Fans tuning into last week’s episode of Have I Got News For You hoping to see Samantha Bee mix it up with host Roy Wood Jr (a fellow Daily Show alum) and team captains Amber Ruffin and Michael Ian Black were in for a disappointment.
Bee cancelled shortly after the show revealed she was set to appear. Now she’s revealing why.
On a new episode of The Daily Beast Podcast, which Bee co-hosts with Joanna Coles, the former Full Frontal host explained that she pulled out upon learning that her fellow guest panelist on the November 16th installment of HIGNFY would be Tennessee republican congressman Tim Burchett.
“I did pull myself out of it, which I do apologize to the whole team for leaving them in a bit of a spot,” Bee began. “I just didn’t feel like it was the right time for me to be on the show. Like, for context, I really like the show. I think it’s actually really good. I like and admire everybody who’s on it. … but my personal boundary is that I really just can’t go on, like, a fun-loving comedy quiz show with someone who just stands so opposite [to] every value that I hold dear.”
Specifically, Bee cited issues with Burchett’s stances on mass deportation, guns, and opposition to transgender rights, as well as his desire to dismantle the Department of Education and defund Planned Parenthood.
Bee’s co-host Coles challenged her position, arguing that a comedy show was the perfect ground for debate. She added that some of the “best” episodes of the UK version of the show (which has been on the air since 1990) have featured guests with opposing views. “I feel like if you remove yourself from the situation, then there’s no representative of what you believe in,” she said.
Bee disagreed, saying she doesn’t believe that a light-hearted show like Have I Got News For You is the proper forum to address such issues.
“I can’t always be a dancing monkey,” she explained. “I just think these questions and these issues that we are facing are literally existential, and I don’t have a good sense of humor about it. I just was not willing to sit on a comedy show with a grim facial expression thinking, ‘What am I gonna say? What am I gonna do? What is this? Like, why am I here?’”
Burchett—a staunch supporter of Donald Trump—is certainly one of the most right-leaning guests to appear thus far on the US edition Have I Got News For You. His views didn’t go unchallenged during the episode, with Roy Wood Jr. and Amber Ruffin both taking swipes at the congressman during the show.
Have I Got News For You just scored a Season 2 renewal at CNN. The show’s Season 1 finale, featuring guest panelist Kara Swisher, airs this Saturday, Nov. 23 at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on CNN and will be available to stream on Max the following day.
I’m with you Sam!! I found his appearance on the show jarring and truly fucked-up… he has no sense of humor and he lost me a few months ago blathering about how somebody elbowed him but replete with the usual saccharine southern “manners” of Ma’ams and Sirs to which I’d just like to reply “Bless His Heart!” with all that that entails!
Love you Samantha Bee, and Jason too… Miss “Full Frontal” bad.
I’m not caught up on Samantha Bee ‘s values, but being funny isn’t one of them. Self righteousness is never gets a laugh in my book.
and yet… there you are?