Samantha Bee

Samantha Bee

Bee in February 2011
Born (1969-10-25) October 25, 1969[1]
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Medium Television, film, books
Nationality Canadian-American
Alma mater University of Ottawa
Years active 2003–present
Genres Political/news satire, improvisational comedy, blue comedy, sarcasm, sketch comedy, surreal humor
Subject(s) American politics, Canadian culture, political punditry, popular culture, current events, mass media/news media, egomania, religion, sexuality
Influences Joan Rivers, Lucille Ball, Steve Martin, Carol Burnett, David Letterman, Jon Stewart
Spouse Jason Jones (m. 2001)
Children 3
Website samanthabee.com

Samantha Bee (born October 25, 1969)[1] is a Canadian-American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actress, media critic, and television host. She is best known for being a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, where she became the longest-serving regular correspondent.[2] In 2015, she departed the show after 12 years to start her own show, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.

Early life and education

Samantha Bee was born in Toronto, Ontario, and has said of her family: "Dating from well before the turn of the 20th century, if there has ever been a successful, happy marriage in my family lineage, I've yet to hear about it."[3] Bee's parents split up soon after her birth, and she was initially raised by her grandmother, living on Roncesvalles Avenue during her childhood. She attended Humberside Collegiate Institute and York Memorial Collegiate Institute.

After graduating from high school, Bee attended McGill University, where she studied humanities. Dissatisfied with a range of issues at the school, she transferred to to the University of Ottawa after her first year. Bee later enrolled in the George Brown Theatre School in Toronto.[4]

Career

Bee was one of the four founding members of Toronto-based sketch comedy troupe The Atomic Fireballs.

Bee then became a correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on July 10, 2003.[5] On that program, Bee demonstrated an ability to coax people into caricaturing themselves—particularly in segments like "Kill Drill", on hunters and fossil fuel executives claiming to be environmentalists;[6] "They So Horny",[7] on the dearth of Asian men in U.S. pornography; "Tropical Repression", on Ed Heeney, a Florida politician running his campaign based on opposition to gay rights;[8] "The Undecided", an over-the-top look at the infamous undecided voters leading up to the 2004 U.S. presidential elections; the "Samantha Bee's So You Want To Bee A..." report series, which humorously caricatured the way in which one can easily obtain a certain job, like becoming a 527 group; and a segment entitled "NILFs" ("News I'd Like to F#@k"), discussing the sexiness of news anchors: "CNN has the wholesome girl-next-door NILFs, the kind you can bring home to meet your mother. MSNBC has the dirty-over-30 NILFs. Fox has the filthy NILFs who will report anything. They're the Hustler of NILFs."[9]

Bee played the title role in a live action production of Sailor Moon at the Canadian National Exhibition[10] and has had guest appearances on several television shows. She had her first starring role in a feature film in 2004 with the Canadian independent film Ham & Cheese, alongside veteran Canadian comics Scott Thompson and Dave Foley.

In December 2005, on The O'Reilly Factor, Bill O'Reilly used a clip of Bee from The Daily Show as an example of "The War on Christmas", presenting it as having aired recently. The satirical clip featured Bee mentioning how Christmas was the only religious holiday that's also a federal holiday in the United States, with O'Reilly talking about "Secular Central...excuse me, Comedy Central".[11][12] Jon Stewart discussed this on the air, claiming he could not recall doing that piece. Stewart invited Bee out, and unlike in the clip that aired on Factor, Bee was visibly eight months pregnant. Though the two were coy insofar as explicitly mentioning her pregnancy, Bee joked it was obvious that the footage O'Reilly showed was a year old (it originally aired in 2004) because she had slightly different highlights in her hair, before stating that her water had just broken.[13]

Bee was the sole female correspondent on The Daily Show from her debut in 2003 until Kristen Schaal joined the show in March 2008. She was The Daily Show's first non-US citizen correspondent.[14] Bee was recognized with a 2005 Canadian Comedy Award for Best Female TV Performance for her work on The Daily Show.[15] In 2009, she appeared in the original cast of Love, Loss, and What I Wore.[16] That same year, she had a cameo role in the comedy Whatever Works, written and directed by Woody Allen.

Bee authored the book I Know I Am, But What Are You?,[17] which was published in 2010.[18]

In 2012, she appeared in Ken Finkleman's series Good God as Shandy Sommers, a devoutly Christian cable news host. She has also played roles in the series Bounty Hunters and Game On.

On October 7, 2014, she co-hosted The Daily Show with her husband Jason Jones, in the absence of an ailing Jon Stewart.

In March 2015, it was announced that she would leave The Daily Show to host her own satirical news show on TBS.[19][20] Bee departed The Daily Show on April 30, 2015.[21] Her new show, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, debuted on February 8, 2016.[22]

Guest appearances

On January 20, 2008, Bee finished as the highest scoring celebrity in the CBC game show Test The Nation. She had a minor role in Episode 15, "Spy Something or Get Out", of Little Mosque on the Prairie. Bee also appeared in the 12th episode of Season 20 of Law & Order ("Blackmail", episode 445), which aired on January 15, 2010. She played a minor role on an episode of the HBO series Bored to Death.

Bee appeared as herself on the "Madame President" episode of The Electric Company, in which she moderated a debate between two candidates Lisa Heffenbacher and Francine Carruthers running for president of a book club. Later in the show, she appeared as a newscaster announcing the election results, finally choosing Lisa to be the winner.

Bee also did a guest voice role of a talk show hostess named Pam in the Season 2 finale of Bob's Burgers, in addition to providing the voice for Lyla Lolliberry for two episodes in Season 4 of Phineas and Ferb. She appeared on Sesame Street during Season 42 as Mother Goose.

Personal life

Married to actor and fellow Daily Show cast member Jason Jones since 2001, Bee lives in Manhattan, New York. In late 2005, Jones became a freelance Daily Show correspondent while Bee reduced her workload due to her pregnancy.[23] In January 2006, she gave birth to Piper Bee-Jones. Bee returned to The Daily Show in March 2006.[24]

On January 24, 2008, Bee announced a second pregnancy on air during a bit about the media's coverage of the 2008 presidential campaign.[25] In 2008, their second child, Fletcher Bee-Jones, was born.[26]

In an interview with Kate Fillion in Maclean's magazine (June 7, 2010), Samantha said: "I'm pregnant with my third child." She had previously told the Globe and Mail on May 14, 2010 that she and Jones were: "just procreating like we're farmers". This was then referenced on the June 3, 2010 episode of the Daily Show, where they made a point of humorously pointing out Bee's third pregnancy "in two years." During Olivia Munn's first report, she referred to Bee as the "always pregnant lady", and Bee and Jones joked about attempting to conceive a fourth child even before the third was born.[27] Their third child, a daughter named Ripley, was born in late 2010, and Bee was scheduled to return to television in November.[28]

In a 2011 interview, Bee said that neither she nor Jones had yet pursued American citizenship but would like to, for their American-born children's benefit.[29] When she and Jones co-hosted The Daily Show on October 7, 2014, they mentioned having recently become U.S. citizens.[30]

Published works

References

  1. 1 2 "Samantha Bee". Biography in Context. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  2. ↑ "'The Daily Show's' famous alumni". CNN. 31 March 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  3. ↑ "The Not-So-Secret Life Of Samantha Bee". Fresh Air. NPR. June 2, 2010. Retrieved November 1, 2010.
  4. ↑ "Samantha Bee: A Bee-autiful Life". Toronto Star. October 10, 2009. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Bee White House Uranium Admission". The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Comedy Central. July 10, 2003. Retrieved December 24, 2013.
  6. ↑ Kill Drill, video aired April 19, 2004. Archived March 7, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ They So Horny, video aired February 26, 2004. Archived April 6, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  8. ↑ Tropical Repression, video aired August 2, 2004. Archived March 7, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  9. ↑ "News I'd Like To F@#K". The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Comedy Central. May 16, 2007. Archived from the original on April 6, 2008. Retrieved March 24, 2016.
  10. ↑ Wyatt, Nelson (July 22, 2005). "Daily Show's Bee helps keep Canada in the "news": However, correspondent does not hide her past as Sailor Moon at the CNE". Edmonton Journal. The Canadian Press. (754 words)
  11. ↑ The O'Reilly Factor, Fox News Channel, December 2, 2005.
  12. ↑ The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly, December 2, 2005.
  13. ↑ "Secular Central". The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Comedy Central. December 7, 2005. Archived from the original on November 10, 2010.
  14. ↑ Felshman, Jeffrey (April 26, 2007). "An interview with The Daily Show's Samantha Bee". Cracked. Retrieved 2016-02-09.
  15. ↑ "Our 2005 Canadian Comedy Award recipients". Canadian Comedy Awards. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  16. ↑ Isherwood, Charles (October 2, 2009). "Spandex Agonistes: Why Don’t You Try It On?". The New York Times. Retrieved April 21, 2011.
  17. ↑ Bee, Samantha (2010). I know I am, but what are you?. ISBN 978-1-4391-4273-8. OCLC 419815571.
  18. ↑ Donahue, Diedre (May 27, 2010). "Hot summer author: Samantha Bee". USA Today. Retrieved June 10, 2010.
  19. ↑ Hunnings, Alexandra (March 5, 2015). "Samantha Bee leaves The Daily Show to start her own satirical news program". CBC News (online ed.) (CBC/Radio Canada). Retrieved 2015-11-21.
  20. ↑ Bacle, Ariana (September 2, 2015). "Samantha Bee's Full Frontal to premiere in January". Entertainment Weekly (online ed.). Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  21. ↑ "Thursday, April 30, 2015". The Daily Show. April 30, 2015.
  22. ↑ Poniewozik, James (February 9, 2016). "Review: Samantha Bee’s Fierce, Fiery Feminism Anchors ‘Full Frontal’". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-02-09.
  23. ↑ Miller, Winter (November 13, 2005). "A night out with: Samantha Bee; Joking for Two". The New York Times (online ed.). Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  24. ↑ "Samantha Bee - Biography and Images". Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  25. ↑ Daily Show-Down, video aired January 24, 2008. Archived March 7, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  26. ↑ "Samantha Bee adjusts to her party of five". Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  27. ↑ The Spilling Fields - Vietnamese Fisherman, video aired June 3, 2010.
  28. ↑ Lewine, Edward (October 28, 2010). "Samantha Bee's Laughing Pad". The New York Times (online ed.). Retrieved November 21, 2015. Also on page MM18 of The New York Times Sunday Magazine, October 31, 2010.
  29. ↑ Bee, Samantha. Samantha Bee. The Writerly Life. Interview with Andrea Warner (Vancouver, British Columbia: Andrea Warner). Retrieved October 8, 2014.
  30. ↑ "Jason Jones, Samantha Bee 'share' Daily Show chair". Canadian Crossing. Retrieved February 9, 2016.

External links

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