Stuff You Should Be Watching: Full Frontal With Samantha Bee

As we face the 2016 Circus/Election Cycle on Meth, we’re in a place we haven’t been since 1996: a presidential election without Jon Stewart. Change is hard. Change is scary. Thankfully, a number of Daily Show Alums have stepped up to that job, but there’s one very specific alumna that’s a beacon of Canadian light and snark. She’s the only woman on late-night. She’s Samantha Bee.

Full Frontal is a late night talk show that debuted in early February, where Sam Bee takes on such topics as “what a vacuous windbag Scalia was” and “what kind of cultural education do Syrian refugees need to go through before they are allowed into the US” and “lets talk about sexual harassment of women in various professions.” She’s sharp, she’s direct, and most of all, she’s funny. So far, she has demonstrated that she understands what it means to punch up, not down.

This past fall, Vanity Fair had a cover featuring all of the Late Night hosts….well, almost all. They did not include Sam. Instead it was a bunch of dude in dark suits sipping scotch. Sam, bless her black heart, immediately tweeted a picture of herself as a centaur firing lasers from her eyes. No, it doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it’s gold.

Yes, Sam Bee is a liberal, and let’s face it, the chaos circus of the Republican Primary process has given her (and everyone else) a lot of material. But the Democrats aren’t immune from her pointed commentary. They just get less air time, because they don’t get on stage and discuss hand (or “hand”) sizes.

Sam has also, in interviews, been very frank about the abuse she and her team expected as a show that features a woman saying things and daring to be funny- well, existing at all. She set up a phone number where people could call to issue her rape threats if that’s what they really wanted to do.

It’s refreshing to see things from a woman’s perspective. Sam Bee is a gift, and she’s tackling things that the male comics aren’t talking about and probably don’t even notice. She did a piece on the sexual harassment and assault that women endure in their career fields, and flat out asked the question, “Why are we telling girls they can be whatever they want, when they can’t be safe anywhere?” She tackled the issue surrounding untested rape kits, and talked to one of the architects of Texas’ anti-abortion clinic law.

Amanda: I love love love Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. I think I may even like what she’s doing more than what Jon Stewart was doing on his time at The Daily Show.

The two are comparable in the fact that it’s satirical in its delivery and sometimes downright brash and shameless. But there are no interviews and Samantha Bee does bring some action to it (for example, she stands up during the entire time, which may not seem like a big deal, but I think it’s more engaging).

Right now, most of it has been election coverage, but there have been a few other stories non-politics based peppered in. Honestly, I’m very interested to see how Full Frontal’s news delivery will change once the election is over.

But RHG is right. No one is immune. She’ll talk about Bernie and Hillary just the same as she talks about Cruz and Trump. Bee is an equal opportunist when it comes to insults. Her writing team is one of the most diverse out there and I think it shows, given her commentary is whip smart, informed and aware, and hilarious. Though I’m not easily shocked, there have definitely been times where I ask, “Did she really just say that?”

I’m a little bummed the program is weekly and only a half hour long, but it’s probably for the best. Each episode goes by in a flash and keeps you jonesing for the next episode.

RHG: ALSO, thanks to her coverage of John Kasich, she managed to convince my father that he wasn’t a moderate and the savior of the Republican party. THANK YOU SAM BEE.

Full Frontal airs on TBS on Monday nights at 10/9 Central.