Stand-up comedian Sasheer Zamata rose to fame when she joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in 2014, where she performed until 2017. This Upright Citizens Brigade regular has also appeared in films like I Feel Pretty, and most recently, the TBS series The Last O.G.
This Friday, Zamata stars in the indie thriller, Spree, playing Jessie, a passenger in a rideshare whose driver, Kurt (Stranger Things’ Joe Keery), is so desperate for social media followers, he will do anything to get them, even kill.
Zamata spoke to Casting Networks about the film and her thoughts about social media, and she shared one of her more memorable casting stories.
In Spree, Kurt becomes obsessed with Jessie when he realizes she has a social media following that could benefit him. But Jessie also has her own thing going on. Tell me about her.
Jessie and Kurt meet at a moment in time when they are both intensely thinking about their perceptions of social media. Kurt is craving attention and fame and trying to get it in the worst way. Jessie is the opposite. She created her comedy career through social media and is now realizing that it may have been detrimental to parts of her life. Now she’s analyzing what role it plays in her life and if she should even keep it.

Joe Keery as Kurt Kunkle in the thriller SPREE, an RLJE Films release. Photo courtesy of RLJE Films.
You and Jessie are both stand-up performers. How similar is this character to you?
Parts of her were extensions of myself, and parts were very different. Yes, we are both comedians, and we both perform, but Jessie is very heavy on social media. She’s live streaming and engaging with her audience all the time. She brings her life into view, like showing people where her Grandma lives, and putting Grandma on the livestream. That scares me because you can see the worst-case scenario of why that’s bad — people know where you are and can find you.
So I take it you won’t be livestreaming with your Grandma from her living room couch anytime soon?
[Laughs] I try my hardest to limit how much personal stuff I’m putting online because you don’t know who’s watching. You don’t know if there is a Kurt out there, plotting and planning something. My art and my creativity are offline too. I don’t even put my jokes online. Maybe I should. The game is changing, so I don’t know.
What’s your perception of social media?
For me, it’s part of work because I use it for promotion when I say, “Come see me do stand-up at this club,” or “Watch this show or this movie that’s coming out.” It feels like a necessary part of being a performer and someone in the public eye. I don’t even know what my social media relationship would be if I didn’t have to promote anything.
Your Instagram has 128K followers. Is that an acceptable number, or do you need to work harder?
Both. It is a good number. That is a lot of people following me. But then you have actors and performers who have millions and millions of followers. Those people would ideally come to see you perform live. So 128K it is a lot of people, but there are definitely more people to grab [laughs].
Spree premiered in January at Sundance, one of the last in-person festivals that occurred before the COVID shutdown. That must feel like so long ago!
Wow, I forgot it was this year. I was sure it was last year, but no, it was just this past January/February. Time is so morphed and weird right now. Everything feels like it was either 20 years ago or yesterday. But I’m thankful I was able to do something so cool right before we weren’t able to do anything for a while!

Sasheer Zamata as Jessie Adams in the thriller SPREE, an RLJE Films release. Photo courtesy of RLJE Films.
What was the Sundance screening like?
It was so fun! That was my first time seeing the whole film in front of an audience. It was a wild experience. People were gasping and jumping, and laughing at parts that I wasn’t even sure were funny when we were filming it. I loved seeing peoples’ reactions.
In September, you have a series called Woke that begins streaming on Hulu. Tell me about it.
Luckily, we filmed it all before the pandemic. I think it’s very timely. It’s about police, race, peoples’ perception of race, and an audience’s perception of race and art. I think people will get a lot out of it.
It sounds like it’s coming out at the right time, especially in a summer that saw Black Lives Matter take center stage in this country and around the world.
Unfortunately, racial turmoil is not new for this country, so it is very timely. But also, it would have been timely last year. And the year before, and the year before. But you’re right in that it is very timely now in the sense that people are more ready to consume this type of information. Now they are more willing to talk about it, to learn and to listen.
Do you find that to be true from personal experience as well?
We are in a nice moment where people are being thoughtful and genuinely trying to include others. It’s about time, and I appreciate it. I feel like I’m able to use my voice in ways that aren’t just like, “Hi, I’m a Black woman.” It’s more like, “Here are my ideas on what’s happening in the world right now.” I’m excited for this moment in time, and I hope more things are created and produced that are thought-provoking and address the issues that are going on. I hope there’s more space for those kinds of voices.
How has quarantine impacted your work plans? You signed on to shoot an ABC pilot called Home Economics. Has that been shot yet?
Home Economics hasn’t happened yet, but hopefully, it will in September. We’re waiting to see. In the meantime, I’ve been doing a lot of voiceover work, which I can do from home. Thankfully that’s something that’s still thriving at this time. I was supposed to shoot my second stand-up special in May. But now it’s postponed until next year. My best friend Nicole Byer (Nailed It!) and I are writing a buddy comedy now, and I’d love for that to be created and put out to the world. And I’ve been taking a lot of Zoom meetings.

(L-R) John Deluca as Mario, Sasheer Zamata as Jessie Adams and Joe Keery as Kurt Kunkle in the thriller SPREE, an RLJE Films release. Photo courtesy of RLJE Films.
When you take these meetings — be they in-person. pre-COVID, or over Zoom now — do you find that there is an expectation for you to be funny because of your stand-up background?
There are times during a meeting where I can feel them expecting a show. I get it. I’m a live performer, and if there is a persona you like, you hope that persona walks in the door. But that’s not always the case. I have social anxiety, and I get shy. So the person you see on stage may not always be the person talking to you at the coffee shop.
You must have a ton of casting stories from the trenches. Is there one that stands out in particular?
During my early years in New York, I auditioned for a commercial. It was a tech brand, but they couldn’t say what kind. You had to sign an NDA before you could even walk in the room. They didn’t give you any sides, and they didn’t give you any information. The director just asked, “Who are you?” I was like, “I’m Sasheer, I’m doing improv, I moved to New York recently. I live in a windowless bedroom in a five-person apartment, and we have mice and roaches sometimes.” He was like, “Okay, thank you!”
What happened?
I booked it! I still had no idea what the commercial was for. I got to set, they did my makeup, gave me a costume. No one was answering any of my questions. They brought me to a subway car because the shoot was going to be on the subway at night. Then they put an iPhone in my hand, and it turns out the commercial was for Apple. It was their mission statement commercial that played during the NBA playoffs and other significant events on TV. So it was also really good money.
I bet after that, you moved out your windowless room in that critter-infested apartment!
I did! On set, I was talking to the director and he brought up the roaches and rats from my audition. I was like, “Maybe I can move out one day.” He said, “Hopefully, this commercial will help you.” I replied, “We’ll see.” Then I got my first paycheck, and I was like, “Oh my god! Yeah, I’m gonna move out!”
Why do you think you booked that commercial?
It’s so interesting because there were times in the past when I was auditioning, I thought I had to be the funniest person in the room, or I had to be the cutest one in the room. But I booked that commercial because I was very much myself. And it paid off in spades.
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