Samantha Bee wasted no time winning everyone over.
In the debut of her half-hour comedy show, “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee” on TBS, there was no trace of her newbie status. Granted, she was a correspondent on “The Daily Show” for 12 years, so it’s not like she hasn’t been in front of a camera before. But still, new hosts usually have to work out some kinks — see: Trevor Noah and Stephen Colbert — and there was little evidence of that Monday night.
Basically, she killed it. That’s one takeaway from Bee’s debut. Here are some others:
• She’s really over the questions about being the sole woman in the late-night landscape: During her intro, she staged a fake press conference where reporters asked her questions such as, “Is it hard breaking into the boys’ club?” and “What’s it like being a female woman?” She responded that creating this kind of show entails a little bit of magic — literally. Cut to Bee in the midst of some freaky, fiery ceremony with her coven of writers. “It’s true,” she admitted. “We’re all witches.”
• She’s a master of withering burns: Do not make an enemy of Bee. As anyone who saw her on “The Daily Show” knows, she has a way with words, turning put-downs into pithy poetry. To name but a few examples, she called Donald Trump a “sentient caps lock” and accused Bernie Sanders of playing up his image as a “blustery, old grandpa living off Social Security checks and stolen sugar packets.”
• There’s a lot about politics (so far): At least it was during her debut. Bee focused entirely on political figures and mostly those running for president. Apparently, the campaign trail shenanigans were just too good to pass up after months of not being able to comment on them publicly. “I’ve been just sitting here with no show, just yelling at a wall while the most deranged electoral (expletive) show in a generation passed me by, and it has been killing me.”
• But she’s also shining light on lesser-known players: Her first honoree of the “Paperweight of the Month” went to Mitch Holmes, a state senator in Kansas. Holmes enacted a dress code for women — just women — in the statehouse and Bee was nonplussed. Her takedown of Holmes was the most incisive and uproarious of the night, even though most people have probably never heard of the guy.
“Sen. Holmes, let’s talk,” Bee said, while a photo of Holmes appeared on screen. “You don’t get to regulate what other people wear to work. I mean, I wouldn’t try to regulate your finger-painted tie or your skeevy facial hair.”
The message: Even if you’re not a presidential candidate, you should know that Bee might be coming for you. And she doesn’t hold back.
• The weekly format allows for more in-depth reporting: Bee didn’t appear in the Werner Herzog-inspired short “A Jeb in Winter,” which followed Jeb Bush on the campaign trail and painted him as weak and meek — literally a glass of milk sprung to life. The hilarious six-minute report looked like a more comprehensive “Daily Show” dispatch that benefited from a wealth of interviews and footage. It was reminiscent of John Oliver’s highly detailed and well-researched rants on “Last Week Tonight.” Such exhaustive accounts are more feasible on a show that airs weekly rather than nightly.
• Her lady show is not so different from all those shows hosted by guys: Bee doesn’t sit at a desk. She stands. She also doesn’t plan on doing many interviews. Other than that, there’s really not a huge difference between “Full Frontal” and series hosted by men.
But, you know, that’s kind of the point. Why should her show be different just because she’s a woman? It shouldn’t. After all, she keeps her witchcraft strictly behind the scenes.
