Full Frontal Episode Review: Full Frontal Opts for Pease Porridge Cold

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As in the Mother Goose rhyme, right? Here is the deal: rather than go with Samantha Bee’s usual three-part rant, before the first Presidential debate, or shortly after (about which there is a very comical bit of business), TBS waited until Wednesday, September 28th to let the host give us her take on the events of September 26th. Let us keep in mind, her show typically airs at 10:30, Monday nights, so it would have been awkward to have the broadcast happen at the scheduled time. The only problem was, Ms. Bee had to wait in line behind so many other comics that her routine may have struck us as a little bit stale.

Oh, that bit about why Wednesday instead of Tuesday? That may have given Samantha Bee her funniest line of the entire process in a preview. When TBS announced the schedule change, they posted a big sign behind the host, saying in sloppy acronym form “see you next Wednesday,” which came out as “CUNW.” At the end of the preview, Ms. Bee said she would have preferred to do the show a night earlier, but “for some reason,” she went on, calling our attention to the acronym, the network wouldn’t go for it. If you need to, feel free to stop and take a beat in order to catch the joke.

Even if she had to wait in line behind many others, Ms. Bee did have some points to make and some interesting clips to show. I would have liked to see her make a bigger deal out of Trump’s braggadocio in regard to paying no taxes on more than one occasion, but then, that point has been made a number of times already. If anything, Hillary Clinton, rather than Samantha Bee, was the one who should have blown the whistle and thrown the flag on that one.

Perhaps the most amusing part of her presentation was the final part of a single-subject show, in which the host invited her assistants to take the measure of viewer reaction to the proceedings. I suppose if all you want is some entertainment value, you would do as the show did and send one reporter to a gay bar and another to a sports bar, from whence a good deal of comedy could be mined, but not much serious enlightenment. Even so, it was a bit not without its entertaining moments, as you can see in the clip below.

Let us keep in mind that Full Frontal will again air on a Wednesday, next week, to comment on the VP debate. I, for one, will be curious to see how Tim Kaine does it. Consider this: he is almost always the shorter candidate in a nation where the taller guy always wins. He is a Catholic who has held the highest offices in a Protestant-majority state. Furthermore, he is not only a distance away from being handsome—in the right or, rather, wrong light, he looks like a gangster. Yet he wins and wins and wins. On the other hand, it will be interesting to see if Mike Pence has an original thought in his head, other than mandating expensive funerals for aborted fetuses, for the all-important reason of spite. Stay, as they say, tuned.

 

 

Full Frontal, TBS, September 28, 2016

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Thomas Cleveland Lane

Thomas Cleveland Lane is a semi-retired freelance writer for pay and a stage actor for nothing more than the opportunity to make a fool of himself. Well, he does get a small stipend from the Washington Area Decency League, after playing the role of Hinezie in The Pajama Game, to never, ever appear on stage in his underpants again. When he has not managed to buffalo some director into casting him, Thomas can often be found at his favorite piano bar, annoying the patrons with his caterwauling. Thomas is the author of an anthology called Shaggy Dogs, a Collection of Not-So-Short Stories (destined to become a cult classic, shortly after he croaks). He is also the alter-ego to a very unbalanced Czech poet named Glub Dzmc. Mr. Lane generally resides in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and was last seen in the mirror, three days ago.
Thomas Cleveland Lane
Thomas Cleveland Lane
Thomas Cleveland Lane is a semi-retired freelance writer for pay and a stage actor for nothing more than the opportunity to make a fool of himself. Well, he does get a small stipend from the Washington Area Decency League, after playing the role of Hinezie in The Pajama Game, to never, ever appear on stage in his underpants again. When he has not managed to buffalo some director into casting him, Thomas can often be found at his favorite piano bar, annoying the patrons with his caterwauling. Thomas is the author of an anthology called Shaggy Dogs, a Collection of Not-So-Short Stories (destined to become a cult classic, shortly after he croaks). He is also the alter-ego to a very unbalanced Czech poet named Glub Dzmc. Mr. Lane generally resides in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and was last seen in the mirror, three days ago.