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 the longest-serving regular correspondent. In 2015, she departed the show after 12 years to start her own show, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. The show was canceled in 2022 as a "business-based decision" by TBS.
In 2017, Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world on their annual Time 100 list.
Early life
Bee was born in Toronto, Ontario, the daughter of Debra and Ronald Bee. She 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." Bee's parents split up soon after her birth, and she was initially raised by her grandmother, who worked as a secretary at the Catholic school Bee attended, 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 the University of Ottawa after her first year. At the University of Ottawa, Bee signed up for a theatre class, thinking it would be easy. The class led to Bee discovering her love of performing. Bee later enrolled in the George Brown Theatre School in Toronto.
Career
Career beginnings
Bee started auditioning for acting roles in Toronto while working as a waitress. At age 26, Bee toured with a stage production of Sailor Moon where she played the titular role. Bee performed in Sailor Moons "A" cast and future husband Jason Jones was a member of the "B" cast.
Bee was one of the four founding members of Toronto-based sketch comedy troupe The Atomic Fireballs. The Fireballs were all women. Demonstrating mutual support, the group would try to perform as many of each other's ideas as they could.
2003–2014 at The Daily Show
Bee became a correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on July 10, 2003. 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 Shows first non-US citizen correspondent. 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; "They So Horny?", 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; "The Undecided", an over-the-top look at the undecided voters leading up to the 2004 US 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."
Bee had her first starring role in a feature film in 2004 with the Canadian independent film Ham & Cheese, co-written by her husband Jason Jones and starring Canadian comics Scott Thompson and Dave Foley. The film marked Bee's first starring role. She won a Canadian Comedy Award for "Pretty Funny Female Performance" for her role. Jones joined The Daily Show as a correspondent in 2005, two years after his wife. Jones became a freelance correspondent for the show while Bee reduced her workload during her pregnancy.