Kenan Thompson
By now everyone has heard about the controversial remarks made by actor/comedian Kenan Thompson of Saturday Night Live during an interview with TV Guide, where he basically explained the reason why there has only been 4 African-American females comedians in the show’s almost 40 year history was because there simply aren’t that many Black women comedians and the ones that are around aren’t qualified..Talk about a cop-out of an excuse..
Kenan was grossly inaccurate in downplaying the number of Black female comics on the scene. There are scores..Aisha Tyler, Monique, Loni Love, Lunel, Kim Wayans, Sheryl Underwood or my sister Robin Cee.. are a few that come to mind.. (yeah I’m gonna give the fam a plug)
Kenan was also off the mark for misplacing blame. Instead of putting it on the array of talented Black female comics for lack of diversity , Kenan should’ve blamed the oversight on his boss, SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels.
Now in the interview Kenan stated that most of the Black female comics ‘weren’t ready’.. It’s a bit unclear what he meant by that..Did he mean they were limited to stand up and not able to do improve? Did he mean they couldn’t do impressions which are often called for during SNL skits? Maybe SNL was looking for established names, or maybe they were looking for up and comings…Whatever the case.. here’s a few Black female comedians/actors who could rock it if they were on SNL…
Wanda Sykes
Wanda Sykes is one of my all time favorite comedians. She has an impressive body of work that spans her doing TV shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Chris Rock Show and The New Adventures of Old Christine to name a few to having her own TV show The Wanda Sykes Show to appearing in all sorts of movies like Evan Almighty, Nutty Professor II and My Super Ex-Girlfriend..
Wanda has an impressive resume and is funny as hell as demonstrated in the clip below. In addition she brings star power and excitement to a show that in recent days has come across as stale and in need of a boost..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmyRog2w4DI
Sarah Jones
Sarah Jones doesn’t get the props she deserves.Many know her for her appearances on shows like Def Poetry Slam where she blew up the spot calling out sexism.. But Jones is a seasoned actress who has won a Tony and an Obie award.
She is one of the best impressionist around and gets seriously busy in her numerous one women shows where she’s played up to 8 different characters..Todate Sarah has done 4 different off Broadway one women shows..
Sarah’s theater background easily qualifies her for SNL which performs before a live audience and as you can see from the clip below she can go in and out of characters with the greatest of ease. I’d love to see her and SNL comedian Jay Pharaoh do a skit together.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sucza6EOIf0
Issa Rae
Issa Rae The 6 new cast members recently added to SNL aren’t A-List folks who are household names. They seem to be folks who probably been paying dues and are now getting the ‘proverbial’ big break. Well if that’s the case, Issa Rae should be part of that class.
She’s been grinding away, paying dues and made a name for herself with her independent project ‘The Misadventures of Awkward Blackgirl‘. The show which was only shown on line blew up and brought Issa critical praise. Since then she’s gone on to produce 3 other projects; ‘Ratchet Piece Theater‘, ‘Flyguys‘, and ‘Roomieloverfriends‘.. She also hosts a TV talk show called Exhale which airs on Aspire TV..She is also developing a new project called ‘I Hate LA Dudes‘
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzGHeZSwgCA
We could list a dozens more talented female actress/comedians who should get a shot at SNL..Instead of concluding that Black female comedians are lacking, how about investing in their projects and help them to hone their talents. Such investments are not limited to SNL, but to the public at large who should at the very least raise awareness of those who are ion the trenches grinding away. To be honest, it might behoove the folks at SNL to get down and join the programs and projects these aforementioned women have going on…
I can’t wrap my mind around why Kenan Thompson can’t think of a list of black females who are hilarious. Off the top of my head of female actresses, singers and comedians who crack me up (and “Key & Peele” and “Real Husbands of Hollywood” have no problem finding black female cast members who can be funny) are: Tichina Arnold, Tisha Campbell Martin, Torrei Hart, Tiffany Haddish, Keke Palmer (loved her as the Malia Translator last night), Aisha Tyler, Erika Alexander (she had countless funny moments as “Maxine Shaw Attorney at Law”), Kim Coles, Kelly Rowland (who stays clowning on Hot 97; the ’90s dance moves were the best), Tamar Braxton and Towanda Braxton. Of course the obvious choices would be Issa Rae and Wanda Sykes. I’m stunned this is even a topic of discussion for “SNL.”
Davey, i’ve seen a couple of other lists like yours with different names, but looking at yours the following just struck me: not familiar with the other two, but both Issa Rae and Wanda Sykes are insanely funny, but looking at them and this sista who has won an Obi? SNL is too low-budget for these sistas! These sistas need to keep doing what they are doing and pay SNL (AND Kenan Thompson) no mind.
I agree.. My response was to educate those reading this about the wealth of talent out there.. Sarah Jones is finnier than anyone on SNL..But many dont know her even as she sells out shows..I wanted to remind folks of Issa who is doing her own line of showws..