Comedy Central is launching The President Show, starring comic and Donald Trump impersonator Anthony Atamanuik as the commander-in-chief every Thursday at 11:30 p.m. ET/PT, starting April 27. Peter Grosz co-stars as vice president and late-night sidekick Mike Pence.
“When I was first approached about this show I thought it would be about me, but on further thought, this makes way more sense,” said Kent Alterman, president, Comedy Central.
“Laughing at the President is a proud American tradition and we hope not to disappoint anyone in that department,” Atamanuik said. “But our political system is too broken for us to be content joking about one man, even though he is a disastrous silly little toddler boy. Mostly I’d just like to thank Comedy Central for giving us this platform to speak truth to power and if we’re lucky, end up in prison!”
In The President Show, Trump bypasses the so-called crooked media by hosting a late-night cable TV show direct from the Oval Office, eliminating pesky questions from reporters or obligations to shake hands with intimidating German ladies.
Atamanuik has plenty of experience impersonating Trump. In 2016, he went on a 40-city “Trump vs. Bernie” tour with James Adonian as Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. The two did a comedy album based on the tour, Trump Vs. Bernie: Live From Brooklyn.
Atamanuik played Trump in a week-long takeover of Comedy Central’s @midnight with Chris Hardwick, and performed his solo show, “Trump Dump,” at the UCB New York City theater, SXSW, Moontower Comedy Festival and the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. He’s appeared on XM Sirius’ The Howard Stern Show, ABC’s The View, and CNN Newsroom.
The President Show is produced by Adam Pally’s Clone Wolf Productions and 3 Arts Entertainment. Atamanuik, Peter Grosz, Pally, Jason Ross and 3 Arts’ Olivia Gerke, Josh Lieberman and Greg Walter are executive producers. Andre Allen directs. Sarah Babineau and Ari Pearce are executives in charge of production for Comedy Central.
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