The witch is back this fall in Marvel’s Agatha All Along, which follows fan-favorite antihero Agatha Harkness’s (Kathryn Hahn) journey to get her powers back, assembling a fabulous coven that includes Aubrey Plaza, Joe Locke, and theater legend Patti Lupone.
Also sure to bring some “double, double toil and trouble” to the proceedings is the hilarious Sasheer Zamata as Jennifer Kale, a sharp-witted witch with a mastery of potions and alchemy.
But Agatha All Along won’t be Zamata’s first time bringing some queer magic to the screen…
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After coming up through New York City’s sketch and stand-up comedy scenes—and making quite an impression with her impressions of icons like Michelle Obama & Beyoncé—the performer had her big break when she joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in 2014, midway through its 39th season.
In the decade since, Zamata’s been popping up all over the place, carving out an eclectic career for herself in film (her starring role in the indie rom-com The Weekend is a treat!) and television, playing multi-dimensional lesbian characters on shows as varied as ABC sitcom Home Economics, Hulu’s surreal comedy Woke, and the colorful adult animated series Tuca & Bertie.
Over the past year, Zamata has also released her solo comedy special the First Woman and celebrated the 5th anniversary of her hit podcast Best Friends, which she co-hosts with her real-life BFF Nicole Byer.
Ahead of Agatha All Along‘s September 18 premiere of Disney+, we invited Zamata as the latest guest in our rapid-fire Q&A series, Dishin’ It. In our conversation, the star opens up about the secrets to lasting friendship, the ’90s TV show the surprisingly got its gay character right, and how her past gig working for the Disney parks led to a full-circle moment with her witchy new role.
Is there a piece of media—whether a movie, TV series, book, album, theater, video game, etc…—that has played an important role in your understanding of queerness and the queer community? Why does it stand out to you?
This may be top of mind because I just finished binging the whole series this year, but I thought the character portrayal of Jack on Dawson’s Creek was well done. I was impressed that a network show from the ’90s had a gay main character and didn’t limit their story to a few special episodes. We saw Jack’s coming out journey, dating experiences, first kiss (first gay male kiss on US TV!), and even explorations of his own internalized homophobia in this series. Some shows have been made in the last decade that haven’t handled those topics as elegantly as Dawson’s Creek.
I’m thankful that shows like that normalized queerness in media. I’ve played many lesbian characters on screen, like Denise on Home Economics, Ayana on Woke, and Kara on Tuca & Bertie (because even my voice is gay), and I feel very fortunate that those storylines weren’t singled out as “gay stories,” they were just stories. My Home Ec TV wife, Caitlin McGee, and I got to portray an IVF story, an adoption story, and showcase lesbian love on a family network comedy, and I’m proud that we were able to enact experiences that are very real for a lot of families.
We’re so ready to see you in Agatha All Along, which, aside from having this inherent queer appeal, we’re thrilled to hear will explore queer themes, too. We’re sure you can only say so much about the plot, but why do think the series will connect LGBTQ+ audiences?
There’s such a spectrum of witches, ages, races, and love being displayed in this series that I think it’ll be very easy for audiences, and queer audience members, to see themselves in this work.
You’re joined by some incredible co-stars in Agatha All Along, but is there one who most surprised you as you got to know them and work with them on set?
I mean, Patti Lupone is full of surprises and was by far the highlight on set. She is such a ball of energy. We would have these late, long shoots and even when everyone was running on fumes, she was still firing on all cylinders, cracking jokes, and telling the best stories. I remember, the second day after meeting her, she was chatting up the crew and asking them questions like they were old friends. She’d be like, “Jim! How’s the boat?” And I’m like, “When did you meet Jim, and how do you know he has a boat? We just got here!”
You’ve previously shared you spent a college semester working at Disney, and now here you are in a major Disney series. In what ways would you say performing as characters at the park prepared you for this role?
Well when you work at the Disney parks, you get taught how to “keep the magic alive,” which seems fitting now that I’m on a show about magic. Whether you were a performer at the park or a cashier, everyone is kind of “onstage” and adding to the experience of the customers, so you stay on all day. I think that training in commitment was helpful for my acting overall, but especially for this show. There are things I do in this production that I’ve never done on any project before, and I had to commit to the process to execute it all.
Who’s a fictional character you had a crush on at a younger age (or maybe still do!)? What do you remember loving about them?
I did, and still, have a crush on Roxanne from A Goofy Movie. She’s an approachable baddie, and Max drove across the country and snuck his way onstage at a Powerline concert to impress her, and I’m like, “I get it. Would do the same.”
We’re big fans of your Best Friends podcast with Nicole Byer—in what ways would you say doing the pod has made you a better Best Friend?
We get a lot of friendship questions from audience members, and answering these questions makes me think about how I’ve behaved with friends in certain situations, or how I’d like to behave if those situations came up. I think hearing other people’s friendship expectations, or hearing their perceptions of my friendship with Nicole, really helps illuminate how important it is to maintain strong adult friendships.
Earlier this summer, you appeared alongside Nicole in an episode of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, but if you could compete on any other game show or reality competition show, what would it be and why?
I don’t think it’s still in production, but I loved this show called Floor Is Lava, where people jump on top of huge props to avoid the floor, otherwise they’ll sink in the lava. It just seemed really dumb and fun. Or if they brought back Legends Of The Hidden Temple, I would love to play that.
Who is a queer or trans artist/performer/creator that you think is doing really cool work right now? Why are they someone we should all be paying attention to?
My friend Sam Taggart is a very funny comedian who makes me laugh really hard. His ideas and performances are always so outside the box, and that’s really refreshing to see.
