Ziwe | |
---|---|
Birth name | Ziwerekoru Fumudoh |
Born | February 27, 1992 |
Education | Northwestern University (BA) |
Years active | 2013–present |
Genres | |
Subject(s) | |
Website | Official website |
Ziwerekoru "Ziwe" Fumudoh [1] is an American comedian and writer known for her satirical commentary on politics, race relations, and young adulthood. [2] [3]
In 2017, she created the YouTube comedy show Baited with Ziwe and its 2020 Instagram Live iteration. [4] She wrote for Desus & Mero from 2018 to 2020, [5] and she co-hosted Crooked Media's Hysteria podcast in 2018. [6]
Fumudoh starred in and executive produced the Showtime variety series Ziwe (2021–2022). [7] [8] She published a collection of essays called Black Friend in October 2023. [9]
Born February 27, 1992, Fumudoh grew up in Lawrence, Massachusetts, the second of three children to parents who emigrated from Nigeria. [3] [10] [11] [12]
In 2010, Fumudoh graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. [1] [13] In 2014, she graduated from Northwestern University with a double major in radio, television, and film and African American studies, with a minor in creative writing: poetry. [3] [14] [15] On her first year at Northwestern, Fumudoh lived in McCulloch Hall. [16] While an undergraduate, she wrote for many student publications including: Purp Magazine, Northwestern Sketch Television, and Project SOARD. [17] [16]
In 2013, Fumudoh worked as a summer intern at Comedy Central on shows including The Daily Show and The Colbert Report . [13] [18] [5] During her senior year of college, she interned as a writer for The Onion and took improv classes at the iO theater. [19] At The Onion she worked in video, research, and contributing features. [20] From 2015 to 2020, she wrote for publications including The Riveter Magazine; Reductress ; The Daily Dot ; [21] Into The Gloss, where she wrote a column called "Operation Goo Goo Gah Gah"; [22] Vulture, where she wrote television recaps; [23] and The New Yorker .
After graduation, she worked at Lorne Michaels's Above Average Productions. [10] Her first television job was as a screenwriter on The Rundown with Robin Thede . [5] [18] [19]
In 2017, Fumudoh created Baited with Ziwe , a show on YouTube that featured her "baiting" her white friends into making unwitting racial faux pas. [5] In an interview, Fumudoh later said "I love that Baited allows viewers to laugh about race while still acknowledging its complexity. Of all projects I worked on, it's definitely one of my favorites." [24] In the same interview, she said that she got the inspiration for the show from asking her Caucasian coworkers what questions they would be uncomfortable to answer on camera. [24]
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Fumudoh moved the show from YouTube to Instagram Live with new celebrity guests each week. [25] Guests included Caroline Calloway, Alison Roman, Alyssa Milano, and Rose McGowan. [26] She stated that her show's goals were to facilitate discussions about race while entertaining people and critiquing the system. [6] [27] [28] Baited with Ziwe would serve as a successful template for her talk show Ziwe .
In 2018, Fumudoh appeared frequently in Pop Show, a live show she created at Brooklyn's Union Hall in which she performs original pop songs. [18] [29] [30] That same year, Fumudoh co-hosted Hysteria, a podcast from Crooked Media. [6]
From 2018 to 2020, Fumudoh was a writer on the TV show Desus and Mero . [31] [32] A Forbes reviewer wrote that she had the "confidence of an old comedy pro". [18] During that time, Fumudoh joined the cast of Our Cartoon President as the voice of Kamala Harris. She also wrote the season 3 episode "Senate Control". [33]
In October 2020, it was announced that Fumudoh would work with Showtime on a new variety show, Ziwe. [34] The first season had six episodes and featured sketches, musical numbers, and interviews with celebrity guests including: Fran Libowitz, Bowen Yang, Phoebe Bridgers, Julio Torres, and Stacey Abrams. [35] Fumudoh hosted, wrote for, and produced the show. [36] Fumudoh collaborated with costume designer Pamela Shepard-Hill on her costumes. [7]
The second season was heavily teased prior to broadcast by mainstream publications including: Variety, [37] Forbes , [38] and Deadline. [39] Season 2 of Ziwe built upon the successful format of Season 1, expanding to 12 episodes. [35] Celebrity guests included: Ilana Glazer, Mia Khalifa, Emily Ratajkowski, Katya Zamolodchikova, Julia Fox, Bob the Drag Queen, Joel Kim Booster, Amber Riley, Michael Che, and Hannibal Burress, among others. [35] The hyper virality of clips from Season 2 of Ziwe on TikTok cemented Fumudoh in the cultural zeitgeist of Millenials and Gen Z, achieving Fumudoh's dream of becoming "The Ellen Degeneres of race relations." [3] In April 2023, Showtime chose not to renew the series for a third season. [40] In doing so, Showtime left the late-night talk show genre altogether. [41]
In 2021, Fumudoh wrote for the television series Dickinson and appeared in two episodes as Sojourner Truth. [42] That same year, she played Sophie Iwobi, a comedic commentator on a late-night show resembling Ziwe , in one episode of the third season of Succession . The character was tailored to more closely resemble Fumudoh after she was cast. [43]
In September 2023, Fumudoh was part of the "My Wings, My Way" campaign for Victoria's Secret. [44]
In August 2020, it was announced that Fumudoh was writing a collection of humorous essays, The Book of Ziwe, for Abrams Books. [45] The book was later retitled Black Friend and was released on October 24, 2023. [9] To promote the book, Fumudoh went on a cross country tour between October 23 and November 8, 2023 visiting 8 cities, including: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Minneapolis, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. [46]
On December 18, 2023, Fumudoh interviewed the scandal-plagued former U.S. House representative George Santos on her YouTube channel. [47] The interview, laden with Fumudoh's trademark gotcha! style, was widely covered in political news outlets and Hollywood Entertainment columns alike, including: New York Times, [48] Washington Post, [49] CNN, [50] CBS News, [51] The Hill, [52] Mother Jones, [53] LA Times, [54] Axios, [55] Variety, [56] The Daily Beast, [57] Buzzfeed, [58] Business Insider, [59] The Advocate, [60] among others.
Fumudoh has cited Jonathan Swift and Stephen Colbert as influences, having been introduced to them by a teacher during her freshman year of high school. [61] Naming the latter as a foundational reference, she has said of his appearance at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Dinner, "It was so unbelievable that he’d speak to authority or even around authority like that... I was really compelled by his satire." [62] She has also taken inspiration from Oprah, the works of Zach Galifanakis, and Nathan Fielder, [62] as well as from shows like Arrested Development , The Office , and 30 Rock . [63]
Fumudoh lives in New York City. [9]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2017–2018 | The Rundown with Robin Thede | None | Writer (7 episodes) |
2018–2020 | Desus & Mero | None | Writer (66 episodes) |
2019–2020 | Our Cartoon President | Kamala Harris, various characters (voice) | 11 episodes; also writer |
2020–2021 | Stephen Colbert Presents Tooning Out The News | Various voices | 12 episodes |
2021–2022 | Ziwe | Herself (host) | Also producer, creator, and writer |
2021 | Succession | Sophie Iwobi | Episode: "The Disruption" |
Dickinson | Sojourner Truth | 2 episodes, also writer | |
2021–2023 | The Great North | Amelia (voice) | 9 episodes |
2022 | That Damn Michael Che | Herself | Episode: "Black Mediocrity" |
Central Park | (voice) | Episode: "The Puffs Go Poof" | |
2023 | Teenage Euthanasia | Various voices | 2 episodes |
TBA | Shell | Post-production |
Jennifer Westfeldt is an American actress, screenwriter, and producer. She is best known for co-writing, co-producing, and starring in the 2002 indie film Kissing Jessica Stein, for which she received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best First Screenplay and a Golden Satellite Award for Best Actress - Comedy or Musical. She is also known for writing, producing, starring in, and making her directorial debut in the 2012 indie film, Friends with Kids, which was included on New York Magazine's Top Ten Movies of 2012 list, as well as NPR's Top 12 of 2012.
Mathilde "Tig" O'CallaghanNotaro is an American stand-up comedian, writer, radio contributor, and actress known for her deadpan comedy. Her acclaimed album Live was nominated in 2014 for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. The special Tig Notaro: Boyish Girl Interrupted was nominated in 2016 at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special. In 2017, the album Boyish Girl Interrupted was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards.
Joel Armogasto Martinez, professionally known as The Kid Mero, is a Dominican-American writer, comedian, TV personality, voice actor, YouTube personality, music blogger and Twitter personality. He rose to prominence alongside fellow Bronx native Desus Nice with their Complex TV 46-episode podcast Desus vs. Mero, which first premiered on December 18, 2013. He was a cast member of Guy Code with Desus Nice. He was the co-host of Viceland's Desus & Mero talk show alongside Desus until June 2018, and co-hosted Desus & Mero which premiered on February 21, 2019, on Showtime.
Daniel Baker, known professionally as Desus Nice, is an American television, YouTube, and Twitter personality.
Joshua Lyons Gondelman is an American author, comedy writer, producer, and stand-up comedian. He was a supervising producer and writer for Desus & Mero on Showtime. He was previously a writer on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. He is also known for co-creating the parody Twitter account @SeinfeldToday.
Heben Nigatu is an Ethiopian-American writer and the former co-host of BuzzFeed podcast Another Round which stopped broadcasting in 2017. She previously wrote for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and is currently a staff writer for Desus & Mero on Showtime.
Desus & Mero is an American television late-night talk show hosted by Desus Nice and The Kid Mero that ran from October 17, 2016, to June 28, 2018, on Viceland. In 2018, the show's hosts left Viceland and moved to Showtime and the new Desus & Mero premiered on February 21, 2019.
"The Morning After" is the second episode of the eighth season of the anthology television series American Horror Story. It aired on September 19, 2018, on the cable network FX. The episode was written by James Wong, and directed by Jennifer Lynch.
"Forbidden Fruit" is the third episode of the eighth season of the anthology television series American Horror Story. It aired on September 26, 2018, on the cable network FX. The episode was written by Manny Coto, and directed by Loni Peristere.
"Could It Be... Satan?" is the fourth episode of the eighth season of the anthology television series American Horror Story. It aired on October 3, 2018, on the cable network FX. The episode was written by Tim Minear, and directed by Sheree Folkson.
"Boy Wonder" is the fifth episode of the eighth season of the anthology television series American Horror Story. It aired on October 10, 2018, on the cable network FX. The episode was written by John J. Gray, and directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton.
"Return to Murder House" is the sixth episode of the eighth season of the anthology television series American Horror Story. Written by Crystal Liu and directed by Sarah Paulson, it aired on October 17, 2018, on the cable network FX. The episode saw a return to the setting used for season one, Murder House, as well as the reappearance of original cast members Connie Britton, Dylan McDermott, and Jessica Lange. "Return to Murder House" received critical acclaim from reviewers, who praised Paulson's direction, Lange's return, and the performances and chemistry of Emma Roberts and Billy Porter. For her performance in the episode, Lange was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.
"Sojourn" is the eighth episode of the eighth season of the anthology television series American Horror Story. It aired on October 31, 2018, on the cable network FX. The episode was written by Josh Green, and directed by Bradley Buecker.
"Fire and Reign" is the ninth episode of the eighth season of the anthology television series American Horror Story. It aired on November 7, 2018, on the cable network FX. The episode was written by Asha Michelle Wilson, and directed by Jennifer Arnold.
Desus & Mero is an American television late-night talk show hosted by comedians Desus Nice and The Kid Mero. The show aired from February 2019 to June 2022 on the premium cable and streaming service Showtime.
Patti Harrison is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for her roles in comedy series such as Shrill (2019–2021) and I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson (2019–present), as well as the comedy film Together Together (2021), with the latter earning her a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead.
Ziwe is an American satirical late-night talk show hosted and executive produced by comedian Ziwe Fumudoh based in New York City. The show premiered on May 9, 2021, on Showtime.
The Curse is an American satirical black comedy thriller television series created and written by Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie, and starring Emma Stone, Fielder, and Safdie. It was filmed from June to October 2022 and premiered on streaming and on-demand for all Showtime and Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers on November 10, 2023, before making its on-air debut on Showtime on November 12. Its first three episodes premiered at the New York Film Festival on October 12, 2023. The first season concluded on January 12, 2024, receiving critical acclaim.
Yellowjackets is an American thriller drama television series created by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson. It stars an ensemble cast led by Sophie Nélisse, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Sophie Thatcher, Samantha Hanratty, Liv Hewson, and Courtney Eaton as a group of teenagers involved in a plane crash in 1996, with Melanie Lynskey, Tawny Cypress, Juliette Lewis, Christina Ricci, Lauren Ambrose, and Simone Kessell playing their adult counterparts in 2021. Ella Purnell, Steven Krueger, Warren Kole, and Kevin Alves also star.
"The Disruption" is the third episode of the third season of the HBO satirical comedy-drama television series Succession, and the 23rd overall. It was written by Ted Cohen and Georgia Pritchett and directed by Cathy Yan, and aired on October 31, 2021.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)