Top Ten Samantha Bee Moments on “The Daily Show” – Part Two
In response to Senator John McCain speaking derisively of various political concerns, including ones related to abortion and women's health, Bee thanked McCain for “Exposing the seedy underbelly of the women’s health scam." Women, Bee said, love abortions and will do anything to get one, including enduring “hemorrhages,” “severe uterine bleeding” and “dying.”In this segment, Bee exposes how insulting it is for McCain, or anyone, to speak so dismissively of abortion, a serious medical procedure that comes with possibly dangerous side effects, as does any medical procedure. She also touches on the hypocrisy that exists in conversations about abortion and how traumatizing it can be for someone’s personal medical decisions to be discussed so flippantly. As Bee said, “Reasonable people can disagree about abortion but still agree on the unimportance of women’s health...It’s about equality. I’m sure if John McCain was raped and had a baby growing in his penis, he would want it publicly discussed at the same level of abstraction without concern for his specific ‘life’ or ‘penis.’”
7. Women's War Daily - Military Brohesion
Bee explored the opposition to the lifting of the ban on women serving in combat, interviewing Kinglsey Brown, who states bluntly that women in combat threaten military cohension, which Bee termed “brohesion.”
Bee is beyond hilarious in this segment, at first presenting herself as a stereotypically ignorant point of view, asking Zoe Bedell, a plaintiff in a lawsuit to lift the ban on women in combat, if she wants to reschedule the interview for when she is not having her period. By presenting herself as ignorant, Bee set the stage for Bedell to present facts and figures rationally, including the fact that women have already been serving in combat for ten years. She satirized the situation, presenting it as “girl talk” and eating ice cream, while Bedell listed name after name of women who had served in Afghanistan.In sharp contrast to Bedell, Brown said, “Girls become women by getting older. Boys become men by accomplishing something,” to which Bee asked, “OK, have you ever actually met a woman before?”And in a hilarious finale send-up to An Officer and Gentlemen, the segment ended with Bedell carrying Bee out of the office in her arms to the song, “Love Lifts Us Up Where We Belong.”
8. RNC 2012 - The Road to Jeb Bush 2016 - Abortion Law & The Republican Platform
Bee’s interviews at the Republican National Convention were some of the most brilliant techniques used to expose the incredible hypocrisy of the Republican Party that I saw during the entire Presidential campaign. Talking with people about the Republican platform’s “human life amendment” that banned abortion even in the case of incest and rape, Bee asked people why they were willing to give Mitt Romney their support, even though he disagreed with the platform. Romney had said he supported abortion in cases of incest and rape, but he was still receiving heartfelt support from his party, so Bee set out to find out how and why the Republican party was going to reconcile the difference — if there even was a reason at all.
I’ve admired Bee’s ability for deadpan comedic delivery before, but never as much as I did here, as she somehow managed to keep a straight face and neither grimace nor laugh when people said the exact things in defense of Mitt Romney that people have said in defense of abortions"If that’s the choice he made, that’s his choice.”“He is allowed to choose. This man is not a robot.”“We live in a free society. We live in America. It is up to any human being to choose to decide what is best for themselves.”“Who are we to tell someone how they should act?”“It’s hard to make that decision unless you’re the one in that situation”Bee’s interviews brilliantly exposed the convenient truth that exists for so many Republicans and exposed the incredible hypocrisy of the Republican party, which claims it loves personal freedom but is constantly trying to limit it. Or, as Bee sympathetically said to one person, “It’s a really personal issue deciding what people’s personal issues are.”
Comedy has long been useful in pointing out blatant hypocrisy, and the unwed pregnancy of Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol provided ample opportunity for political comedians to do just that. At the 2008 Republican National Convention, Bee interviewed people about Bristol's pregnancy. As they commented on how inappropriate it was for Democrats to seize on a personal situation like this, saying "politics should stay out of people's business," I was again amazed by Bee's ability to hold back laughter. She pretended to fumble for the word "choice," which all of the people she interviewed seemed unable to think of as well, until they praised Bristol for making the "choice" to keep her baby. Bee chimed in, saying, “She’s able to make the choice that she doesn’t want other people to have. Does that make sense?”
10. Changefest '09 - The End of Frat Boy Culture
Reporting from the 2008 Inauguration Balls, Bee finds herself using numerous double entendres, much to the giggling amusement of Jon Stewart, who asked her, “While you were working the balls, you were struck with something?” and heard “new direction” as “nude erection.” Frustrated, Bee told Stewart, “We have had eight years of frat boy culture in Washington and it is done.” But Stewart persisted with the jokes, causing Bee to heave a sigh and mutter, “I work with children, ok?”That might be so, Ms. Bee, but I am glad you are there.