Samantha Bee

The ‘Full Frontal’ host on the state of media, surviving Trump and her all-male competition

- Maria Fontoura

On April 27th, TBS will air Samantha Bee’s second-ever Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. While historian Ron Chernow regales guests at the real event in Washington, D.C. — after a furor about jokes made at Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ expense last year, he is the first host in 16 years who isn’t a comedian — Bee will be slinging barbs at President Trump, who for three years running has refused to attend the annual one-night détente between journalists and the politicians they cover. She billed the original 2017 special The First and Only Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. But the state of the world is so dire she felt compelled to bring some comic relief to the stage again. “We just keep hitting new lows,” says Bee. “We have not yet found the bottom, and it is a scary tumble.”

Why do another Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner?

I think journalism is in peril and the First Amendment is in peril. It behooves us to have another party and speak truth to power and give Trump the roast he deserves. The whole point is that the president is supposed to sit there, one night per year, and have someone say jokes to his face. That’s his job. Just sit and take it for 20 minutes. That’s the social contract we’ve all signed.

In the wake of controversy last year, the White House Correspondents’ Association chose not to hire a comedian. Will you be needling them too?