She was on the show for 12 years, the longest tenure of anycorrespondent.
And she was one of the satirical newsfests finest actors.
So even though she could radiate loud deadpan alarmism and bewildered bemusement, Bee-as-Correspondent also projectedprofessionalismabove all else.
Credit: Peter Yang
It was a subtle joke.
She wasDaily Shows Phil Hartman: A brilliant comedy presence, with a persona that defied easy definition.
Throughout the last decade-plus, theDaily Showalumni have spread their wings to fly.
Colbert got one late-night show, then another.
Carell was a movie star, then a TV institution, now an Oscar nominee.
John Oliver went to HBO.
Trevor Noah isThe Daily Show.
Is it hard breaking into the boys club?
Whats it like to be a female woman?
What did you have to do differently?
Bees response: Hard work, a great team, maybe just a little bit of magic.
Smash-cut to Bee, in the midst of a coven fire ceremony straight out of theAmerican Horror Storyopening credits.
Were all witches, she smiled.
What followed was one of the most confident premieres in this suddenly never-ending phase of late-night debuts.
The zingers flew fast.
Donald Trump is a sentient Caps Lock button and an oddly tinted compilation of psychiatric symptoms.
The Huffington Post is almost like a journalistic organization.
She showed a video of Hillary Clinton onstage in Derry.
Cut to Bee, rolling her eyes: Oh, foff.
ANOINT ME YOUR GOD.
WHAT MORE DO YOU PEOPLE WANT FROM MEEEE?
For a moment, she looked and sounded likeTim Curry as the Lord of Darkness inLegend.
Some of this was funny, but it was also unmistakably a late arrival to the Internets meme party.
But as with OliversLast Week Tonight, Bee can turn her shows non-Daily-ness into a feature.
But that final segment tweaked the format.
Bee declared that shed sent her Foreign Exchange Producer to New Hampshire.
It mixed on-site man-on-the-street interviews (If Jeb were a drink, what drink would he be?)
with sequences of Bush on the campaign trail.
Perhaps it does, said the narrator.
Or perhaps this turtle is helpless on its back in the mouth of a fing alligator.
CUT TO: An actual alligator, eating an actual turtle.
At one point, the film crew actually got to ask Bush a question.
CanFull Frontalstand out from the late-night pack?
On the strength of this premiere, yes.
Full Frontalalready feels like an essential voice in this political year.
And she happens to be a female woman?
Thats cool, too.
