“Our show is too white,” Saturday Night Live cast member Jay Pharoah recently told MSNBC’S The Grio. NBC’s live comedy sketch show has received heat for lack of diversity in casting over the course of its 38-year run, but the controversy has bubbled up to the surface again after the premiere of its 39th season. Five new featured players have joined the team, four men and one woman. The problem for some is that every new member is white.
When Tina Fey opened the first episode with a monologue that featured the new cast members dancing around her, my initial reaction was to scream for Noel Wells. I became a fan of Wells nearly three years ago after discovering an audition tape for Saturday Night Live that showcased her strongest impressions. I’ve always held the belief that SNL needed stronger female cast members after the departures of Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig and was elated to see Noel on the show.
A minute or two into the monologue, I realized the blatant similarity between the dancing actors––the color of their skin. As an avid fan of the show, I’ve always thought that SNL hires based solely on talent. Beck Bennett, one of the new featured players, is the center of AT&T’s current ad campaign that features him asking logical questions to a group of adorable kids. Kyle Mooney stars in HBO’s “Hello Ladies” and has appeared on “Parks and Recreation.” John Milhiser was a previous writer for SNL, and Brooks Wheelan is a stand-up comic that hails from the Midwest. I have no doubt that Lorne Michaels, the show’s creator, made the right decision in hiring them, for he is the same man responsible for hiring legends like Martin Short, Chevy Chase and Bill Murray. The show is and has always been chock-full of talent but short on diversity.
Last season, the amount of men overpowered women 9-5. This season, it’s 10-6. According SNL Archive, over the last 38 years, the cast has included 90 male actors and only 45 women. With the likes of Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig (all SNL alumni), it’s clear that women can be just as funny, if not funnier, than men. According to Today, Tina Fey’s 2008 impression of Gov. Sarah Palin increased SNL’s ratings by 46 percent, digging them out of the hole they had fallen into the year before. SNL has always had a predominantly male cast. The majority of their targeted audience is male. Still, I believe there should be some kind of equal balance between talented women and talented men within the cast.
For Jay Pharoah, who joined the cast in 2010, the issue is not just lack of women – but women of color. In a recent interview with The Grio, Pharoah stated that actress Darmirra Brunson belongs on SNL. “Why do I think she should be on the show? Because she’s black first of all, and she’s really talented.” While cast member Nasim Pedrad is of Iranian descent, Saturday Night Live has not cast any other woman of color since 2000 when Maya Rudolph joined and left in 2007. As of 2013, Pharoah, Pedrad and actor Kenan Thompson are the only actors of color on the show. Lorne Michaels himself even made fun of this factor in the opening episode when he appeared in a sketch asking whether or not he could tell the difference between a cast member he had recently hired and a member of the musical guest band Arcade Fire. Instead of picking between the new member or the band member, he answered, “Is it the black guy?” in reference to Thompson, who has been as cast member for almost 10 years.
According to the LA Times, SNL producer Lindsay Shookus stated in response to the controversy, “SNL has a history of many hosts, musical guests, and cast members with different backgrounds. When we scout the show, we always look for diverse voices and representation.” It’s possible that Saturday Night Live has the right mix of talent this season, but they should consider scouting a different variety for next year’s season. Saturday Night Live has been under fire for the past few seasons, more recently by New York Magazine and Breit Bart, for being “not funny anymore.” The solution? A more diverse cast. It would provide a broader range of impressions, characters and sketches, which I believe would raise the show’s quality in addition to showcasing new and different kinds of talent. Thirty-eight years have passed. It’s time to mix it up.
Lauren Milici can be reached at lauren.milici@spartans.ut.edu