A: Who is this Ziwe? I’ve never heard of her.

B: She’s a New York comedian who made a name for herself through grilling celebrities on third rail topics such as race, politics, and gender on Instagram Live and, later, a late night talk show on Showtime.

Note: In many subway systems, the pair of rails that the train cars run on are accompanied by a third rail that runs between or alongside them. It’s this third rail that provides the electricity that powers the train. If you touch the third rail, you will be in danger of electrocution. This use of “third rail” dates to the dawn of the first subway systems in the 1860s. As a metaphor, the term refers to a controversial issue usually avoided by politicians.