President Donald Trump is getting his own late-night show on Comedy Central — Anthony Atamanuik as Trump, that is.
The President Show — the new late-night series that was teased by the network last week — is launching as a weekly late-night series on the Viacom-owned network, and will be hosted by comedian and known Trump impersonator Atamanuik, who will lead the show while in character as the president of the United States.
“Just like a certain chief executive in Washington, The President Show gleefully tosses out the rulebook of its predecessors,” said the network of series in a press release on Monday.
The topical, Trump-aimed series will air on Thursdays following The Daily Show with Trevor Noah at 11:30 p.m. ET/PT, premiering on April 27. It will be available to stream the following day on the website and Comedy Central app.
The cabler’s late-night lineup also includes Chris Hardwick’s @midnight, which has been airing in the timeslot left vacant after the August cancelation of Larry Willmore’s The Nightly Show. The topical game show will shift to 12 a.m. on Thursdays and remain in its 11:30 p.m. timeslot Monday through Wednesday.
Created by Atamanuik, the weekly show follows the network’s recent announcement of a 10-episode summer weekly show to be hosted by Jim Jeffries.
“Laughing at the president is a proud American tradition and we hope not to disappoint anyone in that department,” Atamanuik said in a statement. “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!”
On The President Show, Atamanuik’s Trump is set to bypass the “crooked media” by hosting a late-night show direct from the Oval Office. The network describes the series as featuring “no unfair questions from reporters, no awkward photo ops with German ladies and no bedtimes. Just a fun show where he can put his unique Trumpian spin on such late-night staples as desk segments, field pieces and guest interviews.”
Vice President Mike Pence is featured as Trump’s sidekick and will be played by Peter Grosz, an actor and Emmy-winning writer for The Colbert Report.
On Thursday, Comedy Central teased the announcement of The President Show during a stunt that aired during its late-night lineup. Staging a Russian hack, footage broke into The Daily Show and @midnight directing viewers to a Russian domain, which redirected to the new @PresidentShow Twitter account.
@PresidentShow is now confirmed as the official show account, along with the host’s account @LateNightDonald.
The President Show is executive produced by Atamanuik, Grosz, Adam Pally (Making History, The Mindy Project, Happy Endings), Jason Ross (Any Given Wednesday with Bill Simmons, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart), and 3 Arts Entertainment’s Olivia Gerke, Josh Lieberman, and Greg Walter. The series is produced by Pally’s Clone Wolf Productions and directed by Andre Allen.
Atamanuik has brought his Trump impression to a 40-city Trump vs. Bernie tour, sketch specials for Fusion, The Howard Stern Show, ABC’s The View, CNN Newsroom and @midnight when he co-hosted a week-long Trump takeover. His album, Trump Vs. Bernie: Live From Brooklyn, debuted at #1 on iTunes.
Comedy Central released a video teaser of what to expect from Atamanuik’s Trump along with the announcement. In the video (watch above), Trump is being interviewed from Air Force One and says the “failing” network begged him to do the show.
“They unzipped my pants. They got on their knees, it was disgusting,” he says. “And I would get incredible ratings, some of the best ratings, huge ratings. Great ratings, ok? And they’d say, You want to be on the same channel as Noah Trevor, or whatever the guy’s name is. Who cares? Whatever. I said just invite me on and be nice.”
He adds, “I’ll have the best guests, the most beautiful women. It will be so funny, the most funny show.”
.@LateNightDonald makes a surprising announcement. No, he’s not resigning. #PresidentShowpic.twitter.com/9u5toBgxSh
— The President Show (@PresidentShow) April 3, 2017
