We're on week two of late night TV hosts filming their shows in home self-isolation to do their part to flatten the curve of COVID-19 (and sure some jokes just don't land without in-studio laughter but we applaud the effort). We're getting to a new normal though, and part of that is apparently filming full episodes from home instead of just YouTube snippets. Wednesday night,
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee returned to our TV (and YouTube) screens, filmed in a wooded area with Sam's quarantine roommate/co-producer/husband Jason Jones and a sorta-friendly animated bird.“To help prevent the spread of COVID-19, I am now shooting the show with a safe, minimal crew of my husband and the creatures of the forest!” she explained as an animated blue-eared starling landed on her finger. “Oh! Who’s this? Hello, little blue bird! How are you?”“I’m a hallucination brought on by you isolating yourself!” it replied. Tough but fair, little birdy.
Variety also revealed that Bee and Jones' three children were"assisting with sound and other elements," which viewers didn't get to see but props for making it a family affair.
As the show went on, Sam did a classic scathing monologue ripping into the status quo, corporations and the American government while the animated birdy stuck around to smoke on a cigarette and critique her jokes. Turns out he's not as friendly as he looks, taking the opportunity after a characteristic pun to sneer, “Ugh, this is why women shouldn’t do comedy.” Can you get into it with an animated bird and still respect physical distancing?Luckily the bird flapped away so Bee could deliver the really important funny news, like a pre-recorded
segment that sent correspondent Amy Hoggart to a furry convention (in The Before Time) where she asked if the participants were “Furry Bernie Bros or Bernie Furry Bros.” Samantha also interviewed a
Boston ER doctor via video chat who spoke about the myriad ways anyone can contract COVID-19. Anyone else Yikes-ing over here?[video_embed id='1928204']RELATED: John Legend recording sexy new album for ‘corona-baby-making’[/video_embed]Bee is the second late night comedian to make their return to actual TV, after Trevor Noah started producing a full
Daily Show nightly from home earlier this week (
Full Frontal airs weekly on Wednesdays on CTV Comedy). Stephen Colbert has
announced his own return to our TV screens next Monday and James Corden's
The Late Late Show will have an online revival with a special
"HomeFest" concert.We're feeling pretty optimistic now that Samantha and her colleagues are back on our screens tempering the somewhat distressing news with deadpan jokes and epic comic timing. Hopefully this is the last we see of the misogynistic bird though.Watch new episodes of
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee Wednesdays at 10:30ET on CTV Comedy.[video_embed id='1927603']BEFORE YOU GO: Ryan Reynolds, Seth Rogen join PM Trudeau’s efforts to flatten the curve[/video_embed]
