Comedy Central has revealed its secret plans for “The President Show,” which it teased last week both on Twitter and in the world’s vaguest press release.
The new weekly, topical series will air on Thursdays after “The Daily Show,” bumping “@midnight” back to actual midnight for the evening. The 11:30 p.m. “President Show” was created by Anthony Atamanuik, who hosts as Donald J. Trump — it’s produced by Adam Pally’s Clone Wolf Productions, as well as 3 Arts Entertainment.
In the world of ‘The President Show,” Trump is bypassing the crooked media by hosting a late-night show direct from the Oval Office per the Viacom cable channel’s description. That means 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 his sidekick, played by Peter Grosz.
Atamanuik has performed his Trump impression on Fusion, “The Howard Stern Show,” “The View,” “CNN Newsroom” and “@midnight.” He’s also done a 40-city “Trump vs. Bernie” tour as the POTUS. The Upright Citizens Brigade alum recurred on “30 Rock” and was a writer for Comedy Central’s 4/20 event series “Time Traveling Bong.”
Grosz hails from iO Theater, a venue for improv in Chicago. His TV credits include “Key & Peele,” “Inside Amy Schumer, “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Veep.” He wrote for “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and “The Colbert Show.”
If successful, Comedy Central will extend “The President Show’s” planned run, but it will not be considered for a daily format, so we’re still awaiting a more permanent replacement for “The Nightly Show.”
“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!”
The announcement for this series follows a similar one for Jim Jeffries’ new late-night half-hour show, which will debut on Comedy Central in the summer.
“The President Show” is executive produced by Atamanuik, Grosz, Pally, Jason Ross, Olivia Gerke, Josh Lieberman, and Greg Walter. The series is directed by Andre Allen. Sarah Babineau and Ari Pearce are the executives in charge of production for Comedy Central.
Watch a teaser above.
“The President Show” premieres on April 27.