--- title: 'Full Frontal With Samantha Bee' Diverse Writer’s Room description: Full Frontal's Samantha Bee doesn't take on late-night comedy alone. See how her team got to be so diverse. canonical: https://time.com/4630075/samantha-bee-full-frontal-diverse/ author: Megan Lasher article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-10T16:40:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:04:20.439Z og:title: How Samantha Bee Built a Diverse Writer’s Room og:description: 'We moved the needle' og:url: https://time.com/4630075/samantha-bee-full-frontal-diverse/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4475f88ce21c6302/6988b4f58e0601259b468c31/samantha-bee-full-frontal-diverse.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The Women's Media Center 2016 Women's Media Awards og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Samantha Bee Built a Diverse Writer’s Room twitter:description: 'We moved the needle' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4475f88ce21c6302/6988b4f58e0601259b468c31/samantha-bee-full-frontal-diverse.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Samantha Bee Built a Diverse Writer’s Room by [Megan Lasher](https://time.com/author/megan-lasher/) ## Megan Lasher Jan 10, 2017 4:40 PM UTC  Samantha Bee attends The Women's Media Center 2016 Women's Media Awards at Capitale on September 29, 2016 in New York City. Samantha Bee attends The Women's Media Center 2016 Women's Media Awards at Capitale on September 29, 2016 in New York City.Mike Pont—WireImage/Getty Images by [Megan Lasher](https://time.com/author/megan-lasher/) ## Megan Lasher Jan 10, 2017 4:40 PM UTC [Samantha Bee](http://motto.time.com/4599071/samantha-bee-ohio-heartbeat-bill/) is paving the way for [women in late night](http://motto.time.com/4316630/chelsea-handler-single-women-shaming/), and she’s not doing it alone. In a recent [interview with _Fast Company_](https://www.fastcompany.com/3066377/most-creative-people/how-samantha-bee-learned-to-become-a-manager), the comedy writer and host revealed the team behind her [groundbreaking show](http://motto.time.com/4526519/samantha-bee-donald-trump-locker-room-talk/), and her own quest to get a diverse and funny writer’s room. Bee said that most shows use a blind hiring process, but that [_Full Frontal_](http://motto.time.com/4318073/samantha-bee-ted-cruz-abortion/) _“_moved the needle on that even further.” Specifically, they did a great deal of outreach: “You have to call people and say, ‘Hey, who do you know who is not working professionally but is a professional-caliber writer? Who do you know who has promise?'” Bee said. “You can’t just hire people who are exactly the same as you. It enriches your life to bring people into your workplace who aren’t a carbon copy of you and your experiences.” And with new perspectives come new issues the show can delve into. “If \[writers\] have a particular passion, they need to find a way to pitch that story that communicates that passion, and then we’ll be attracted to it and we’ll want to tell that story, too,” Bee said. “Letting people explore the things that they are truly interested in has been extremely fruitful for us. I think you feel that on the show.” She also acknowledged that the show isn’t for everyone. While it’s been [positively received by most](http://ew.com/article/2016/11/16/full-frontal-samantha-bee-renewed-tbs/), she still says they have critics, so the writers are more concerned about making a show they’re personally happy with. “When you’re making art—yes, I said it was art—when you’re making a creative product, if you think too much about who it’s for and who is going to like it, it becomes impure somehow.” Read the full interview at [FastCompany.com](https://www.fastcompany.com/3066377/most-creative-people/how-samantha-bee-learned-to-become-a-manager) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4630075/samantha-bee-full-frontal-diverse/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4630075/samantha-bee-full-frontal-diverse/"},"headline":"How Samantha Bee Built a Diverse Writer’s Room","datePublished":"2017-01-10T16:40:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:04:20.439Z","description":"'We moved the needle'","url":"https://time.com/4630075/samantha-bee-full-frontal-diverse/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4475f88ce21c6302/6988b4f58e0601259b468c31/samantha-bee-full-frontal-diverse.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan Lasher","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-lasher/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4475f88ce21c6302/6988b4f58e0601259b468c31/samantha-bee-full-frontal-diverse.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Women's Media Center 2016 Women's Media Awards","caption":"Samantha Bee attends The Women's Media Center 2016 Women's Media Awards at Capitale on September 29, 2016 in New York City.","creditText":"Mike Pont—WireImage/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4630075/samantha-bee-full-frontal-diverse/","name":"How Samantha Bee Built a Diverse Writer’s Room"}}]}] ```