Comedian Samantha Bee made a name for herself as a correspondent on the satirical Daily Show with Jon Stewart for 12 years. She left that show to host her own late night variety show Full Frontal with Samantha Bee for seven years. Now she's on a one-woman comedy tour called How to Survive Menopause, a show that humorously looks at menopause, a topic that Bee is passionate about. Bee will be bringing her show to the Sunset Center in Carmel on Feb. 7. I spoke with her ahead of her upcoming performance, and she began by explaining how she came up with a comedy show about surviving menopause.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
SAMANTHA BEE: The subject matter grabbed me because I was experiencing this in perimenopause, and it was so confusing, and I had such a confusing entryway into it. And I realized, well, if I have trouble talking about it and thinking about it, I bet other people really do. And I love saying hard things out loud and kind of, like, wrestling with stuff in real time. And so that's what I'm doing. And I love it."
Click the audio player at the top of this story to listen to the interview or read the highlights below.
Bee on what she finds funny about menopause and the way that society deals with menopause in this country:
It's kind of like how you have to like find humor in tragedy — that's kind of what it is. It's such an absurd experience. And it's kind of culturally absurd too, in the sense that it happens to literally 50% of the people on Earth. And yet, until about three years ago, we just didn't have the words to even say what it was. Nobody even called it menopause until in the very recent experience of it. Everyone was like — it's like a whisper— you know what I mean? (whispering) Like a hot flash.
It felt embarrassing for so long. And it's everywhere I look. The absurdity of it — kind of like, just shouldering that shame. So that's what the show's about. I'm just going to say it all out loud. I don't care. There's no one left to impress really. So what the hell? And let's just talk about it and be open about it.
Bee on being the first female host of a late night variety show and the longest serving female correspondent on "The Daily Show"
BEE: I worked in the milieu of political comedy for so long, literally over 20 years. And I guess when Full Frontal ended, I thought, well, what will I do next? And then I was like, I don't think that I need to do anything that I don't feel really called to talk about. Like, what are the stones that are left unturned? And this was the territory that I'm really very invested in.
I've always been extremely invested in women's health. And I've always talked about it a lot, given a lot of voice to a lot of things. And this to me was like uncharted waters. And I thought, if me speaking frankly about this is the service that I provide, that feels exactly right. Thinking about it, talking about it, writing about it is such an organic place to be. And I feel like it's the right thing for me to be doing. I wouldn't want to be doing anything else, quite frankly.
Comedian Samantha Bee will be performing in her one-woman show, "How to Survive Menopause," at the Sunset Center in Carmel on Feb 7.
The Sunset Center is one of KAZU’s many underwriters and did not influence our decision to pursue this interview.