Last Friday night, Northwestern alum Ziwe Fumudoh took the stage at Ryan Auditorium for a pop show. Paul O’Connor has the story.
[Michael Che]
THAT CLIP WAS FROM ZIWE, A LATE-NIGHT TALK AND VARIETY COMEDY SERIES ON SHOWTIME. AND IT TAKES ITS NAME FROM THE STAR AND CREATOR HERSELF, ZIWE FUMUDOH.
[Michael Che]
ALTHOUGH HER SHOW INCLUDES OTHER TYPES OF SKETCH COMEDY, ZIWE
FUMUDOH HAS RISEN TO FAME IN LARGE PART DUE TO HER INTERVIEWS. AND SHE’S INTERVIEWED A BIZARRE VARIETY OF CELEBRITIES, FROM CHET HANKS AND BLAKE GRIFFIN TO ANDREW YANG AND FRAN LEBOWITZ.
[Fran Lebowitz]
SHORT CLIPS OF THESE INTERVIEWS HAVE GONE VIRAL ON INSTAGRAM, TIKTOK,
AND YOUTUBE. HER INTERVIEWS ARE OFTEN OPENLY ANTAGONISTIC, INTENTIONALLY CREATING TRAPS FOR HER GUESTS TO FALL INTO. HERE’S ZIWE INTERVIEWING DEMOCRAT ANDREW YANG.
[Andrew Yang/Ziwe]
BUT SOME OF HER BEST INTERVIEWS HAPPEN WHEN THE GUEST REFUSES TO BE
MADE THE BUTT OF THE JOKE AND MATCHES HER ENERGY. HERE’S ZIWE
INTERVIEWING JULIA FOX.
[Julia Fox]
BUT ZIWE’S INTERVIEWS AREN’T JUST SIGNIFICANT FOR THE POPULAR SOUNDBITES. SHE’S TALKED OPENLY ABOUT THE CONCEPT OF HER INTERVIEWS,
WHICH IS TO MAKE HER GUESTS TALK TO HER ABOUT RACE, GENDER, CLASS, AND IDENTITY. FOR ZIWE, DISCOMFORT CAN BE REALLY FUNNY, BUT ALSO AN IMPORTANT WAY TO HAVE REVEALING CONVERSATIONS ON THESE TOPICS. HERE’S AN INTERVIEW CLIP WITH ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT:
[Ziwe/Entertainment Tonight]
ZIWE’S A NORTHWESTERN GRAD, AND LAST FRIDAY NIGHT SHE RETURNED TO
CAMPUS FOR A POP SHOW IN THE RYAN AUDITORIUM. IT WAS PUT ON BY A&O PRODUCTIONS, WHO SPONSOR SIMILAR TYPES OF EVENTS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.
[How does this rank to other speakers/events? It’s probably one of my favorites, I’ve seen her on TikTok, and I’m not familiar with other speakers]
TO GET TICKETS ONLINE, A&O SET UP A WAITING ROOM DAYS BEFORE THE
SHOW. THEY WENT QUICKLY, SELLING OUT FOR THOSE WHO DIDN’T GET IN THE
WAITING ROOM WITHIN THE FIRST COUPLE MINUTES. AN HOUR BEFORE THE SHOW THERE WERE TWO BIG LINES: ONE FOR THE TICKETED AND ANOTHER FOR STANDBY. HERE’S RIVA LAKKADI, A WEINBERG SECOND YEAR:
[Riva Lakkadi] I’m not ticketed. I got here at 6:30, standby starts at 7.
[Paul O’Connor] Do you have to pay in standby?
[RL] No.
[PO] If you could get out of line by paying, what would you pay?
[RL] Max 5-10 dollars.
[PO] How long would you wait?
[RL] An hour.
HERE’S OLIVIA ORREN, SECOND YEAR FROM THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION AND
SOCIAL POLICY.
[PO] Are you ticketed?
[Olivia Orren] Yes.
[PO] How long did it take you to get tickets?
[OO] I had my computer pulled up, my phone pulled up, so about a minute.
[PO] Would you have paid for a ticket?
[OO] Probably, yeah.
AND HERE’S RAVEN WILLIAMS, A MEDILL FIRST-YEAR.
[PO] Are you ticketed?
[RW] I’m waiting in line standby.
[PO] Do you expect to be able to get in?
[RW] I hope so. I don’t know how these things work. I’m gonna walk to Lincoln (Schapiro) and do homework if not.
[PO] Would you pay to get out of line? How much?
[RW] Absolutely not.
[PO] How long would you wait?
[RW] 7:30. 7:40. After that, take losses.
BUT MOST WERE EXCITED, EVEN THOSE WITH NO GUARANTEE OF GETTING IN. AND THOSE WHO WERE FAMILIAR WITH ZIWE SEEMED TO KNOW HER FOR THE SAME REASON: HER INTERVIEWS.
[PO] Do you know of Ziwe?
[RL] I love her.
[PO] How were you exposed to her?
[RL] YouTube, TikToks, interviews.
[Michelle Li/Annika Sravastava] Interviews mostly? Yeah.
[OO] Interviews on TikTok? Definitely, watched and liked everything on Instagram.
ULTIMATELY, STUDENTS WAITING ON STANDBY WERE ABLE TO GET IN. ALTHOUGH WE CAN’T AIR ANY CLIPS FROM THE ACTUAL SHOW, HERE’S WHAT THE RYAN AUDITORIUM SOUNDED LIKE RIGHT BEFORE.
[clip of the show]
AS STUDENTS FILED IN, ZIWE HERSELF WAS SITTING ON STAGE, ABSORBED IN
HER LAPTOP. IT SEEMED LIKE SHE WAS MIXING THE MUSIC WE WERE HEARING IN THE AUDITORIUM. I DIDN’T EVEN REALIZE IT WAS HER, UNTIL SHE SUDDENLY STARTED DANCING IN A CONSPIRATORIAL KIND OF WAY.
FOR THE FIRST 45 MINUTES, THE SHOW ALL ZIWE. AND SHE TOOK TIME TO GIVE THE AUDIENCE A SENSE OF HER BRAND OF SATIRE. HERE’S KELVIN WONG, A MEDILL FIRST YEAR.
[Kelvin Wong clip]
DURING THE SHOW, SHE IRONICALLY PLAYED INTO THE TROPE OF HERSELF AS A
SELF-AFFECTED CELEBRITY. USING GOOGLE SLIDES, SHE SHOWED US IMAGES OF
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU GOOGLE SEARCH HER NAME. SHE EVEN TOLD US TO
GO UPVOTE PICTURES OF HER FEET, POSTED ON THE ONLINE CELEBRITY
DATABASE WIKIFEET. OTHER NOTABLE MOMENTS FROM THE FIRST 45 MINUTES
INCLUDE WHEN SHE REENACTED SOME OF HER INTERVIEWS WITH STUDENTS
FROM THE CROWD; NOTABLY, PINK BERET GIRL MADE AN APPEARANCE TO
REENACT AN INTERVIEW SHE DID WITH PHOEBE BRIDGERS. HOWEVER, SOME WERE CONFUSED BY THE CHOICE TO REENACT INTERVIEWS. HERE’S LUNDEN MASON, A MEDILL FOURTH-YEAR.
[Lunden Mason clip]
THEN, COMEDIAN, ACTOR, AND SINGER LARRY OWENS TOOK THE STAGE. ALTHOUGH MOST CAME FOR ZIWE, SOME WERE MORE EXCITED FOR LARRY OWENS, WHO PLAYS ZACH FROM ABC’S ABBOTT ELEMENTARY.
[Raven Williams/Olivia Orren clips about Abbott Elementary]
HIS CAMEO WAS SHORT, ONLY ABOUT 10 MINUTES. BUT HE PRACTICALLY HAD
THE AUDIENCE ON HIS FEET AFTER HE PERFORMED TWO SONGS, MONOLOGUING IN BETWEEN. ONE OF THESE INCLUDED A SONG FROM ABBOTT ELEMNTARY.
[Lunden Mason clip]
AFTER HIS LAST SONG, ZIWE REEMEGED. AND FOR THE LAST TEN MINUTES, SHE HAD US CHANT ALONG TO AN ORIGNAL SONG CALLED “STOP BEING POOR.”
[Marija Jovic clip about “Stop Being Poor”]
FOR HER FINAL ACT, SHE TOLD US SHE WAS GONNA LEAD US IN A PRAYER. SHE
THEN HAD US ALL MAKE THE WEIRD SOUND EFFECT FROM THE WHITE LOTUS THEME SONG, POPULAR ON TIKTOK. THEN, AS MYSTERIOUSLY AS IT BEGAN, THE SHOW ENDED.
[pause]
LOOKING BACK, THE SHOW FEELS LIKE A FEVER DREAM. SO MUCH CONTENT
WAS JAM-PACKED INTO JUST ONE HOUR, WITH LARRY OWENS CREATING JUST
ABOUT THE MOST DRAMATIC MOOD SHIFT IMAGINABLE. BUT THE MORE YOU
THINK ABOUT ZIWE’S HUMOR, THE MORE IT STARTS TO COME INTO FOCUS. SHE
TAKES LIBERTY IN ENJOYING THE SPOTLIGHT, BUT NEVER FORGETS TO REMEBER WHAT IT IS. FROM WNUR NEWS, I’M PAUL O’CONNOR.
[fade out with White Lotus theme]
