The Daily Show alum Samantha Bee has already proven herself several times over with her new TBS show Full Frontal, which premiered in February. From an outstanding premiere episode that blasted her well beyond her correspondent days on the Comedy Central tent pole, to her coverage of the Syrian refugee crisis and the United States’ various responses, Bee has already secured her foothold in the satirical comedy pantheon of unfortunately-mostly-male champions. And then she went and hosted a bunch of young, college-educated Donald Trump supporters for a group interview.
Credible news organizations like CNN have conducted similar panel discussions before, especially when everyone was still trying to figure out why Trump appealed so strongly to an increasingly loud, angry and predominantly white group of voters. So, in that sense, Bee isn’t doing anything all that new. However, the Full Frontal host managed to create an almost seven-minute segment that is decidedly her own — and ridiculously frightening.
Like when she asked her subjects whether or not they agreed with Trump’s proposed ban of Muslims. The discordant shouts of “temporary,” “temporary banning” and “temporary banning of Muslims” from the racially diverse gathering of four women and six men let Bee and her audience know two things:
- Yes, they agreed with Trump’s proposed Muslim ban.
- They agreed with it presumably because they’d rationalized such an extreme measure.
But it wasn’t until Bee asked about the media’s coverage of Trump that one young gentleman’s accounting of it all really took off.
TRUMP SUPPORTER: The whole presidential nomination is a big reality show, and that’s why he’s winning.
BEE: So, you like his media whoredom…
TS: But you’re whoring off of his media whoredom.
BEE: I’m a whore, too.
TS: I think you’re kind of a trickle-down media whore because there you are [gestures] just getting the remains.
BEE: So, in the big bukkake of media, I’m the one at the bottom of the f*ck pile.
TS: I think that’s an accurate assessment.
Of course, these Daily Show-style interviews — be they with individuals or groups — are often staged and edited in a certain way. Not so much to fool the audience, per se, but to emphasize certain punchlines at specific moments per Bee and the writing staff’s jokes. But Bee and her subjects’ banter with one another is still pretty funny and undeniably horrifying.
