Jon Stewart Has Said An Emotional Goodbye To The Daily Show’s Longest-Serving Correspondent, Samantha Bee

The Daily Show‘s correspondents are as much a part of the show as Jon Stewart himself; several, like Stephen Colbert and John Oliver, have gone on to expand on the news comedy format Stewart popularised in shows of their own, while others have filled in for Stewart while he’s been away pursuing other projects or off sick. But the correspondents have also provided a lot of the meat on the Daily Show‘s bones, providing more substantive coverage of issues Stewart can’t reduce to quick one-liners and encouraging other comedic voices to come through on a show that sometimes threatens to be dominated by its host.

Now one of the Daily Show‘s best and most consistent correspondents, Canadian Samantha Bee, is hanging up the mike. Bee served longer than any other Daily Show correspondent, including Colbert, Oliver and Steve Carell, and her stint as the first female correspondent paved the way for others like Kristen Schaal and Jessica Williams. In an emotional tribute segment on Friday, Stewart farewelled the Daily Show‘s longest-serving correspondent, and arguably its best.

Bee has been a correspondent for over 12 years, but she was knocking it out of the park right up until the end. Her report last month on the inexplicable right of rapists to seek custody of the child caused by their raping someone was a stellar case in point.

While she didn’t get the new host job like people of taste were hoping, Bee fans will be able to see how she does at the helm of her own show on cable network TBS. Hopefully she enjoys the kind of success Oliver and Colbert found with their solo endeavours.