Ziwe Fumudoh

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Ziwe
Birth name Ziwerekoru Fumudoh
Born (1992-02-27) February 27, 1992 (age 32)
Education Northwestern University (BA)
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]

Early life and education

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, concentrating in poetry.[3][14][15] In 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]

Career

2013–2017: Early years

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]

2017–2020: Baited with Ziwe and Desus & Mero

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]

2020–2021: Ziwe

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 Lebowitz, 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 Millennials 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]

Additional projects

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]

2022–present

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 was widely covered in political news outlets and entertainment columns.[48][49][50][51]

Influences

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.[52] 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."[53] She has also taken inspiration from Oprah, the works of Zach Galifianakis, and Nathan Fielder,[53] as well as from shows like Arrested Development, The Office, and 30 Rock.[54]

Personal life

Fumudoh lives in New York City.[9]

Filmography

Ziwe Fumudoh film and television credits
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
2024 Shell Audrey

Discography

  • 2020: Generation Ziwe (EP)[19]

References

<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

Cite error: Invalid <references> tag; parameter "group" is allowed only.

Use <references />, or <references group="..." />

External links

  • No URL found. Please specify a URL here or add one to Wikidata.
  • Ziwe Fumudoh at the Internet Movie DatabaseLua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  42. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  43. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  44. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  45. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  46. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  47. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  48. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  49. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  50. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  51. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  52. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  53. ↑ 53.0 53.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  54. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=Ziwe_Fumudoh&oldid=727664982"