‘Ziwe’: Slays satire in late-night series
Ziwe Fumudoh is an actress, model, and popstar who went viral in 2017 for her YouTube series “Baited with Ziwe” which lead to her current masterpiece.“Ziwe” has brought raw-authentic content like no other show and has conversations about race, class, sexuality and gender.
It’s not your regular sit-down interview or late-late show, Fumudoh is bringing her own written creations to life through comedy and an iconic-pink style. She is a queen and slays. Her confidence creates a unique experience on screen while interviewing many different celebrities, actors and popular activists, such as Andrew Yang, Mia Khalifa, Chet Hanks, and more—two seasons worth of hilarious, jaw-dropping and confrontational episodes.
Fumudoh truly embodies her comedic persona and has an alter-ego personality that can sing. You will see Fumudoh providing amazing music videos to songs she creates to add to her segments. Each song has meaning and connection to the episode. My personal favorite song is “Am I Gay?” which is played in season two episode six, the music video is phenomenally done and visually engaging with different styles of animation, outfits and actors involved.
This series challenges traditional Western norms when it comes to expanding conversations about race. Fumudoh asks each interviewee a series of questions that often make them uncomfortable or find it difficult to answer. Some questions Fumudoh has asked are “How many Black friends do you have?” and “What do you hate more, slow walkers or racism?”
She asks specific questions depending on her interviewee especially if the interviewee has a history of being canceled or an experience with callout culture— meaning a way of behaving in a society or group, especially on social media, in which it is common to completely reject and stop supporting someone because they have said or done something that is offensive. Fumudoh creates an atmosphere where her interviewee is authentically themselves for viewers to see and highlight the types of responses she gets based on the call-out questions she asks.
Fumudoh was raised in Lawrence, Massachusetts, with her family who emigrated from Nigeria to the U.S. and she is the second of three children. She graduated from Northwestern University in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in arts in radio, television, and film and African American studies. Soon after college, she instantly had different writing opportunities and has been published in The Daily Dot as a contributor, a writer/host for the Cafe, a writer for Tesla and a writer-feature and video contributor for the Onion, INC.
Personally, it’s inspirational and empowering to see the work of Fumudoh as a person who is a journalist and storyteller. Even if it’s not considered journalism to some, I see this as a modern-authentic way to have deep conversations about critical topics that the world doesn’t always want to acknowledge and a chance to challenge Western ideologies in journalism.
Check out the most iconic pink-styled sit-down interviews with skits that will make you laugh and critically think. “Ziwe” can be streamed now on Showtime, Hulu, or Amazon Prime.