A followup to yesterday’s piece on how the late night hosts are doing with their efforts from home…
Samantha Bee pulled off a terrific show last night by focusing on one aspect of the Coronavirus Crisis that the others won’t — its impact on women.
From the fact that women make up the majority of workers whose livelihood is most affected by furloughs and firings and exposure to the dangers of the disease (e.g. nurses, food preparers, supermarket staff) to the horror of being quarantined with domestic abusers to changes in abortion law in red states, Bee and her team examined important parts of the story that are being overlooked by most other media outlets. She also played a very solid interview she recorded pre-quarantining with Stacey Abrams, who may well end up as Joe Biden’s running mate.
Like John Oliver, what makes Bee’s show work is that she doesn’t rely on the same setup-and-punchline joke structure as the nightly hosts. Instead, her material is always part of an overarching theme, specific to each episode, punctuated by funny remarks, and delivered by a true comedy pro.
Bee has another positive in common with Oliver (and Trevor Noah): they don’t continually showcase their kids and dogs.