MONTREAL — Samantha Bee wasn't always the hard-hitting correspondent so familiar to viewers of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

For instance, she once played Sailor Moon in a live show at the Canadian National Exhibition. "Yes, it's true," she says in a telephone interview from New York, angst clear in her voice. "The most embarrassing job of my entire life.

"That's right. I was a costumed character. But I was an adult so it is mockable. You can make fun of me for it because I was a fully realized human being. I wasn't just a kid. And I did it for the money, OK, and you'd do the same thing.

"Don't judge me. I made a lot of money."

But that was "many moons ago" and now the Toronto-born comedian and actress is the Canadian face of comedy news on the hit show seen on Comedy Network and CTV.

It's been a good fit, says Lewis Black, the show's ranting commentator.

"She's doing good for a Canadian," he joked as he prepared to host the World Stupidity Awards at Montreal's Just for Laughs festival. "She's doing very well. She's kind of found her niche and fairly quickly."

Bee and cohort Stephen Colbert are at Just for Laughs on Saturday to dish the dirt on how the show is put together, although Bee doesn't think the Sailor Moon story will be part of the gossip.

"I might cry," she said, before breaking into a laugh.

Bee is in her third year of tracking stories and getting laughs for the Daily Show, which provides tons of fodder for watercooler discussions the next morning.

But she's skeptical of those who insist they only get their news from the often-biting correspondents skewering major and not-so-major news.

"I never believe them when they say that because you really have to sort of be aware of what's going on in the news in order to get the jokes on the show," she said. "I don't think the show would be funny to you if you didn't already have a base of information."

She describes working on the show as "incredible."

"It's really challenging, we travel a lot so we're always meeting interesting and/or crazy people, which is great."

Like the guy being interviewed as an undecided voter during the 2004 presidential election. He was certain he looked like wrestler The Rock and really wanted to show her what he was carrying in his back pocket.

"It was his video phone," she says, still incredulous, though laughing. "What he actually wanted to show me was a pornographic video he had made of himself. It was awful and then I had to continue interviewing him.

"He was pretty sure I was going to fall for him. It didn't happen. Another time, perhaps."

The feature reports are a hallmark of the show and usually bring its most hilarious moments. Next week, Bee has a segment on how NASCAR racing is becoming more gay.

"I think NASCAR's coming to Canada now so it'll take on a whole new relevance. Be afraid."

The 35-year-old blond says getting the offbeat take on the news can mean checking your soul at the door.

"You have to be willing to ask questions that almost no one else would ask," she says.

"And they usually reply and sometimes when they don't it's just as funny."

Oddly, many of the people interviewed for the reports seem to think they're being interviewed for a real newscast, although the Daily Show makes no attempt to conceal its identity.

"It doesn't always click for people or they don't know the show - which I can't imagine - but there are people out there who don't."

The Daily Show has its serious side and often Stewart gives thoughtful interviews with newsmakers on current affairs.

"I think the show does better with newsmakers and politicians than it does with actors," Bee says. "If it wasn't for what goes on in the world of politics, we wouldn't really have much of a show.

"I learn something in the interviews from time to time."

Coverage of Canada has increased since Bee's arrival in 2003, including a report on a recent leak of the new Harry Potter book in Vancouver.

"The audience is ever-widening in Canada and you have to be cognizant of that," she said. "You have to give a little shout-out to Canada every once in a while.

"A lot of funny stuff happens in Canada."