Comedian Jay Pharoah is on a noble mission to add black women to the cast of “Saturday Night Live” and already has someone in mind.
“They need to pay attention,” Pharoah tells theGrio. “Her name is Darmirra Brunson … Why do I think she should be on the show? Because she’s black first of all, and she’s really talented. She’s amazing. She needs to be on SNL. I said it. And I believe they need to follow up with it like they said they were going to do last year.”
Some people may know Brunson from her role on Tyler Perry’s “Love Thy Neighbor” on the OWN network. Pharoah says she’s just what “SNL” has been missing.
The last black actress to star on the show was Maya Rudolph who left the cast in 2007. That leaves Pharoah and co-star Kenan Thompson as the only remaining black actors out of 16 cast members.
The Saturday staple has always faced backlash for its lack of diversity and Pharoah feels its time for a change.
“It’s one of those things that’s hard,” he admitted. “Some people choke up. Some people burn their bridges by saying things they shouldn’t say either. You just have to be very political about your delivery, what you say, and your performance. You’ve got to be on point. Everybody has to like you and want you to win. If they don’t like you, it’s a wrap.”
Outside of his show “Saturday Night Live,” Pharoah spoke out on a few other things in the media including taking Miley Cyrus on a field trip “to the hood” with Britney Spears and Amanda Bynes along for the ride.
“In some part, they are striving to be that so, let’s take them there and show them,” he explains. “Let’s take them to the strip club. Take them to the hood. Take them down to my cousin’s house down in Norfolk.”
Pharoah realizes that there is a pattern many stars like Cyrus follow trying to change their identity.
“A lot of artists transition over from Disney, your Justin Biebers and what have you, they need to figure themselves out,” Pharoah acknowledges. “When they find that out, that will be the person you talk about for the next 10 years. Then, when they get past 30, they’re going to have a revelation and they’re going to change like Justin Timberlake. It’s a constant evolution.”
While trying to school a few of these pop stars, Pharoah admits to taking some advice himself on creativity and finance from Kevin Hart.
“He said treat your material like it’s gold, like it’s precious, like it’s diamonds,” the comic recalls. “He said give people what they want in segments so you’ll still have fire to come out with for your next thing.”
(Photo: Retna)
