Saturday Night Live announce three finalists for new black female cast member

Saturday Night Live is trying to address one of its more glaring issues (other than being generally not funny as of late) by bringing on a black female cast member. Maybe they'll even let her play roles that aren't Oprah/Michelle Obama/Beyonce!

The finalists for the opening are Natasha Rothwell, Sasheer Zamata and Kerry Coddett.

Rothwell is the winner of NBC Universal's Diversity Scholarship (which is a thing) and performed at last year's Just For Laughs festival. Zamata is a stand-up comedian who has had roles on Inside Amy Schumer. According to a Buzzfeed report, Zamata has several impressions already in her arsenal including Kelly Rowland, Beyonce and Queen Latifah. Coddett is a YouTube personality that has spoken out several times against Saturday Night Live's lack of diversity in widely spread articles for The Atlantic and the Huffington Post.

An excerpt:

"The show's long history suggests that 'Saturday Night Live' just doesn't know what to do with black women.The roles it offers to them fall in line with much of the rest of popular media: stereotypical, demeaning, and scarce."

The three finalists were culled from 7 or 8 performers who held auditions in Los Angeles. The finalists were evaluated head-to-head in a night of comedy at the People's Improv Theater in Manhattan. All three women have performed with the Upright Citizens Brigade.

"We had no idea that we were witnessing 'SNL' auditions," one witness reportedly told NY Daily News. "I remember thinking it was interesting that all of the performers were women of color. When the last comedienne of the night, 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?'

Check out some of their work below (via):

The new cast member will join SNL when the show returns in January. #TeamSasheer