Samantha Bee hosted her second annual Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on TBS, where Sigourney Weaver dropped by to reprise her role as Ellen Ripley in Aliens. In the cold open, Samantha Bee has fled Earth and is hiding out in space to avoid covering another presidential election.
Weaver’s Ripley finds her in a disheveled, Newt-like state, clutching a Donald Trump doll. Bee says, “I can’t do it, I can’t cover another presidential election. There are too many candidates, eighteen, nineteen … thirty. Nate Silver’s gonna f-ck us again!” Weaver chases Bee to her hideout, which includes Obama posters, Brett Kavanaugh’s calendar, and a stack of pee tapes.
Weaver tries to convince her that she needs to get back to Earth, saying “I know it’s bad down there.Maybe bad isn’t strong enough, it’s vile, it’s apalling, a kick in the tit.” She follows up by saying, “journalists have one of the most difficult jobs today, and you have to go down there and tell them how important they are!”
But Bee isn’t alone: other stowaways include journalists Ali Velshi, Rebecca Traister, and Katie Couric, all of whom would rather hide out in space than confront another exhausting election cycle. Eventually, Bee relents and ejects herself into the coldness of space to go back to Earth and host the dinner. It’s a delightful open, and it’s always fun to see Weaver step into Ripley’s boots again.
Samantha Bee’s Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner is a comedic rebuke to Trump’s refusal to attend the actual White House Correspondents’ Dinner. A storied Washington, D.C. tradition, the WHCD has long hosted presidents from both sides of the aisle, where they are ribbed by comedians and celebrate the importance of the press.
But Donald Trump is no ordinary president. He has made a career out of lambasting the press, and has steadfastly refused to attend the dinner. Last year, comedian Michelle Wolf hosted the dinner, where she did a savagely brilliant set roasting Trump, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and the rest of the administration.
Amid intense pearl-clutching from the right and from journalists, this year the dinner decided to forgo a comedian host, turning the mic over to presidential historian Ron Chernow. Bee roasted the president in her opening monologue, reminding him that even “Justin F-cking Bieber” had the guts to be roasted.
The evening featured special appearances by SNL‘s Taran Killam, Robert De Niro, and Sarah Huckabot Sanders, a robot versions of the press secretary that repeatedly called the event humorless. Bee also performed two musical numbers, a smooth R&B slow jam about how sexy journalism is, and a My Fair Lady-parody about calling racism racism (as opposed to racially-tinged, charged, etc.) alongside Hamilton‘s Brandon Victor Dixon.
Did you watch Bee’s special? What did you think?
(via The Daily Beast, image: TBS)
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