“Ziwe” is back to confront hot-button issues and make celebs cringe. “Diversity training isn’t enough. I’m ready to go to diversity war!” a chainsaw-wielding Ziwe Fumudoh declares in the trailer for the second half of the sophomore season of her talk show. The late-night program is returning in full force with a wide assortment of guests – talk-show host and actress Drew Barrymore, “Glee” alumna Amber Riley, and “Uncut Gems” breakout Julia Fox, to name a few – who must tackle Ziwe’s heavy-hitting questions about race, gender, politics, and social issues. 

Fain to make her celebrity interviewees more than a little uncomfortable with her discussion topics, Ziwe asks Barrymore, on a cotton candy-pink set reminiscent of Barbie’s Dreamhouse, where she stands on the Emancipation Proclamation. “I am for freedom, is that the right answer?” the “E.T.” actress reluctantly offers. “You tell me, Drew,” Ziwe quips. 

In another conversation, Ziwe asks Boston Celtics player Blake Griffin, “How often do you compare yourself to the most powerful Black women in America?” to which the power forward replies, “More than you would think.”

“This is a variety show in the truest sense of the word, because there’s music, guests, field pieces, sketches and fake commercials,” Ziwe has said. “I am just making important work that is hopefully funny, so the show is what you interpret, it fits into several genres. It’s stretching the definition of what comedy means.”

As Ziwe herself puts it in the trailer, “Let the pageantry begin!”

In addition to hosting, Ziwe is also the show’s creator, executive producer, and writer. Among her other writing credits is Apple TV+s “Dickinson,” which starred Hailee Steinfeld as the 19-century poet Emily Dickinson.

“Ziwe” starts streaming on Showtime November 18.

https://youtu.be/kTceoAGnF90