Donald Trump Impressionist Anthony Atamanuik To Host Late-Night Comedy Central Series As The Donald

By Nellie Andreeva, Deadline
Published April 3, 2017, 10:49 a.m. ET

After teasing an upcoming new addition to its late-night lineup, The President Show hosted by @LateNightDonald, on Friday, Comedy Central officially announced the series this morning. Created by popular Donald Trump impersonator Anthony Atamanuik and executive produced by Adam Pally (Making History), it will feature Atamanuik hosting as the U.S. President and Peter Grosz as his sidekick, Vice President Mike Pence. (watch a trailer above)

The weekly, topical series will air on Thursdays following The Daily Show with Trevor Noah beginning Thursday, April 27 at 11:30 PM. @midlight, which relocated from midnight to 11:30 PM Monday through Thursday following the cancellation of The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, will move back to midnight on Thursday while remaining at 11:30 PM Monday – Wednesday.

On The President Show, Trump will be bypassing the crooked media by hosting a late-night show direct from the Oval Office. Joined by sidekick Mike Pence, he will put his unique Trumpian spin on such late-night staples as desk segments, field pieces, and guest interviews.

“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 President Show is produced by Pally’s Clone Wolf Productions and 3 Arts Entertainment. It was one of several weekly, late-night series developed at Comedy Central along with the recently greenlighted show hosted by Australian comedian Jim Jefferies, which is expected to air at 10 PM. There are no plans for either to eventually become a nightly program.

“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.

Atamanuik skewered Trump with his impersonation on a nationwide, 40-city “Trump vs. Bernie” tour, as well as in debate and sketch specials for Fusion. His album, Trump Vs. Bernie: Live From Brooklyn, debuted at #1 on iTunes in and was praised as a must-have album for 2016.

He co-hosted a week-long Trump takeover of Comedy Central’s @midnight with Chris Hardwick and also has also performed as Trump multiple times on The Howard Stern Show, ABC’s The View, and CNN Newsroom. He has also performed his solo show “Trump Dump” at the UCB New York City theater, SXSW Festival, and Moontower Comedy Festival.

Atamanuik has been performing and teaching improv at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade for 13 years. He had a recurring role on 30 Rock and recently appeared on Hulu’s Difficult People, and Comedy Central’s Broad City. He was also a writer for Comedy Central’s 4/20 event series Time Traveling Bong.

Peter Grosz began his improv training at iO Chicago and wrote and performed in four reviews on The Second City’s ETC stage. Films include Stranger Than Fiction, Slow Learners and Aardvark and TV credits include Comedy Central’s Key & Peele, Inside Amy Schumer and HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, Vinyl and a recurring role on Veep. He wrote for NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers, received two Emmy Awards for his writing on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report and is a regular panelist on NPR’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me.

The President Show is executive produced by Anthony Atamanuik, Peter Grosz, Adam Pally, Jason Ross (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 directed by Andre Allen.