If you have been missing new episodes of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, good news. A fresh new episode airs tonight on TBS and the CTV Comedy Channel in Canada.
Hopefully, you have been enjoying Samantha Bee's new podcast Full Release. The podcast series feature long-form interviews with people she finds fascinating.
"Gee, a celebrity with a podcast. Suck up much?" Fair enough, but there is more of a Canadian connection worth noting.
Samantha Bee was one of the guests of the first season of More with Anna Maria Tremonti, the former host of The Current. Tremonti featured long-form interviews. Each subject had a theme Tremonti explored in the interview:
- Catherine O'Hara on the power of collaboration
- Vivek Shraya on fear and hate
- Samantha Bee on finding your way
- Elle Mills on being vulnerable in public
- David Suzuki on growing older
- Naomi Klein on finding hope in today's world
- Margaret Atwood on leading a political life
- Frank Gehry on standing out
- Malcolm Gladwell on changing your mind
Bee is not covering a specific insight in her long-form interviews. She has interviewed Soledad O'Brien, Jelani Cobb, Dr. Jen Gunter, Connie Schultz, Jemele Hill, and Kara Swisher.
Tremonti interviewed all Canadians in her series. Gunter is the only Canadian so far on Full Release. They do talk about some things Canadian, including health care.
Bee did say in her episode with Tremonti that she would love to do what Tremonti was doing. So perhaps Full Release does tie back to being on More.
Unlike Tremonti, Bee opens up about herself. The Dr. Gunter interview reveals a lot that women know but where men will learn a few lessons. At the end of each podcast, her producers give her lines from Internet trolls about herself and Bee has to guess whether the remarks are real or fake.
Bee said on More that she grew up listening to the news on CBC because her mother made her listen. For someone who is not a journalist, Bee is engaging in her curiosity about her subjects. Tremonti would be proud of what Bee is doing.
The other key dynamic is that Tremonti taped her first season before the pandemic where Bee's episodes fully acknowledge the impact of the pandemic.
The conversation with Bee and Gunter was a dynamic of Canadians who have built a world in the United States yet still feel very Canadian even though they haven't lived there in a very long time.
Bee and Jemele Hill talked about the inequities of sports, such as why female soccer players earn way less than male soccer players.
The podcasts are very different in approach and style but the idea of long-form interviews with people who are interesting to the host is fairly similar. Think of Full Release as an homage to More.
Not sure if Tremonti would be interested in being the subject matter of a long-form interview. Perhaps she would make an exception for Bee.
Anna Maria Tremonti launches interview podcast
New changes to CBC Radio in 2020
CanadianCrossing.com radio coverage
CBC Radio is running episodes of More on Sunday mornings at 11 am on CBC Radio One.
You can get each podcast where you find podcasts. If you know of a great Canadian podcast or a podcast by a great Canadian, let us know in the comments section.
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