The Ziwe Show: A Millenial Rendition of Confronting Race and Privilege
Photo of a mural at the March on Washington 2021 Taken by: Oona Timmeney-Tracy
Pink, glamorous, and prima donna can describe the set of 30-year-old Nigerian American comedian Ziwe Fumudoh’s new show. Now streaming on Showtime entitled The Ziwe Show, Fumudoh’s brilliant use of satire may just make you uncomfortable and that’s exactly the point.
As a society, we are largely sensitized to having conversations about race, privilege, and politics. There is a lack of literacy on the subject as a whole and within our public education systems curriculum. People don’t know how to talk about it because of this so when the topic arises they get uncomfortable or worry they’ll say the wrong thing.
The term coined by sociologists for this is White fragility the “discomfort and defensiveness on the part of a white person when confronted by information about racial inequality and injustice.”
Now how do we approach this as a society? Well, Ziwe Fumudoh could be onto something.
A popular segment on The Ziwe Show, “baited” is pretty much just what it sounds like. She asks her guests (who are usually predominantly White) racially charged questions there’s really no right answer to.
As Ziwe said in an interview with PBS, “I think that that sort of inability to win sets the stage for a really compelling conversation about race because suddenly any response that you give is not only wrong, but it just is more reflective of your inner ideas and inner monologue.”
These questions are along the lines of, “How many Black friends do you have?” and “If I robbed you and the police asked my race what would you say?”
The goal of this is not to gaslight people into being racist.
Moreover, it’s to its to tackle stigmas around White people’s discomfort surrounding race through satire and pop culture innuendos that appeal to younger millennial and gen z demographics.
In one episode called “55%” —a reference alluding to the percentage of white women who voted for Trump—Ziwe interviews Fran Lebowitz author of “Metropolitan Life” to talk about the “phenomenon” of White women.
After the interview, Ziwe gives a musical performance of her song entitled “Lisa Called the Cops” which chorus goes as followed, “Lisa called the cops on Black people. Anytime her mood was sour. Lisa called the cops on Black people. To give herself a rush of power.”
Now, this is not something you’d necessarily see on your typical late-night talk show about politics, and that’s the essence of it. Yes, the theatrics and skits may be distracting at times to some but it works because it deviates from the norm and offers us a fresh take on how to bring the topic of race and privilege to the table. Ziwe’s set is not just plastered in pink because she likes the color, it is a challenge to the industry of talk show entertainment that is primarily dominated by white men.
She makes room for productive conversation, yet is still comical and entertaining. Her show is aimed not only to put a new spin on politically oriented conversations. It’s aimed to attract viewers who aren’t necessarily already interested in having these much-needed conversations thus why her operatic and extrinsic style is appealing.
We, largely meaning us who are Millennials and Gen Z’s, are a part of a subculture in which we get our news in the form of memes and would rather watch a short Tik Tok video explaining a global crisis than read a three-page article in the New York Times.
Ziwe Zumudoh knows this and has adapted to cater her talk show to a combination of these ideas and trends. With everything going on in the world it can be cumbersome to stay educated and aware which is why The Ziwe Show has so much potential to change the climate around what some feel are controversial topics.
The Ziwe show is funny, provocative, and most definitely uncomfortable, and as Ziwe said, “This is my way of seizing my authority and my autonomy and pushing back onto society and saying, ‘Hey I’m not going to be the only one going through this life feeling discomfort.’”