relate and feel seen. “I kind of like comedy for that reason,” she said, “I think it connects people in a way you wouldn’t usually get to connect on that level.”
For more from Zamata, including what it was like to play a costumed character at a Disney theme park, check out our full interview on YouTube.
