Sasheer Zamata will join "Saturday Night Live" this month. Brooklyn comedian Sasheer Zamata will be the first African-American female in the SNL cast in six years.

Last month, Lorne Michaels, the executive producer of SNL, told The New York Times he was holding auditions and that a black woman would be added to the Not Ready for Prime Time Players. Sasheer Zamata will be joining the weekly skit show. Zamata is the fifth black woman to join the "SNL" cast in its 39 years on the air. Zamata follows Maya Rudolph, who departed in 2007, Ellen Cleghorne, Yvonne Hudson, and Danitra Vance.

Variety confirmed that Sasheer Zamata will be the latest young comedian to join the cast of "Saturday Night Live." According to Deadline.com, Zamata will make her debut on Jan. 18, the next live SNL show. The singer Drake will be doing double duty as both host and musical guest. The last woman of color in the SNL cast was Maya Rudolph and she left in 2007. SNL hired six new castmembers this year and not a single diversified female face.

In October, Kenan Thompson told TV Guide that "SNL" was having trouble finding qualified black female comedians to hire because so many of the women were not seasoned enough for the job.

Sasheer Zamata is a graduate of the University of Virginia. She trained at New York's Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. Zamata is also the co-creator of the webseries "Pursuit of Sexiness."

Chioke Nassor, a writer/director who is on the staff of "Late Night With Seth Meyers," said"I felt from the beginning, it was a no brainer," Chioke Nassor, a writer/director who is on the staff of "Late Night With Seth Meyers. It wouldn't make any sense if they didn't pick her. She's great with characters, she's a really great writer. She has an amazing improv background. She's really nice. She does impressions. .... They made an excellent decision. And she's a really big staple of the New York comedy scene."

The comedian will be the first black female cast member on Saturday Night Live Maya Rudolph left the series in 2007. Lorne Michaels and Saturday Night Live have been blasted of late for the lack of diversity in the Not Ready for Prime Time Players. The show made fun of itself when Kerry Washington hosted "SNL" in November 2013. Keenan Thompson made satirical statements that he was the face of diversity on SNL. So when it was announced that Kerry Washington, the star of "Scandal," was going to host Saturday Night Live this weekend, everyone wondered if it would be covered. It was. Almost immediately.

Kerry Washington walked into the Oval Office as  Michelle Obama and said to Jay Pharoah, who was playing Barrack: "I feel like it's been years since I've seen you." Then quickly runs off stage to change into the Oprah Winfrey costume and then we saw:

"The producers at Saturday Night Live would like to apologize to Kerry Washington for the number of black women she will be asked to play tonight. We made these request both because Ms. Washington is an actress of considerable range and talent, but also because SNL doesn't currently have a black woman in the cast. As for the latter, we realize this is not an ideal situation and look forward to rectifying it in the near future...unless, of course, we fall in love with another white guy first."

"SNL" started holding auditions specifically to find black female cast members to join the Not Ready for Prime Time Players in 2014. Michaels said "All told, we've seen about 25 people, A lot of the people we saw are really good. Hopefully, we'll come out of the process well." Zamata was among 12 comedians who received callbacks and were invited to test on the SNL stage Dec. 16.