Samantha Bee Celebrates 200 Episodes Of Her Late Night Political Comedy Series Full Frontal.

“Conan did 7,000 episodes of his show, but I feel like I’m winning over him,” she jokes. “I really can’t believe it. I am really impressed with myself. It really is a great feeling. I would not have thought that we would have arrived at 200 [episodes] so it looks like a really huge accomplishment. I was trying to impress my kids with that, telling them “Look at your mom”, and they couldn’t have been less interested. “

TBS’s weekly show is traveling to Washington, DC this week to celebrate, and Bee has invited celebrities, including Busy Philipps, to highlight the issue of reproductive rights. It comes as the Supreme Court hears a case that could overturn Roe v. Wade, the precedent on the right to abortion.

“The show was so loud on the subject of reproductive justice, so it makes sense to talk about the Supreme Court. I thought it would be a fun adventure to shoot it near the Supreme Court,” she adds.

That’s a big deal, but like so much of what the show covers, it comes with a few jokes. Bee and her team, which includes showrunner Alison Camillo, built a reproductive justice escape room for the episode starring Philipps. “It’s so fun and ridiculous. It’s so stupid and so smart at the same time. It took a tremendous amount of planning and execution. It seemed like the best possible metaphor. We knew that this case was going to be argued on December 1, we had planned that the show would be anchored in this subject. Whenever possible, we try to think ahead of time about what makes sense to us.

The show premiered on February 8, 2016, months before Donald Trump became president. “I don’t even remember my headspace, I feel like a completely different person six years ago. We’ve been through an entire Donald Trump presidency, been in a global pandemic, so much has happened in the world and somehow we’ve done 200 TV episodes on top of that. “

When Covid-19 hit last year, the show, like all late-night shows, was forced to adapt and Bee filmed it from her home in the woods in the upstate from New York with the help of her husband Jason Jones and children. While the light was free, there were a lot of challenges.

Earlier this year, she returned to the studio. “It was nice to be inside. You are much more in control of the environment around you. We have fewer wood chippers and leaf blowers blowing my neighbors’ lawns in the studio, which is nice. We learned a lot of really valuable lessons from filming outside, namely that you can literally do this show anywhere if people stay quiet enough behind us.

However, Bee and his team did not return to the CBS Broadcast Center on West 57th Street in New York City, but rather to their own studio in Norwalk, Connecticut. “We looked for a space that suited us really well. We have found the perfect location. We were looking for a framework that we controlled ourselves. When we were filming in New York, we shared a studio space with a lot of other TV shows, so we only had that space one day a week, which didn’t give us a lot of flexibility. It was a big enough space for a large studio audience and it all became very impractical during Covid and we wanted to be able to control our protocols and know who exactly was in there, so it made sense that we would take over an entire studio. I love it. Ultimately, there were a lot of reasons this space is better for entertainment and for a quality of life. “

Quality of life is a major issue for Bee. She introduced a paid parental leave policy which, with 20 weeks of fully paid leave, is considered one of the most generous in the industry. “I would like to leave the world of television a little better than when I entered it,” she says.

Having Trump as president has also been “a blow to the quality of life,” says Bee. “The news cycle, the pace was frantic. It was even very difficult to take a moment to breathe and look at the big picture. Having him not only on social media is an incredible gift, not to mention the fact that he has stepped down as president. It gave us the chance to perform at the rate we want to perform, which is more thoughtful and more fun. “

Unlike evening shows, Full Frontal take a broader look at the big issues. This season, she has explored issues in Rwanda, climate change and the story of the NSA whistleblower Reality Winner. “It’s great for us to be able to sit down and step back from the fray to have a really hot shot in the moment. We really appreciate the opportunity to sit down and watch the longer version of the story. I am oddly not a very hot person. We spend a lot of time crafting a long-term response and that’s where I love to live, ”she says.

Bee has interviewed a number of prominent political figures, including Stacey Abrams and now Vice President Kamala Harris. She also helped organize campaigns such as the Campaign to Help Save the Post. “You start with the things you are passionate about and lean into the absurdity, outrage, your anger and somehow we do all of that and add jokes to that because we’re all comedy people at heart. This is how we best express this indignation. I don’t know why it works, but it works, ”she said.

The show was recently picked up for a seventh season, a decision Brett Weitz, managing director of TNT, TBS and truTV, said Deadline is the easiest call he makes every year. “For an artist to hit seven seasons of a show, reach 200 episodes, achieve the war you have to be in and the battles you have to fight, the creative inspiration you wake up with every morning and Sam is very early riser, is incredible, ”he adds.

“We are celebrating a new season but that doesn’t change our process because we are continuous. We evolve slowly over time rather than coming back with a whole new look. It’s more a question of continuity, ”explains Bee.

Next year, the show airs on Thursdays rather than Wednesdays, a move Weitz says is simply a matter of programming, as TBS will air a new hour-long wrestling series. AEW: Dynamite to his slate. Weitz adds that it just gives Bee “a lead for the week.”

“It’s great, every gesture we make gives us a better quality of life. I think moving to Thursday increases our quality of life, so that’s fine with me. It structures our work week in a more user-friendly way. It’s a whole new kind of must-see TV, ”she adds.

Bee is one of the few women to run her own late-night show. It’s a recurring topic, although something is improving with Amber Ruffin, Ziwe, and Sam Jay having their own shows recently.

This was evidenced by the fact that Full Frontal was knocked out of last year’s Emmy race by his brother Conan after the show’s FYC campaign joked about celebrating hosts’ nearly 25 years. male late night winners.

“It’s definitely improving, but I don’t think it’s as good as it could be from afar,” she said. “I think there is a better recognition that there is not just one voice or thought process in this space and the more voices we have, the better for all of us. I don’t think we’ll ever stop asking this question, not in my lifetime.

Weitz believes Bee only gets better as the show goes on. “I have front row seats to watch her put on one of the greatest shows of all time,” he says. “It’s amazing to see her evolution from the first sports coat she put on until what will be the 200^e sports coat she put on. It’s a big closet and an incredible evolution. She’s become better, smarter, and more culturally connected. She has this amazing way of bringing stories to light before those stories turn into great stories and I absolutely loved watching her excel and grow.

“I just have an amazing wardrobe of blazers and I love each one of them for different reasons. It’s a great shield against the world,” Bee jokes.

Next year, Bee expects to talk a lot about the midterm elections. “It’s always a time when political comedy shows shine. This is our world. None of us are particularly looking forward to it because I think it’s going to be a wild and hideous roller coaster ride, so we’ll see what next year has in store for us. Terrible for the world, great for political comedy.

Bee and her husband Jason Jones have previously produced a comedy series A deviation for TBS and their production company Swimsuit Competition has concluded an initial agreement with the network. The company is developing an adaptation of Laura Hankin A special place for women with Paramount Television Studios. Bee says they have a few other scripted projects going on as well as some more topical shows. “I like to get out of my head every now and then. I like to do something for someone else that I’m not necessarily going to be in myself, ”she says.

Full Frontal remains her goal and she still appreciates it. “It’s the most fun job you can imagine. It’s a gift, it’s the best gift to be able to do this show with the staff that I have and the means that we have been given to say what we want to say in this completely crazy world . I can’t imagine doing anything else and yet I can’t remember a single moment from the past six years, ”she says. “I don’t know what other job I’m qualified for at the moment. There’s nothing else that I prefer to do creatively, that’s for sure.