The publicists that are still letting their clients sit down with Ziwe Fumudoh for her self-titled internet show don’t like the people they work with very much, it seems. There are some instances where the Ziwe interview isn’t detrimental—comedians Caleb Hearon and Devon Walker both fared fine—but in many cases, like the sit down with outgoing New York City Mayor Eric Adams, the interview just made an already disliked person even less likable. Ziwe’s edge is that she is quick-witted and asks blunt, pointed questions that are almost impossible to answer.
For a figure like Kevin Hart, the most recent guest on Ziwe’s show, it could have gone either way. Hart typically has a pretty good sense of humor about himself in the public eye—he’s sat through countless celebrity roasts and jokes over his height over the course of his long career. But he’s also a comedian who’s maybe gotten rich well beyond the point of being relatable.
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It’s this latter side of Hart’s fame that Ziwe toyed with in this week’s nearly 34-minute episode. The conversation started out with Ziwe prompting an already-uncomfortable looking Hart to verbally consent to answering any questions the host asks. He tripped over the words as he replied—maybe playing into the bit, but already failing to match her zesty, confrontational energy.
She continued to up the ante with her first question: “I love your clothes. Did you get them at Build-A-Bear?”
“No. These are…these are grown adult clothes. This is a… this is like…this is…it’s a good outfit. You don’t like my outfit?”
“No. It’s so sweet. It would look great on a bear.”
She continued on a tear with questions like:
- “What is your horoscope and how do you use it to justify your personality disorder?”
- “How tall is your personality?”
- “Should short people be allowed to play gay roles?”
Ziwe quickly established and kept the upper hand. He couldn’t match her energy. When she suggested that Kevin Hart play infamous Black author James Baldwin in a biopic, Hart replied “Who?”
Later in the episode Ziwe asked Hart, who has a net worth of an estimated $400 million, “How much money is enough?”
Hart broke down in laughter before saying, unconvincingly, “I mean the money isn’t the reward at this point.”
Ziwe followed up: “Well, speaking of, how is Riyadh, Saudi Arabia during this time of year?”
Hart, for the first time, seemed to get his bearings. He didn’t get baited into justifying his controversial decision to perform at the comedy festival in the country earlier this year.
“You know, I personally think it’s great,” he answered unwaveringly.
It was a weird moment for Hart to get confident and seemed to say one thing: the man sure seems motivated by the paycheck, despite what he maintains. Ziwe probing a comedian who has been in dozens of movies of varying quality about that isn’t exactly investigative journalism. But as the conversation continued, Ziwe towered over Hart, who seemed, against all odds, to shrink.
