Showtime’s breakout variety comedy show Ziwe has been renewed for a twelve-episode second season, which will be split into two parts. Ziwe (Desus & Mero, Baited with Ziwe) herself shared the news on social media Tuesday with a tongue-and-cheek reference to Vice President Elect Kamala Harris’ post-election video in which she exclaimed “we did it, Joe” (Twitter).
“This show has exceeded my wildest imagination thanks to my brilliant cast, crew and iconic guests,” Variety quoted Ziwe. “I am famously delighted to continue my collaboration with Showtime and A24.” The six-episode first season of the variety series ran from May 19 to June 13 on Showtime and, in true variety format, included songs, sketches, field pieces and interview segments. “The show is what you interpret, it fits into several genres,” Ziwe said of Ziwe. “it’s stretching the definition of what comedy means” (Deadline).
In Ziwe’s first season, guests ran the gambit from fellow comedians and comedic actors such as Adam Pally (Happy Endings), Patti Henderson (Together Together), Bowen Yang (Saturday Night Live) and Julio Torres (Los Espookys) to musicians such as Phoebe Bridgers to political and cultural figures like Fran Lebowitz, Andrew Yang, Gloria Steinem and Stacey Abrams. However host and series’ namesake Ziwe has her sights set on even bigger and wilder guests for the show’s future. According to Ziwe, potential guests could be anyone from Kim Kardashian to The Obamas, because “what’s nice about the show is that I can talk to anyone” (Deadline).
Deadline additionally reports that Ziwe has generated plenty of Emmy-buzz in its first season and may earn nomination in the variety series category against the likes of Saturday Night Live and A Black Lady Sketch Show. Ziwe herself is no stranger to prestigious honors, landing on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for 2021. A second season renewal for her self-titled series comes shortly after Ziwe’s development deal with Amazon for her series, The Nigerian Princess, via Variety. The multifaceted host will also be publishing book of essays this fall entitled The Book of Ziwe and recording new music, according to Variety.
A second season of Ziwe adds to Ziwe’s loaded schedule, giving fans no shortage of content from the artist between seasons of her Showtime series.