Despite her hiring being part of a publicity scheme to silence critics in 2013, new Saturday Night Live cast member Sasheer Zamata has received positive reactions to her debut on the show.

Zamata made her first appearance on the long-running sketch comedy show Saturday, Jan. 18, during the first skit of the night, where host Drake recounted what it was like to be a Black Jewish kid at his bar mitzvah.

Though she only said "mazel tov" in the skit, her appearance received more positive reviews.

"She came off like a prop, but it was her first episode," a commenter on Clutch magazine's website wrote. "Hopefully we will get to see her hilarity shine soon, I love her. And hopefully they don't just make her do black woman impressions."

Another user on Jezebel.com commented that Zamata having few lines in her debut episode seemed normal as far as new cast members on the show go.

"It's pretty much par for the course that new featured players get very little airtime," the commenter wrote. "She was given quite a bit more than usual, probably due to her newsworthiness, and probably as a result of their two new black women writers. But it's her first show. There's lots of time yet to go. All the regular cast members like Vanessa Bayer and Cecily Strong all started out as being barely used."

Zamata is the first black female cast member to appear on the show since 2007, and is only the fifth total to appear as a part of the ensemble in the show's 38-year-history, according to The Grio.

Other black female cast members over the years have included Maya Rudolph, Ellen Cleghorne, Danitra Vance and Yvonne Hudson.

She joins the current only other black cast members, male actors Jay Pharaoh and Kenan Thompson.

Watch Zamata's debut below:


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