“Saturday Night Live” writer Seth Myers has tapped Chicago’s Amber Ruffin (pictured) for the writing staff on his upcoming “Late Night With Seth Myers” talk show, according to Jezebel.
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With the official announcement last Wednesday, Ruffin makes history as the first woman of color to write for a nightly late-night show. The selection comes around recent discourse concerning “Saturday Night Live’s lack of Black female cast members. Coincidentally, Ruffin participated in the show’s secret audition searching for minority female actors last month.
Following those auditions, “SNL” hired stand-up comic Sasheer Zamata to its live cast; they also brought in black female comedians LaKendra Tookes and Leslie Jones as staff writers.
Ruffin joins Peter Grosz, John Lutz, Connor O’Malley, and Alex Baze as the show’s Chicago-based writers. Myers will be replacing Jimmy Fallon on the “Late Night” franchise, after Fallon agreed to host the “Tonight Show” following the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Ruffin’s Facebook page was filled with congrats following the announcement:
“Too cute. Congrats lady!” wrote a friend named Christy Bonstell on Ruffin’s most-recent profile picture change. Another referenced her birthday, which came a day after the announcement:
“What do you give the girl who has everything???” another friend posted. “Happy birthday and congratulations!! No one deserves it more!”
