Past, present ‘SNL’ members doing stand-up in Atlanta this weekend

Sasheer Zamata

8 p.m. Thursday, 8 and 10:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday. $20-$30, depending on the night. Laughing Skull Lounge, 878 Peachtree St., Atlanta. www.laughingskulllounge.com.

Jon Lovitz and Sasheer Zamata are 29 years apart in age and live on different coasts.

But they have more in common than meets the eye: Both come from improv backgrounds and have “Saturday Night Live” on their resumes. Plus, both will be in Atlanta this weekend doing their own brand of stand-up comedy 5 miles apart.

Lovitz, a longtime Los Angeleno who will be at Buckhead’s Atlanta Improv this Thursday through Saturday, credits Lorne Michaels for launching his career in 1985. During his five-year stint on the show, he joined classic “SNL” actors such as Dennis Miller, Victoria Jackson, Dana Carvey and the late great Phil Hartman.

“I was completely unknown before ‘SNL,’ ” said Lovitz, 57. “I’m very grateful to Lorne.”

He created several indelible characters such as pathological liar Tommy Flanagan (“Yeah … that’s the ticket!”) and Master Thespian (“Acting!”).

Over the past 24 years since he left “SNL,” he has partaken in film (“A League of Their Own,” “City Slickers 2,” “Rat Race”), sitcoms (“NewsRadio”) and animation (“The Critic”). A decade ago, he decided to try stand-up to bring in more income and appeared at the now-defunct Roswell club the Funny Farm in 2006.

“I laugh at myself,” Lovitz said. “I play the piano. I sing funny songs. I play around a lot with language.”

Lovitz, who owns two comedy clubs under his name, also recently appeared on an ABC summer reality show, “Sing Your Face Off,” where he performed in full costume as famous singers such as Luciano Pavarotti, Billy Idol and part-time Atlantan Elton John.

While he has eschewed other reality show offers in the past, he found this one intriguing. “I like to sing,” he said. But John was especially challenging: “I tried to imitate him on ‘Bennie and the Jets’ and I realized all the things he did with his voice. It made me appreciate what a great singer he really is.”

Zamata — a 28-year-old New Yorker making her first stand-up appearance in Atlanta this Thursday through Sunday at the Laughing Skull Lounge in Midtown — joined “SNL” earlier this year after media critics bemoaned the lack of black females in the cast. “SNL” even did a skit about the touchy subject when “Scandal” star Kerry Washington hosted in November.

Michaels held auditions with black female comics and hired Zamata, who has a diverse background, including sketch comedy, improv and stand-up, as a featured performer.

Despite a crowded cast of 17 people, Zamata held up ably for a newcomer, doing funny impersonations of Michelle Obama, Washington and Beyonce, with whom she admits having a deep obsession.

NBC wouldn’t make Zamata available for a phone interview and when given questions about “SNL” by email, she didn’t answer them. But when asked about whether Beyonce may have put her on some sort of stalker list, she replied, “If she has put me on a stalker list, I don’t know about it. But I don’t know why she would when all I want to do is LOVE HER FOREVER.”