Ziwe Fumudoh

After realizing she couldn't imagine a career in poetry, Fumudoh applied for a summer internship at Comedy Central during her junior year of college, working on shows including The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.[12][15][5] During her senior year, she interned as a writer for The Onion and took improv classes at the iO theater.[16] At The Onion she started in video, moved onto research, and went onto contributing features.[17] From 2015 until 2020, she wrote for publications including The Riveter Magazine; Reductress; The Daily Dot;[18] Into The Gloss, where she wrote a column called "Operation Goo Goo Gah Gah";[19] Vulture, where she wrote TV recaps;[20] and The New Yorker.

After graduation she got her first television job as a screenwriter on The Rundown with Robin Thede.[5] She was able to pay her student loans thanks to the money she earned working for the show.[15][16] On the experience she said: “I'm so fortunate that I was able to be seen and validated at my first TV writing job so young because now I have a better perspective of going into other writers’ rooms and being like, ‘Okay, I'm not weird or crazy for having these differences.’”[15]

In 2017, Fumudoh created Baited with Ziwe, a show on YouTube that originally featured some of her non-Black friends whom she baited into making unwitting racial faux pas.[5] It was an edited show including effects that highlighted when someone was "baited", first produced through her work at Lorne Michaels's Above Average Productions.[9] During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Fumudoh moved the show from YouTube to Instagram Live with new guests each week.[21] The new version had no effects, and the featured guests were increasingly notable, including Caroline Calloway, Alison Roman, Alyssa Milano, and Rose McGowan.[22] Fumudoh asked guests direct questions such as "What do you qualitatively like about Black people?" and asked Roman to name five Asian people, which she was unable to do. Fumudoh said she was not trying to get anyone canceled but that her show's goals were to facilitate good discussions about race while entertaining people and to critique the system, not individuals.[6][23] She typically started each show by announcing, "This is a comedy show."[24]

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.[15][25][26] 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.[27][28] A Forbes reviewer wrote that she had the "confidence of an old comedy pro".[15] During that period, Fumudoh also joined the cast of Our Cartoon President as the voice of Kamala Harris. She also wrote the season 3 episode "Senate Control".[29]

In October 2020, it was announced that Fumudoh would be working with Showtime on a new variety show, Ziwe.[30] The six-episode first season featured musical numbers, interviews with guests including Gloria Steinem and Andrew Yang, and sketches. In addition to hosting the eponymous show, Fumudoh also writes and produces.[31] The show is notable for its colorful sets, musical numbers, and highly accessorized, wild costumes, on which Fumudoh collaborated with costume designer Pamela Shepard-Hill.[7] In April 2023, Showtime cancelled the series after two seasons.[32]

In 2021, Fumudoh wrote for the television series Dickinson and appeared in two episodes as Sojourner Truth.[33] 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.[34]

In September 2023, Fumudoh was part of the "My Wings, My Way" campaign for Victoria's Secret.[35] In August 2020, it was announced that Fumudoh was writing a book, The Book of Ziwe, a collection of humorous essays, for Abrams Books.[36] The book was later retitled Black Friend and is scheduled for release on October 24, 2023.[37]