''Full Frontal with Samantha Bee'' is an American late-night talk and

news satire News satire or news comedy is a type of parody presented in a format typical of mainstream journalism, and called a satire because of its content. News satire has been around almost as long as journalism itself, but it is particularly popular on t ...

television program that aired on TBS from 2016 to 2022. The show was hosted by comedian

Samantha Bee Samantha Anne Bee (born October 25, 1969) is a Canadian-American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actress, and television host. Bee rose to fame as a correspondent on '' The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'', where she became th ...

, a former correspondent on ''

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form fr ...

''. In July 2022 the show was cancelled, following the Warner Bros. Discovery merger.

Production

served as a correspondent on ''

'' for 12 years, becoming its longest tenured correspondent. She was not approached about succeeding

Jon Stewart Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, political commentator, and television host. He hosted '' The Daily Show'', a satirical news program on Comedy Central, from 1999 to 2015 and now hosts '' ...

as the show's host when Stewart announced he would leave the show. Bee and her husband, Jason Jones, pitched television shows to networks, and their scripted series, called '' The Detour'', was picked up by TBS in February 2015. TBS then decided to extend their relationship with Bee to develop a

late-night talk show A late-night talk show is a genre of talk show popular in the United States, where the format originated. It is generally structured around humorous monologues about the day's news, guest interviews, comedy sketches and music performances. It i ...

to pair with '' Conan''. SamanthaBeeFeb2011

Bee hired Jo Miller and Miles Kahn, formerly producers on ''The Daily Show'', as

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights ...

s for her new show. They set up a blind process for hiring writers that hid the gender and experience level of the applicants, resulting in a writing staff that was approximately half female and 30% non-white. The show hired

Winter Miller Winter Miller (born 1973) is an American playwright and journalist. In the summer of 2007, a reading (directed by Joanna Settle) of Miller's play ''In Darfur'' was at the Delacorte Theater in New York City. Miller was formerly the assistant to ...

to help develop a mentorship program to help diversify the writing room. Before the show's format was finalized, Bee indicated that she would have segments that focus on news headlines, field pieces, and "grab bag" segments. She filmed a segment about how the

Veterans Health Administration The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the component of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) led by the Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Health that implements the healthcare program of the VA through a nationa ...

was not prepared to treat female soldiers, and filmed a segment in

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

. Showrunner Jo Miller indicated that the show would be more interested in injustice than in hypocrisy. There are no interview guests on the series, but a number of guest actors have appeared in various segments. For example, the May 9, 2016 episode featured both the singer

Michelle Branch Michelle Jacquet DeSevren Branch (born July 2, 1983) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. During the early 2000s, she released two top-selling albums: ''The Spirit Room'' and ''Hotel Paper.'' She won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Coll ...

and comedian

Patton Oswalt Patton Peter Oswalt (born January 27, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer. He is known as Spence Olchin in the sitcom '' The King of Queens'' (1998–2007) and for narrating the sitcom '' The Goldbergs'' (2013–present) as ...

. ''Full Frontal'' shared a studio with ''

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver ''Last Week Tonight with John Oliver'' (often abridged as ''Last Week Tonight'') is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by comedian John Oliver. The half-hour-long show premiered in April 2014 on HBO. ''Last ...

''. Bee's offices previously housed

Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program '' The Colbert Report'' from 2005 ...

and his staff while renovations were taking place at the

Ed Sullivan Theater The Ed Sullivan Theater (originally Hammerstein's Theatre; later the Manhattan Theatre, Billy Rose's Music Hall, CBS Radio Playhouse No. 3, and CBS Studio 50) is a theater at 1697–1699 Broadway, between 53rd and 54th Streets, in the Theater ...

for ''

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ''The Late Show with Stephen Colbert'' is an American late-night news and liberal political satire talk show hosted by Stephen Colbert, which premiered on September 8, 2015. Produced by Spartina Productions and CBS Studios, it is the second ...

''. At the time of its debut, ''Full Frontal'' was the only late-night talk show airing in the United States which was hosted by a woman. On October 31, 2016, ''Full Frontal'' aired an interview Bee conducted with

President Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

. In January 2017, Bee announced that the show would be hosting a gala to counter the

White House Correspondents' Dinner The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the president of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914, by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor t ...

. The event, titled "

Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Not the White House Correspondents' Dinner was an event part of '' Full Frontal with Samantha Bee'' to rival the traditional White House Correspondents' Dinner in 2017. The event was announced on January 30, 2017, and took place at the DAR Con ...

", was held at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. on April 29, 2017, and aired the same evening at 10:00 p.m. EST on TBS, followed by an encore uncensored broadcast at 11:00 p.m. on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

. The event raised $200,000 for the

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American independent non-profit, non-governmental organization, based in New York City, New York, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of jou ...

(CPJ). A portion of the proceeds from the show's merchandise benefits the Karam Foundation, Distributing Dignity,

Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...

, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and Hispanic Federation. In July 2017, Bee's " Nasty Woman Shirt" campaign raised over $1 million for Planned Parenthood. On August 9, 2017, Bee announced that thanks to

Turner Turner may refer to: People and fictional characters *Turner (surname), a common surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Turner (given name), a list of people with the given name *One who uses a lathe for turni ...

and

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Kurdish displaced person camp (Khazir) that they have visited. ''Full Frontal'' frequently supports other organizations and causes, including: 2017 Women's March,

Girl Scouts of the USA Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA), commonly referred to as simply Girl Scouts, is a youth organization for girls in the United States and American girls living abroad. Founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912, it was organized a ...

, New Brunswick Today, miamirights.com, Life After Hate, Affordable Care Act (ACA), #MeToo, Time's Up,

RAICES The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) is a nonprofit organization based in Texas that aims to provide legal services for immigrants. , it was the largest legal aid group of its kind in Texas. RAICES also runs ...

, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). On March 11, 2020, Bee announced on that night's episode of ''Full Frontal'' that future tapings would proceed without an in-studio audience due to the threat posed by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The COVID-19 affected episodes were subtitled ''Little Show in the Big Woods'' and were filmed in the woods, with Bee's husband Jason Jones acting as cameraman. When the show returned to studio taping, it began to originate instead in

Norwalk, Connecticut , image_map = Fairfield County Connecticut incorporated and unincorporated areas Norwalk highlighted.svg , mapsize = 230px , map_caption = Location in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Fairfield County and ...

; the Connecticut office of Film, Television and Digital Media was credited at the end of each episode.

Cast

Bee served as host and the show had four contributors who appear in field pieces: Michael Rubens (senior field producer), Allana Harkin (co-producer),

Amy Hoggart Amy Hoggart (born 14 April 1986) is a British-American stand-up comedian and actress, best known for starring in '' Almost Royal'', a faux-reality show on BBC America, and ''Full Frontal with Samantha Bee'', an American political satire show on ...

, and Mike Brown. Past contributors include

Ashley Nicole Black Ashley Nicole Black (born June 15, 1985) is an American comedian, actress, writer and producer. She was a writer and correspondent for ''Full Frontal with Samantha Bee'' (2016–2019), for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding ...

(writer).

Writers

The show was written by Samantha Bee, Kristen Bartlett (episodes 82–present), Pat Cassels, Sean Crespo (episodes 112-present),

Mike Drucker Mike Drucker is an American stand-up comedian, writer and producer known for his work on ''Full Frontal with Samantha Bee'' (2016), ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' (2014) and ''Bill Nye Saves the World'' (2017). Filmography Drucker ...

(episodes 69–present), Mathan Erhardt, Joe Grossman, Miles Kahn (episodes 41–present), Sahar Rizvi (episodes 112-present), Nicole Silverberg (episodes 66–present), and Melinda Taub. In December 2017, Taub was promoted to head writer of the show (episode 67–present). Former writers include:

(episodes 1–103),

Eric Drysdale Eric Drysdale (born March 20, 1969) is a writer for '' The Colbert Report,'' ''The Daily Show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and Full Frontal with Samantha Bee''. He has been nominated for twenty-one Emmys and won ten. In addition to TV w ...

(episodes 12–41, 43–105),

Travon Free Travon Free (born ) is an American comedian, actor and writer. He has written for ''Full Frontal with Samantha Bee'', ''The Daily Show'' on Comedy Central, and '' Any Given Wednesday with Bill Simmons'' on HBO. Free won an Emmy Award for his wor ...

(episodes 41–69), Jo Miller (episodes 1–55), and Jason Reich (episodes 1–31).

Broadcast

Full Frontal set - stage manager addressing audience

In the United States, the first season of ''Full Frontal with Samantha Bee'' aired weekly on Mondays at 10:30 p.m. EST on TBS. On November 16, 2016, it was announced that TBS renewed the show for a second season, as well as moving it to Wednesdays at 10:30 p.m. EST, starting January 11, 2017. In Canada, the show aired on

The Comedy Network CTV Comedy Channel (often shortened to CTV Comedy and formerly known as The Comedy Network) is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Bell Media which focuses primarily on comedy programming. The channel first launched on Octob ...

. In Australia, ''Full Frontal'' was broadcast on

SBS Viceland SBS Viceland (stylised as SBS VICELAND) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). It began as SBS TWO on 1 June 2009, and was branded as SBS 2 between 2013 and 2016. On 8 April 2017, SBS ...

. In New Zealand, the show was broadcast on

DUKE Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are r ...

. In Germany, the show was broadcast on

TNT Comedy WarnerTV Comedy (until 24 September 2021: ''TNT Comedy'') is a German pay television channel, originally launched on 8 May 2012 as glitz*. It is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery International. In August 2013, SES Platform Services (later MX1, ...

with German subtitles.

Episodes

Reception

''Full Frontal with Samantha Bee'' was met with critical acclaim. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the first season has an approval rating of 100% based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 8.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "''Full Frontal with Samantha Bee'' adds a female perspective to late-night TV – and one that's fresh and funny enough to deserve more than just one show a week." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the first season holds a score of 84 out of 100, based on 16 critics, which constitutes "universal acclaim". ''

TheWrap ''TheWrap'' is an American online news website covering the business of entertainment and media via digital, print and live events. It was founded by journalist Sharon Waxman in 2009. Awards ''TheWrap'' has won awards for its journalism, incl ...

''s Diane Gordon praised the show, saying "With ''Full Frontal'', TBS truly has a comedy show that's sure to become part of the cultural conversation and possibly fill the void felt by Jon Stewart‘s departure. There's so much scathing, insightful, intelligent funny packed into ''Full Frontal'' and Bee's ability to land a joke is beyond impressive."

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...

called ''Full Frontal'' "a formidable force of political satire. It demands your attention," and the blog named Bee's "Trump Conspiracy Theory" segment as its #1 clip on its list of "The 10 Most Important Late-Night TV Moments in 2016." In March 2017, ''

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San ...

s cultural critic Virginia Heffernan called ''Full Frontal'' "the most mercilessly feminist show (ever) (in history)".

Controversies

''Full Frontal'' aired a segment on March 8, 2017, filmed at the

Conservative Political Action Conference The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC; ) is an annual political conference attended by conservative activists and elected officials from across the United States and beyond. CPAC is hosted by the American Conservative Union (ACU) ...

(CPAC), in which the narrator, correspondent Michael Rubens said Kyle Coddington, a writer for ''OUTSET'' magazine, had "Nazi hair". At the time, Coddington was undergoing chemotherapy for brain cancer. The show apologized the next day, saying they were unaware of his condition, and donated to his medical expenses on

GoFundMe GoFundMe is an American for-profit crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise money for events ranging from life events such as celebrations and graduations to challenging circumstances like accidents and illnesses. From 2010 to the be ...

. Coddington refuses to accept their apology. On May 30, 2018, Bee ran a segment about the Trump administration's policy of separating children from families of undocumented immigrants at the border. Bee then criticized

Ivanka Trump Ivana Marie "Ivanka" Trump (; born October 30, 1981) is an American businesswoman and the first daughter of Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. She was a senior advisor in his administration, and also was the ...

for hypocrisy after Trump tweeted a photo of herself and her child, saying, "Let me just say, one mother to another, do something about your dad's immigration practices, you feckless cunt!" The segment generated controversy. As a result, both Autotrader.com and

State Farm State Farm Insurance is a large group of mutual insurance companies throughout the United States with corporate headquarters in Bloomington, Illinois. Overview State Farm is the largest property and casualty insurance provider, and the lar ...

pulled their advertising from the show. White House Press Secretary

Sarah Huckabee Sanders Sarah Elizabeth Huckabee Sanders (born August 13, 1982) is an American former political spokesperson and the governor-elect of Arkansas. She was the 31st White House press secretary, serving under President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2019. She ...

called on both Turner and TBS to take action. Both Bee and TBS apologized. Accepting a Television Academy Honors award later for ''Full Frontal''’s #MeToo coverage, Bee said, "Every week I strive to show the world as I see it, unfiltered. Sometimes I should probably have a filter. I accept that. Stories about 1,500 missing unaccompanied migrant children flooded the news cycle over the weekend. So last night we aired a segment on the atrocious treatment of migrant children by this administration and past administrations. Our piece attracted controversy of the worst kind... We spent the day wrestling with the repercussions of one bad word when we all should have spent the day incensed that as a nation we are wrenching children from their parents and treating people legally seeking asylum as criminals. If we are O.K. with that, then really, who are we?"

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{TBSNetwork Shows 2016 American television series debuts 2022 American television series endings 2010s American late-night television series 2010s American political comedy television series 2010s American satirical television series 2010s American television news shows 2010s American television talk shows 2020s American late-night television series 2020s American political comedy television series 2020s American satirical television series 2020s American television news shows 2020s American television talk shows American news parodies English-language television shows TBS (American TV channel) original programming Television series by Studio T Television shows filmed in Connecticut Television shows filmed in New York City Television Academy Honors winners