Late-night TV has always been a boys club. Actually, until Larry Wilmore got The Nightly Show on Comedy Central, it had always been a white boys club. (Trevor Noah will help those numbers when he takes over The Daily Show in September.)
But women have still been missing from the late-night comedy landscape. That will change when Samantha Bee, formerly of The Daily Show, gets her own showcase on TBS. During that network’s upfront presentation, a teaser for Bee’s new show was released. And she’s here to break up the late-night sausage fest.
Poor James Corden. But he’s the new guy, so he can probably take the ribbing.
A woman hosting a late-night comedy show is long overdue, especially one who’s “female as f***.” Given her experience on The Daily Show, Bee is an excellent candidate to break that barrier. Many wanted her to take over for Jon Stewart on Comedy Central. But moving over to TBS and creating her own gig, rather than replacing Stewart is probably the smart way to go. What we don’t yet know is whether the show will be a satirical news program (though reports have hinted at that) or something different than what’s currently on late-night.
No premiere date was announced for Bee’s new show, but it will presumably debut sometime this fall.
