Sasheer Zamata Sounds Off on Fuckboys, ‘Shrooms, and Bidets

Sasheer Zamata, the actor and former SNL comedian, is always busy. When she’s not doing stand-up specials or starring in the recently released thriller Spree, she co-hosts a podcast called Best Friends alongside her actual best friend Nicole Byer. Most recently, she’s starring in Hulu’s new comedy Woke, a fun yet incisive look at race and art and the way we talk about both. “I liked this show because we really don’t shy away from things that could be scary to talk about on TV,” she says. Zamata made time to sit down with us to offer up a few unfiltered opinions on an array of topics chosen at semi-random, from pole-dancing to A Goofy Movie.

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ROLLER SKATING

“My new passion. I love it. My best friend Nicole Byer consistently gets me involved with new activities, and she was really excited about roller skating. So I begrudgingly joined her and now I’m obsessed with it. It’s also a really good pandemic activity because you can skate with a big group of people, but still social distance and wear your mask and be outside. I think it’s very necessary right now.”

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POLE DANCING

“Another Nicole Byer suggestion and another thing I’ve become obsessed with. I love pole dancing. I’ve already loved pole dancers. I mean, I would frequent strip clubs every once in a while. I’m just impressed with the dancing and the skill involved with using your body to create these different shapes on a pole, so being able to do it myself is so fun. I remember when I started, I guess a year and a half ago. I felt like I could do nothing, but then being able to see how I’ve progressed and how long it takes for me to actually climb the pole or go upside down or do a spin, it’s so fun to see how quickly my body can change and adjust to a new thing.”

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HAMILTON

“I was obsessed with Hamilton when it first came out. I saw it with the original cast on Broadway. Love, love, loved. I was really excited when it came out on Disney+ and listened to the soundtrack weeks in advance and then watched it twice when it came out. I just think it’s such a great show, and I love seeing all these brown faces in this platform telling this kind of story. I know there was some controversy recently with Hamilton himself being a slave owner, and why are we praising this kind of person when there are other people in history we could be praising? I understand those arguments and agree with them, and I also think that this is an amazing show that does highlight Black and brown actors and performers, and shows people of this generation that you can have ownership of this country, too. I think all things can be true. Hamilton as a person can be problematic, and separately, the show is amazing.”

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CARDI B

“Love Cardi B. Also, I love political Cardi B. I love when she puts her lawyer wig on and she’s talking to Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden. She’s the people’s princess, you know? We all have the same questions as Cardi, but she’s not embarrassed to ask them. It’s nice when she uses her platform to ask questions about voting, who to vote for, where to get certain resources, or even how to clean your pussy. She’s just so open with information, and I love that.”

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BIDETS

“I am a new bidet user and I love it. I mean, this pandemic kind of forced me to try it because there was no toilet paper to be bought at the beginning of quarantine. I don’t know why I didn’t do it earlier. I was like, ‘This is what I’ve been missing?’ It’s like a nice little mini shower whenever I go to the bathroom. I think everyone should be getting them. I’ve definitely seen them in Europe and in other places, and I don’t know why America is so slow to get on the bidet train. We need to wake up, stop being so scared of our assholes, and clean ourselves!”

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SHROOMS

“I have done them and I will continue to do them. I think they’re very eye-opening. And after I’ve done them, I’ve honestly never looked at trees the same. It just kind of adds a little magic in your life and makes you more aware of your surroundings and the environment. And if you’re a person who feels like you’re in a safe environment, I suggest doing that with people that you also trust. I appreciate the benefits of mushrooms and what it can bring to my psyche. I definitely don’t do them all the time, maybe like once a year. But it’s a nice mental shift every once in a while that the Earth can provide.”

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DATING APPS

“I didn’t really try them that much. I tried OkCupid years and years ago, and I recognized a few other people from the comedy world on there and then I just logged off. I was like, ‘This is too weird.’ I just wanted to meet someone in person. But you know, in this age we’re in, especially in this moment where we can’t really go meet people in person, I can see the need for it. I can see why people get a lot out of it because everything’s moving to our phones. So for some people, it is easier to talk to people through an app. And for them, I hope they get a lot out of it.”

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NAKED YOGA

“I would probably do that in my home. I don’t know if I would go to a studio and strip down amongst my peers, where we’re all naked. I also sweat everywhere, a lot out of my crotch, and I feel like it would just make everything a lot harder. Everything’s just pouring out of me. Interesting idea, but some trends are just trends and I don’t know how long that’s going to last.”

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A GOOFY MOVIE

“I love that movie so much. I watched it again recently. I think I liked it so much when I was younger because it was a Disney movie that showed a rocky relationship with a kid and their parent. There were so many stories where the parent’s just a nice parent or they’re best friends or something. But I grew up in a single parent household, and it was rocky sometimes. And so it was nice to see Max and Goofy have fights and have disagreements and be embarrassed of each other, but then resolve it eventually. That’s what I recognize as a family. There wasn’t a ton of that when I was younger, as far as animated stories. And the music was great. That soundtrack was the best. Yes.”

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FUCKBOYS

“Fuck fuckboys. Who needs them? They just take up space and time. That is not something that I or anyone else needs to spend my energy on, because I can’t wait for these people to grow up. And it’s really sad because I don’t think a lot of fuckboys know they’re fuckboys. We raise boys terribly. We coddle them, we baby them, we tell them that ‘boys will be boys,’ we don’t keep them accountable for things. So of course we’re going to have a country full of fuckboys. We’re not really raising them to be men. I’m not surprised that we have so many fuckboys out running amuck, because we don’t keep men accountable for their actions as much as we should be.”

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VIOLA DAVIS

“Incredibly talented actress. I love that she speaks up for herself and for other Black women and is making it very public that she deserves her flowers. I mean, you don’t see that too often, where someone’s like, ‘Hello, I deserve my flowers, I’m as decorated as Meryl Streep and yet I’m not getting paid like her.’ I think we need more of that. She does deserve her flowers and I want to see her in more stuff. And I like that she’s doing more roles where she is the love interest, or she’s being sexy or she’s doing sex scenes or being a badass, because she’s great at that. I think Viola Davis is amazing and I want to see her in everything.”