Ziwe is here to revolutionize late-night TV
Rising comedic star brings fearless satire from online videos to series on Showtime
undercut that in my own special way?” says Ziwe, who dresses like Elle Woods and takes an aggressively high-low approach to cultural commentary.
The daughter of Nigerian immigrants, Ziwe grew up in a largely working-class town in Massachusetts but attended Phillips Academy Andover, one of the most prestigious prep schools in the country — a contrast that “really informed my purview on race and class,” she says. After graduating from Northwestern, she landed in New York and worked a day job at Lorne Michaels’ Above Average Productions while performing at venues around the city.
There were lean times, but it’s worked out well so far. In addition to her series, she has an essay collection, “The Book of Ziwe,” due next year.
This interview with Ziwe has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: How did you approach developing your own latenight show? Were there certain conventions you wanted to do away with?
A: It wasn’t so much, “I never want to do this again.” It was more, “How do I subvert these norms that I’ve become accustomed to, having seen Johnny Carson and David Letterman and Jimmy Fallon and all these people do these traditional shows over the course of several decades?”
Q: What were your comedy influences growing up?
A: I’ve seen every episode of “Arrested Development” six times. I was a huge fan of “The Colbert Report.” … I thought that that was such an interesting approach that Stephen (Colbert) had to comedy. And so I’ve always been kind of trying to emulate that. I was a huge “Office” person. I was a huge “30 Rock” person. I watched all of the Disney shows as a kid, like “Lizzie McGuire.” Britney Spears was my idol as a 7-yearold.
Q: Did it occur to you that comedy was something you could do professionally?
A: I went to college as a math major. I hated it. … I didn’t know that you could be a professional artist. I had a wonderful poetry teacher named Rachel Webster, who was so thoughtful, and she really helped me nurture a love of writing. … I applied for an internship at Comedy Central. And then that opened my eyes, the world of entertainment. It was Chris Rock’s internship (program) at Comedy Central. … We were cycled through on-air promo and “The Daily Show” and then development, and I got to see the ins and outs of the entertainment industry. I did “The Colbert Report,” and I got a joke on the show as an intern. … You get a joke on the air as a 21-year-old kid, and it’s like, “Wow.”
Q: What inspired you to start making your own videos?
A: In that internship with Comedy Central, I talked to the comedian Aasif Mandvi. And he kind of gave this like parting wisdom. He was just like, “You guys are lucky the internet exists. Don’t let people stop you from creating. Just put your work out there. And eventually it will stick.” And that was something that I took forward.
Specifically with the YouTube series “Baited,” and then Instagram Live, I have had these conversations my entire life, and you’d be hard-pressed to find another Black woman who hasn’t been confronted about race since they were 2 years old. Many times I’ve been at a bar and someone’s cornered me to talk about their Black nanny or someone’s reached out to grab my hair. So I’ve constantly had to confront race. And I’ve constantly been viscerally uncomfortable about this, but no one really cares whether I’m uncomfortable or not. And so I wanted to reverse that dynamic, and create a position in which I could heal myself. My version of healing is having these conversations. I don’t think of my guests as these anomalies. I see them as reflective of the society at large.
Q: Do you ever wonder what drives your guests to participate, knowing they might not come out looking so great?
A: I always ask them, “Why did you do this?” Each guest has their own respective answer. Some of them are fans of my comedy. Others really want to be part of the public discourse, and think that the conversations are really beneficial.
I really appreciate my guests because you can say whatever you want about their respective answers, but it takes a certain amount of bravery. So I’m eternally grateful to their bravery.