The only time I see any of the talk shows on TV is when clips of them appear to show how idiotic they are. So while I have a vague idea of the various shows that are around, I have never actually watched one for any extended time. The Daily Show’s Samantha Bee does a remarkable one-woman performance that looks at the people and dynamics of a program called The Five that appears on Fox News and she shows more of it than I normally see.

I had assumed that these satirical shows played the worst clips and that if I watched the whole thing it might not be so bad. But Bee shows more of the show and it seems to be even more vapid than I thought. It seems truly ghastly and she does a brilliant job of deconstructing it. Give this woman an Emmy.

(This clip aired on January 14, 2014. To get suggestions on how to view clips of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report outside the US, please see this earlier post. If the videos autoplay, please see here for a diagnosis and possible solutions.)