Nearly a decade has passed since stand-up comedian Sasheer Zamata broke out as a cast member of NBC’s iconic sketch comedy show, "Saturday Night Live." The first Black female cast member in six years at that point, the Indianapolis native provided tons of laughs through skits including “So Ghetto” and a hilarious "Empire" parody.

That doesn’t even count other lead roles in television series ranging from Hulu series Woke to ABC’s Home Economics. Zamata is even set to star in the upcoming Marvel series Agatha: Coven of Chaos though she couldn’t talk about that due to the current SAG-AFTRA strike. Between all of that, she hosts the popular podcast "Best Friends" podcast with actress Nicole Byer.

Despite the gains in film and television, Zamata continues to bring laughs as a stand-up comic. This includes the upcoming comedy special The First Woman, set to first drop on 800 Pound Gorilla Aug 15 before coming to Youtube on Aug 29. There is plenty of high-brow humor on the special, like bits about her dating life, a trip to the emergency room, and her thoughts on historical moments.

Speaking with BET.com, Zamata talks about taking a new approach to distributing her comedy special, her thoughts on the SAG-AFTRA strike, and her thoughts on artificial intelligence.

BET.com: You’re releasing your new comedy special The First Woman on 800 Pound Gorilla first on Aug 15 before it comes to YouTube on Aug 29. Why take this approach to your distribution, and how tough is it to stand out in the stand-up special space?

Sasheer Zamata: I'm excited to release it on YouTube and give it to the people directly because I have control over it. I have ownership over it, which is not what I've had in the past. I'm very proud of my last special, but this is the first special I have self-produced, and I'm just excited to be in a place where I know what's happening and have control over my material and artistry. And yes, I can give it directly to people on YouTube.

More standups are doing that now. And I think people are looking to YouTube as a place where you can see comedy, which is great. Yeah, so many options now. There are so many streamers and networks that have comedy specials, but sometimes they get lost in the shuffle. So I think when you make it specific and you're like, come see my stuff on this channel on YouTube, it can be easier for people.

BET.com: One of my favorite jokes on the special has to do with the story of you getting hit by a car which leads into an interesting commentary on racial bias in the medical industry. How do you balance vulnerability with comedy?

Sasheer Zamata: I think you can make anything funny? And also, all my jokes come from a very personal place. I want to be authentic and the things I find funny are real and things that have happened to me. I think I balance it in a way that's very natural to me. I feel like the only thing I would be talking about is me and things I've gone through, and then I just try to find why it's funny, or at least why it's funny to me, and then I hope people can agree.

BET.com:  The last time I spoke with you was during the press run of Woke Season 2. Considering the activists leaning nature of that series and your own personal activism with the ACLU. What don’t people understand about being a celebrity and activist in the modern era?

Sasheer Zamata: I guess I don't know what people even do understand about that. I mean, it's nice that we're in a time where it does feel like activism is cool, which is kind of gross to say, but it does feel like people are taking up more leadership roles in their community, especially since the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement and all the protests. People are realizing that their energy and their time and their money and their social reach and all these things actually do make a difference. I think the benefit that I and other people in the public eye have is that we can reach a broader audience by being vocal about things that matter to us. So I try to do that in my life. I try to do that in my work and hope it makes some kind of difference. Maybe someone learns something and they actually talk about it to people in their lives, or they learn something and they actually go do something, or they volunteer or they go to this march or what have you. But yeah, I just want people to feel motivated once they see my work.

BET.com:  As an actress, do you have any thoughts on the current SAG-AFTRA strike that’s currently happening right now?

Sasheer Zamata: I think it's an interesting time because we are dealing with a new version of entertainment and entertainment is consistently evolving from silent films into talking films and then in black and white into color, and then going from just three channels to cable, and then from cable to satellite, and then from that to streaming. So it's like there are always changes happening in the industry, and when those changes happen, so do other changes.

Other changes have to happen too. So we're in a moment where we are moving into a lot of streaming content, but there haven't been any real regulations regarding how that differs from tv? How has that been different from how contracts have been written up for television? Because now, there are no residuals for streaming because you're not counting how many times people are watching it or how many times the network's playing that show or movie because it's a different medium.

Things just need to be changed. Language needs to be changed, artists need to be protected because there's also new technology that can do what we do. There's also the invention of AI that can yes, write scripts or even act and or use our voices. And that's scary and it threatens the careers of humans, and we have to just figure out a way to balance it before it gets a little out of control. So I'm hoping that we can meet in a place that feels good for the artist. We'll see what happens. But I think it helps that we're all on a unified front and want the same thing. So I'm hoping there's power in numbers and eventually, we get what we want.

BET.com:  Are you afraid of the potential of AI as a comedian and actress?

Sasheer Zamata: I think we can be pragmatic. I don't know if we will be. There are all these crazy movies that predict the future where AI takes over, or we're overrun by robots or whatever. I think there are ways that it can be helpful. I saw a tweet recently that was like, can we make some of this AI clean the plastic out of the ocean? Or do they all want to be screenwriters? Do they all have to be artists or can they just help the world? That would be nice if people figured out how to use the technology in those kinds of ways. There are, of course, going to be people who want to use it in ways that help them cut corners or make things easier for them or cheaper for them.

I don’t know. I'm hoping the pendulum will swing back in the direction of like, oh, we would like humans to do these things. I think it will. Cause every time I see a picture on Instagram that's like, AI created a photo shoot for Gucci or whatever it is,  I see people in the comments being like, oh, cool, you didn't want to pay a photographer, a storyboard artist, makeup artist, hair, hair stylist models. Great, people are mad. People are like, oh, cool, you just wanted to be cheap. So I am hoping that companies and big industries will see that and be like, oh, our clientele actually prefers when we use talented humans instead of technology. But we'll see. I don't know. I have hopes, but also I have no idea what will happen.

BET.com:  I’ve enjoyed some episodes of your Best Friends podcast with Nicole Byer. Over 200 episodes later, did you ever think the podcast would add to your brand the way it has?

Sasheer Zamata: I don’t know what I thought. I thought we would start the podcast and it would just be fun and silly, which is fun and silly because all we're doing is talking how we would be talking to each other anyway. And we just happen to have mics in front of us. But it's nice that people can relate to it and that people enjoy it so much. And to be quite honest, when we started the podcast, I was like, how are we going to talk for hours?

How are we going to run out of things to say? And somehow, every week we still have stuff to talk about because of course, cause we're best friends and we love goofing around with each other and it's very easy for us to talk and be silly with each other. But I love that people can relate to it and listen to it with their best friends, share it with their friends, or come to the live show with them because it's nice. It's nice to have a show that celebrates and talks about adult friendships because I feel like there aren't many things that do that. There are tons of shows that talk about romantic relationships.

BET.com: Too many.

Sasheer Zamata: Too many, honestly. Or your relationships with your family or your kids or your parents. But one of the strongest relationships in your life are your friends. And I don't want to forget that. I don't want anyone else to forget that, either. So I hope people can listen to the podcast and feel like they're our friends and also feel like they can reconnect with their friends too.