Samantha Bee covers the new issue of The Hollywood Reporter. First off, it’s a lovely cover and shoot. I’m glad that THR didn’t default to making Bee do a jokey editorial because do you get it, she’s FUNNY! Like funny women can’t be hot and vice versa. They let her be hot/pretty. Anyway, Bee covers THR because her TBS show Full Frontal is going like gangbusters and because she’s hosting the Not the White House Correspondents Dinner this weekend. That’s right, the WHCD snuck up on me. I forgot it was this weekend. This year’s WHCD will be the first dinner in 36 years without an appearance from the sitting president. Emperor Baby Fists hates the free press and so he canceled on the WHCD months ago. Bee will be hosting an alternative for the media: an event to roast Easy D. I’m sure there will be cocktails. Bee talked about all of this and more with Lena Dunham (eyeroll) – you can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
Bee on checking out Twitter following the election: “I really felt a geyser of hatred was the day after the election — actually, the night of the election. I checked my Twitter mentions, and it was one of the last times I’ve checked it. I just went off. I just went dark…. actually my assistant took my phone from me, and she changed my passwords on me, which I really appreciate because it was unbelievable. It was a torrent of hatred. That night, at about 10 o’clock, I could not believe what I was seeing in my mentions. I could not believe it. And the days following the election were very hard. There were a million reasons why it was difficult, and it’s been really difficult ever since. That’s when I really felt like, “Oh, life has changed here. I don’t know what’s going to happen now. Everything is on the table. The whole world feels very unpredictable.” I will not say that that has changed.
The origin of Not the White House Correspondents Dinner: “Well, really, right after the election, we were broken. It was very emotional, especially at the beginning… So we were sitting around in my office. It was me and Jo and producer Alison Camillo, and we were just joking, and Newt Gingrich had [said] something really stupid that day like, “Why do we even need a White House press corps?” Our minds wandered to the [White House Correspondents’] Dinner. And we were like, “I wonder if it’s even going to happen. Would [Trump] even show up for it? He’s marginalizing people. He’s going to abolish the White House press corps, perhaps. Who even knows?” And we were like, “I don’t think the dinner’s going to happen. Why don’t we have a dinner just to make sure something happens on the night?”
How people can use their voices in the next four years: “I have no idea… I really don’t know. Personally just as a private, personal citizen, I’m really hoping for some stability. I would love to feel confident that we’re not going to war. I don’t know what the future holds at all. I am so sorry to not have any answers for you.
She would have given a President Hillary Clinton a hard time: “We looked forward to holding President Hillary Clinton’s feet to the fire. We were so excited about that. We thought, “We’ll be able to tell a diverse range of stories. This will be so interesting. We’re not going to let up on her. We want her to be president.” But we don’t see anyone as the messiah. It’s not like she wouldn’t have failures and make terrible mistakes and do things we wouldn’t like.
Being Canadian & American: “It does lend a certain perspective. I was not a citizen until a couple of years ago. Our children are American-born. So we were in it but not of it for a really long time, working at The Daily Show, and I didn’t like that feeling, actually. I felt like if I was going to comment on a place, I should take ownership of it and invest in it. And so getting my citizenship was extremely important. I’ve kept dual citizenship. And I got dual citizenship for my kids. But it was very significant for me. I cried when they played the [Lee Greenwood] song. I was weepy all day and really, really excited. So I feel like if I’m going to live here and I’m going to pay all those taxes here, I really want to be in it. Like, I just feel like I’m in the thick of it, just in the dirt. My whole family lives in Canada still.
I like everything Bee says here. There’s no talking around things and she’s not sugarcoating anything. The worst part of the interview was Lena Dunham, actually. I guess I understand why Dunham gets these assignments but she kept interrupting Bee to talk about herself and what she’s going through and how everyone hates her because of her politics too. Lena Dunham = exhausting. Samantha Bee = Canadian-American treasure.
Photos courtesy of THR.
Samantha B is cool and the editorial looks great, but I really just want those ornate green velvet and gold chairs for myself.
Me too.
Her heel in the fabric made me whence. Memories of visits to my Grandmother came back.
You survived doing that to your grandmother’s furniture? I still get nervous when I sit on my made bed!
I keep thinking about how absolutely nothing would have gotten done with a president Hillary Clinton. How it would have just been four years of obstructionism, emails, and investigations. How the partisan divide would have simply gotten worse. And I think, sometimes, it truly had to happen this way. Everything we thought we knew about American politics had to go up in flames, and hopefully we can rise from the ashes. Am I saying I like it? Hell no. But I think this was the way it had to happen.
We would not be in danger of a nuclear temper tantrum with a President Hillary Clinton.
You’re right. I’m not saying it’s a good thing. I hate it. It just is what it is.
I understand what you mean. I hate the idea, but you might be right. Republicans would have made sure that Hillary got nothing done.
Except the things that are getting done are absolutely horrifying???
I get what you are saying. Sometimes I feel glad she didn’t win solely so I wouldn’t have to read all the misogynist reporting on her and vile sexist things people would say. Sigh. ☹️
I’m ride-or-die for Hillary but I agree with this. The one thing I am grateful for in these very troubling times is that I do not have to see HRC dragged through the mud, slandered, blocked at every turn, derided for trying to do good things for the country, every single day. Yes Trump still brings her up as a convenient scapegoat/distraction but it isn’t hourly. And at least this way, the Republican Party cannot keep saying, “If only *we* were in charge, it would be a zillion times better.” The fuckers ARE in charge and we are seeing what they are doing or not doing, not just hearing them yap endlessly about their fantasy alternative government.
I love Samantha B but yeah I don’t really believe this.
And she didn’t mention her taxes. I’m looking at you, Emily Blount.
Can they just stop with Lena Dunham?! Girls is finished she can rest a bit away from the media. Anyway I love Sam Bee, and I really enjoyed the team she formed on her show, her correspondents are diverse and hilarious.
I really like Samantha, I just don’t like the interviewer.
Lena Dunham personifies convenient white feminism. I wish the media would stop trying to dub her as some sort of icon. Girls is 1 of the most exclusive, white only shows ever. She can’t preach anything that doesn’t involve her quasi activism.
Jessica Williams, filmmaker & former Daily Show correspondent, is deserving of much more media attention & recognition.
I didn’t find Jessica funny on tds at all OR Sam bee or Olivia munn, but Sam bee is totally my favourite now. Lena created a funny show apparently, I haven’t seen it but 6 seasons is pretty successful. Her website is alright and it’s not all white at all.
The show was modelled on sex and the city so in some ways you could blame SATC for that for the all white lead characters. I think the show was okay, it’s some of Lena’s personal statements that have been the issue. But I haven’t seen her whole show, just a handful of episodes
Lena Dunham is just a spoiled narcissistic rich kid. She doesn’t mean any harm. I just don’t think she knows any better and I can’t hate on her for that. I would like to hate on her, but im trying to be more the “agree to disagree” type.
Bee is so cool she’s probably comes across people like Lena all the time, and just brushes it off. Love her!
Its apparent when watching her show that she’s passionate about our politics. After the election she had a choir from the resistance march that I utube when I need to remind myself that we will persist! Samantha might be Canadian born but to me she’s a national treasure
Love Samantha Bee!
I love Samantha Bee, but I haven’t had the heart to watch her since the election. But I still think TDS missed out when she’s went to TBS.
Honk for Sam Bee 🙂
“We looked forward to holding President Hillary Clinton’s feet to the fire.”
Wow, she really is a comedian. 😉
More Samantha Bee please!!!
This! I love her show.
Oh, please. Bee wouldn’t have held Clinton’s feet to the fire. She’d have been sucking up to her.
You have confused Ms. Bee for how Fox and the right wing media treat every republican ever…
Treason? Totes cool, dood. Obama’s fault.
You took billions from the Mercers and Kochs? Us, too, man!
Investigate that Trump is on a first name basis with Putin and his spy service? I know you are but what am I?
Spoken like someone who has clearly never watched a minute of Bee’s show.
Agreed. I love Sam, but her coverage of the Democratic primaries was nauseating. Her weird hatred for Bernie Sanders while giving Clinton a pass annoyed the crap out of me. I’m not sure why that would have changed had Clinton been president.
I love her show for the entertainment value but don’t agree with everything for sure. The stance on Bernie I can’t wrap my head around and it does bug me too.
I’m a big fan of her and her show. Huge😁