Last Thursday night, The Daily Show‘s Samantha Bee bid a tearful goodbye to the Comedy Central show. Bee, who became the longest serving Daily Show correspondent in 2012, is leaving to start her own satirical news show on TBS with her husband, fellow correspondent Jason Jones. Bee will serve as the host and executive producer of the show, which is about a family road trip to Florida and will feature her “smart and satirical point of view (on) current and relevant issues,” according to the cable network. Bee’s departure comes after the exits of Stephen Colbert, John Oliver and Larry Wilmore, who also left to develop their own comedy shows.
Unlike these previous farewells, Bee did not address the audience. After a six-minute heartfelt montage delivered by Stewart which covered the highlights of her impressive 12 year run at The Daily Show, including her interviews from the 2004 Republican National Convention—where she asked attendees, “Have you had your picture taken with a black person yet?” and her coverage of Sarah Palin, a tearful Bee stepped out on stage for one last goodbye to the sound of the audience’s thunderous applause.
Bee’s emotional exit inspired to look back at her illustrious career thus far. She was born in Toronto, Ontario, where she served as one of the founding members of a sketch comedy troupe called The Atomic Fireballs, with whom she performed before being hired by The Daily Show in 2003.Bee quickly became known for her impressive ability to convince people into caricaturing themselves, as seen in segments like “Kill Drill”, on hunters and fossil fuel executives claiming to be environmentalists and “They So Horny,” on the scarcity of Asian men in U.S. pornography.
Bee also gained popularity with her segment entitled “NILFs” (“News I’d Like to Fuck”), particularly while 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.” As evidenced by these segments, Bee has the impressive ability to fearlessly ask the controversial questions that need to be asked while remaining both professional and hilarious—and that’s what we’ll miss most from her.
On The Daily Show, Bee served as the sole female correspondent from 2006 until Kristen Schaal’s appearance in the spring of 2008. She was also the show’s first non-U.S. citizen correspondent. Bee’s book I Know I Am, But What Are You? was published in 2010. While we’re sad to see her go, we can’t wait to see what this inspiring woman will accomplish next. Watch her tearful goodbye below:
Image via: Mashable.
