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Samantha Bee’s ‘Full Frontal’ to air Philly-filmed segment about undocumented restaurant workers tonight

Full Frontal will feature a Philadelphia-filmed segment focusing on undocumented immigrants in the restaurant industry on tonight's episode at 10:30 p.m.

'Full Frontal' host Samantha Bee appears alongside 'Top Chef' host Padma Lakshmi in Philadelphia for a segment about undocumented restaurant workers.
'Full Frontal' host Samantha Bee appears alongside 'Top Chef' host Padma Lakshmi in Philadelphia for a segment about undocumented restaurant workers.Read moreTBS

TBS's Full Frontal With Samantha Bee paid a visit to Philadelphia last month, where the show's namesake host interviewed District Attorney Larry Krasner. But that wasn't all Bee got up to when she was in town, as a segment slated to air tonight shows.

Full Frontal will feature a Philadelphia-filmed segment focusing on undocumented immigrants in the restaurant industry on Wednesday night's episode at 10:30 on TBS. Krasner's interview will not appear in the segment, a network spokesperson said.

Instead, the show's Philly segment will feature appearances from Top Chef's Padma Lakshmi and Philadelphia chef Cristina Martinez of South Philly Barbacoa and El Compadre fame.

According to an episode description, Bee's Philly bit will focus on "introducing you to the undocumented immigrants that make your food." Lakshmi, an outspoken critic of the Trump administration's policies toward undocumented immigrants, appears in the segment to "supervise."

Bee made the trek to Philadelphia in July, which included filming at Center City's Franklin Inn Club, a social club with a literary bent that was founded in 1902. As member Basil Talbott told the Inquirer, Full Frontal producers settled on the location because they were looking for a "bookish, intellectual look" for interviews, and the Franklin Inn Club fit because it "looks like something out of old Philadelphia."

During the visit, Talbott said, Bee interviewed Krasner in the club's first-floor foyer, and followed that up with an interview with a group of supporters in the building's second-floor library. Krasner was not part of the second interview. Neither TBS nor the DA's Office would elaborate on what Krasner and Bee discussed.

El Compadre's Martinez is a noted advocate for undocumented immigrants and earlier this year was called the "voice of the undocumented" in a profile from Al Día. She arrived in the U.S. undocumented in 2009, according to an Inquirer report.

"Unfortunately, we're people that immigrated without studies," Martinez told the Inquirer last year, "but with the desire to work and take care of our families."

Launched in 2016, TBS's Full Frontal is in its third season and has been a hit for the network since its debut. Last month, the show earned seven Emmy nominations, including nods for outstanding writing in a variety series, outstanding interactive program, and outstanding variety talk series. Host Bee, of course, is no stranger to controversy, having used a vulgarity to describe Ivanka Trump earlier this year on the show. Bee soon after apologized.