LOS ANGELES – For the past 15 years, "The Daily Show" has surpassed "Saturday Night Live" as TV's sturdiest springboard to stardom. But while Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert and John Oliver were encouraged to take the plunge, the series' longest-serving correspondent remained in the kiddie pool.
Samantha Bee finally gets her turn on the high dive with Monday's debut of TBS' "Full Frontal With Samantha Bee." If her actions in recent months are any indication, she's not dismissing the theory that her gender is the key reason it took so long.
In response to a Vanity Fair tribute to late night TV hosts last fall, Bee tweeted a doctored version of the magazine's all-male photo spread, inserting herself as a centaur shooting lasers out of her eyes. In one promotional trailer for her show, the comic wonders aloud what's missing in an art gallery featuring portraits of only her male peers and waves away a plate of sausages. The ad concludes with "Boys Wanna Be Her," the Peaches rocker most prominently used in "Whip It," the 2009 film in which roller-derby women cruise 'n' bruise their way to victory.
Bee, whose previous exposure beyond "The Daily Show" has consisted of brief appearances in everything from a Woody Allen movie to "The Electric Company," will likely keep those blades sharpened throughout the first season.
"I don't think it's fair, but it makes complete sense to me that it be part of the conversation," Bee said when asked if it was tiresome to keep having to address the "woman" issue. "I mean, there just hasn't been a wealth of women in late night."
Technically, "Full Frontal" isn't a late night show, as it will air at 9:30 p.m. on Mondays, avoiding head-to-head competition with former colleagues at Comedy Central. It also won't feature traditional talk-show trappings such as a desk or guests, leaving more opportunity for pretaped remotes.
That makes sense. Of all the "Daily Show" reporters, Bee was the most intent on delivering a social message, landing more points than punch lines. Her piece from St. Paul's Republican National Convention, in which she made delegates squirm with questions about Bristol Palin's pregnancy and her not-so-subtle attack on a Florida politician running on an anti-gay platform, are classics.
Pieces filed for the new series include a scathing takedown of the Department of Veterans Affairs on its inability to properly serve women injured in the line of duty and a visit to New York's Comic-Con, where artists trip over their tongues trying to defend their depictions of busty superheroines.
