Samantha Bee talks about full frontal politics, life and love
Samantha Bee only became a U.S. citizen a few years ago, but that hasn't stopped her from establishing herself as the longest-serving correspondent on The Daily Show and breaking out to host her own successful program, Full Frontal, on TBS.
Sixty episodes and two seasons in, Bee's examination of the news, and the Trump administration in particular, blends satire and sarcasm with a dose of activism, as she sees it.
"I have a certain viewpoint. I express it," she told CBS News Chief White House Correspondent Major Garrett and Political Director Steve Chaggaris on this week's episode of "The Takeout." "I couldn't do the show any other way. I wouldn't want to be on television if I couldn't do the show exactly this way. I'd probably go be a farmer. I'd love that too."
Bee thinks that although President Trump's supporters wanted an untraditional president to disrupt Washington, they've "very obviously" had the wool pulled over their eyes.
"I'm fairly sure they're not listening to me, but … I just feel like people have been sold a bill of goods. I actually have – I have compassion when you're tricked."
Bee stopped by "The Takeout" podcast table to talk with Garrett and Chaggaris about love, life, and politics over coffee and bananas.
"I was an actor [in Toronto], I was doing comedy all the time, I loved it, and I just got the opportunity to audition for The Daily Show. They came to Toronto - they were looking for a woman," she said, recounting the story of how comedy brought her to the U.S. "That could not be more random or more of a lucky break. It was my absolute lucky break. I was ready for that break. Opportunity met preparedness for sure - those two worlds collided."
"My husband.. was doing [comedy] in Toronto too and I said, 'Okay, give me six months. Let's see if I get fired. So, don't move down to New York,'" she told Garrett and Chaggaris. "So we kept our house, we kept everything. He stayed in Toronto, and I just felt it out."
In short, she didn't get fired, and ultimately her husband, Jason Jones, joined her in New York. Bee went on to spend more than a decade working as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and in 2016 became the first woman to host her own late-night satirical news show. It's called Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.
"My life and comedy career would have been fine if I had stayed there – it just happened to take a different path. I got the opportunity to come down south."
"Canada's full of very funny people."
For more from Major and Steve's conversation with Bee, download "The Takeout" podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, or Spotify. New episodes are available every Friday morning.
Also, you can watch "The Takeout" on CBSN Friday and Saturday nights at 9pm ET/PT. For a full archive of "The Takeout" episodes, visit www.takeoutpodcast.com.
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