With Full Frontal with Samantha Bee readying to air on TBS on Monday, February 8, the former Daily Show correspondent’s program is hilariously handling the balancing act of acknowledging excitement about Bee being the first woman late night host, while also interrogating why a. this is happening so late in late night history, and b. why there’s therefore more pressure placed on it as such. The marketing campaign has certainly confronted gendered expectations rather than ignored them, and last night, on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Samantha Bee hilariously continued making the promotional rounds for her show in a segment on vagina euphemisms.
Thus far, the yet-to-be-released series has been wonderfully irreverent about the importance — and thus the expectations — that become heightened due to “first woman to host a late night show” fact, with a tagline that both announces the important precedent while satirizing the often reductive cultural conversations surrounding gender and representation — “Watch or you’re sexist.” Thus, Colbert asks her, “You obviously get a lot of questions like ‘you’re going to be the only woman being on a late night show.’ But do you ever get tired of that question?'”
“Quite honestly,” she replies, “before I started this process, I didn’t even know women could talk.”
She mentions that she watches Colbert’s show, and has noted that he frequently brings up his “man parts,” then begins to roll a series of clips to substantiate the claim. Because referencing their own genitalia in network-friendly fashion is something that seems a standard for late night hosts, the two begin preparing Bee to continue the tradition, creating a complex thesaurus of vagina euphemisms she’ll have at her disposal.
Some highlights include “Department of the interior,” “She who shall not be named,” “The place where I keep my keys. That’s just for me,” “Fern Gully” and “The Hurt Locker.”
Watch the clip: