This Saturday, the world will tune in to "Saturday Night Live" for an extra special reason.
Her name is Sasheer Zamata.
Following a public scandal surrounding the show's lack of diversity, Zamata is the show's first black female hire since 2007.
She falls into a long line of venerable comediennes who have graced the stage of Studio 8H over the show's 39-year history.
From trailblazers Gilda Radner and Jane Curtin, who paved the way for female comics in Season 1, to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who anchored the "Weekend Update" desk with confidence and flair — here are the 23 ground-breaking moments of women on "SNL."
1. When Lorne Michaels began putting the show together in 1975, he made Gilda Radner his first hire.
The year before, the pint-sized, squawky-voiced Radner came to New York to do "The National Lampoon Radio Hour" and "The National Lampoon Show."
Michaels had seen some of her work with Toronto's "Second City" comedy troupe, and was hooked. "I felt there was a remarkable quality to her," Michaels said, "a goodness which came through whatever she was doing."
2. Radner's quirky characterizations brought her an Emmy for outstanding performance as an actress in a variety series in 1978.
She created such characters as a, the frizzy-haired, lisping broadcaster; Lisa Loopner, a nerdy teenager with "mosquito-size" breasts; and "Baba Wawa," a parody of Barbara Walters which made Radner the first person to lampoon a news anchor on TV.
3. Jane Curtin was the first female co-anchor on "Weekend Update."
Curtin's deadpan delivery made her the perfect foil for three different male co-anchors during her time at the desk.
Cerebral and restrained, she never backed down from a debate with conservative-playing Dan Aykroyd during their "Point/Counter-Point" segments. He regularly chastised her, "Jane, you ignorant slut!"
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