Samantha Bee

About

Samantha Bee is a Canadian-American comedian, writer and producer best known as the host of the late-night talk and news satire TV show Full Frontal with Samantha Bee and her prior tenure as a regular correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Early Career

In 2000, Bee began her pursuit in acting by touring with a stage production of Sailor Moon in which she played the titular character. Shortly thereafter, Bee co-founded the all-women sketch comedy group The Atomic Fireballs with three other comedians.

Online History

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The Daily Show Correspondence

In July 2003, Bee made her broadcast debut as a regular correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. During her 12-year tenure at The Daily Show, Bee honed her skills and specialized in leading high-profile subjects, including politicians and corporate executives, into a state of self-caricature during interviews. In 2015, she departed the show to start her own TBS show Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee

On February 8th, 2016, Bee made her debut as a TV host with the premiere of the weekly news satire TV show Full Frontal with Samantha Bee on TBS.

Not The White House Correspondents’ Dinner

On April 29th, 2017, Bee hosted a special live event as part of her show to rival the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner, which took place at the DAR Constitution Hall in Washington D.C. at the same time as the scheduled correspondents' dinner. The event featured pre-recorded appearances by over a dozen of journalists and comedians. In addition, Will Ferrell made a special guest appearance reprising his caricature of former president George W. Bush.

Controversies

"Nazi Hair" Comment

On March 8th, 2017, Full Frontal ran a segment about the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), an annual political conference attended by an influential group of conservative activists and elected officials, featuring a voiceover narrator ridiculing the fashion trend of short undercut at the convention. The commentary was accompanied by a photo montage of several young white male attendees sporting the haircut.

“Just last year, CPAC was dominated by Ted Cruz supporters and chirpy little shits with bow ties. This year, the bow ties were gone and replaced by Nazi hair. Nazi hair. Nazi hair.”

The next day, conservative politics and culture magazine OUTSET published an article titled "Samantha Bee Mocks OUTSET Contributor With Cancer For Having “Nazi” Haircut," condemning the comedian for comparing one of its writers Kyle Coddington, who has been diagnosed with stage-four brain cancer and undergoing chemotherapy and radiation, to a Nazi supporter. OUTSET's response immediately triggered backlash against Bee and Full Frontal from the conservatives on social media. In response, the show released an apology statement and donated to his medical expenses on GoFundMe. Coddington refused to accept the apology.

Comment on Ivanka Trump

On May 30th, 2018, Bee delivered a talking segment on the effects of Trump's immigration policies on migrant children. Towards the end, she urged Ivanka Trump, the first daughter and senior adviser to President Trump, to influence his stance on the issue as a mother, shortly before referring to her as a "feckless cunt." The expletive, which was scripted before the taping, was bleeped out during broadcast, but an uncensored version was later released online; the clip has been since removed from the Full Frontal website and social media channels.

Samantha Bee to @IvankaTrump on Full Frontal tonight:

"Let me just say, one mother to another, do something about your dad’s immigration practices you feckless cunt!” pic.twitter.com/S8BhRYNYxD

— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) May 31, 2018

“Let me just say, one mother to another, do something about your dad’s immigration practices you feckless c**t!” said Bee. “He listens to you. Put on something tight and low cut and tell your father to f**king stop it. Tell him it was an Obama thing and see how it goes.”

The next day, Bee's comment, which arrived in the midst of another controversy involving actress Roseanne Barr that resulted in ABC's cancellation of her long-running sitcom, was promptly met with a storm of backlash and calls for an advertising boycott from conservative journalists and commentators on social media. Meanwhile, the White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders condemned the comedian's remark in a statement released via The Wrap, calling her show "not fit for broadcast" and urging the TBS executives to reprimand this behavior. Hours later, Bee released an apology statement via her Twitter account.

I would like to sincerely apologize to Ivanka Trump and to my viewers for using an expletive on my show to describe her last night. It was inappropriate and inexcusable. I crossed a line, and I deeply regret it.

— Samantha Bee (@iamsambee) May 31, 2018

Search Interest

External References