''Trump vs. Bernie'' is a satirical comedy act created by

Anthony Atamanuik Anthony Atamanuik (; born June 15, 1974) is an American writer, actor, and comedian. He impersonated former U.S. President Donald Trump during the campaign and his presidency, first on the '' Trump vs. Bernie'' debate tour and then on ''The Pres ...

and James Adomian that imagines a series of fictional presidential debates between Donald Trump and

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...

during the

2016 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2016 lists the national/federal elections held in 2016 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *7 January: Kirib ...

. In a deliberately absurd anachronism, "Trump" (Atamanuik) and "Bernie" (Adomian) engage in inter-party debates long before their parties' nominations are decided. Originating in October 2015 as a live sketch at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (UCB) in New York, ''Trump vs. Bernie'' continued throughout the 2016 election season as a 40-city live comedy debate tour and spawned a special one-hour appearance on Comedy Central's

@midnight ''@midnight with Chris Hardwick'' (shortened to and formerly exclusively titled ''@midnight'') was an American late night Internet-themed panel game show, hosted by Chris Hardwick, that aired Monday through Thursday nights between October 21, ...

, two hour-long specials produced for Fusion, and a comedy album released by Comedy Dynamics, along with numerous appearances on news and comedy programs, radio shows, and podcasts.

Background

Adomian began impersonating Sanders in May 2015, making an appearance on Dan Harmon's podcast '' Harmontown'' and in a Funny or Die short with a television debut on a September episode of @midnight. Atamanuik performed as Trump at various improv shows starting in August 2015, resulting in a one-man show at UCB New York entitled "Trump Dump." The duo, having known each other from the improv scene since 2008, connected to stage a fake debate in a one-off live sketch on October 12, 2015 at UCB's stand-up showcase ''"''Whiplash." An edited video of the performance uploaded to YouTube was well-received by websites like

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (P ...

and Daily Dot, which lead to a subsequent show at the New York Comedy Festival, where the "debate" was moderated by The Daily Show correspondent Hasan Minhaj.

''Trump vs. Bernie'' Debate Tour 2016

In January 2016, dates for an initial 12-city US debate tour were announced. Debates were held in Portsmouth and Manchester a day before the

New Hampshire presidential primaries The New Hampshire presidential primary is the first in a series of nationwide party primary elections and the second party contest (the first being the Iowa caucuses) held in the United States every four years as part of the process of choo ...

that both the real Trump and Sanders won. The tour grew to a total of 40 cities and had an international leg in Amsterdam, Dublin, London, and Montreal. Each debate was moderated by a celebrity guest such as Baratunde Thurston, Andy Richter and

Mark Hamill Mark Richard Hamill (; born September 25, 1951) is an American actor and writer. He is known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the ''Star Wars'' film series, beginning with the original 1977 film and subsequently winning three Saturn Awards f ...

. The tour concluded at the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal where Atamanuik and Adomian were honored as two of '' Variety'' magazine's 10 Comics to Watch for 2016.

@midnight guest appearance

On March 23, 2016, @midnight deviated from its usual three-person panel game format to host an hour-long ''Trump vs. Bernie'' debate moderated by host Chris Hardwick. According to Hardwick, a Comedy Central executive present at the taping decided to preempt originally scheduled programming to extend the 30 minute show to an hour because he was so impressed. Billed as "socialist vs. sociopath," the episode was subsequently posted to YouTube and has amassed over 7 million views.

Fusion television specials

On Super Tuesday, the Fusion network ordered an hour-long debate special and hour-long sketch show special based on the act along with digital content that began with a livestream on Fusion's F-Comedy Facebook page later that night.

''Trump vs. Bernie: Debate for America'' (2016)

The debate special aired April 27, 2016. It is moderated by

Paul F. Tompkins Paul Francis Tompkins (born September 12, 1968) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He is known for his work in television on such programs as ''Mr. Show with Bob and David'', ''Real Time with Bill Maher'', and ''Best Week Ever'', later ...

, Brianna Baker, and River Butcher.

Betsy Sodaro Betsy Sodaro is an American actress from the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in Los Angeles. Sodaro is best known for her appearances on comedy programs such as ''Another Period'', '' Duncanville'', '' Clipped'', ''Animal Practice'', '' Nailed ...

plays a protester who heckles Trump throughout the debate. When Sodaro storms the stage, Trump brandishes a gun and shoots her. The special ends with Bernie rushing to Sodaro and tackling Trump.

''Trump vs. Bernie: Shout the Vote!'' (2016)

''Trump vs. Bernie: Shout the Vote!'' aired later the next month on May 11, 2016. Presented as "Loudbox," a cable news program hosted by

Rachel Maddow Rachel Anne Maddow (, ; born April 1, 1973) is an American television news program host and liberal political commentator. Maddow hosts ''The Rachel Maddow Show'', a weekly television show on MSNBC, and serves as the cable network's special eve ...

(Atamanuik) and

Chris Matthews Christopher John Matthews (born December 17, 1945) is an American political commentator, retired talk show host, and author. Matthews hosted his weeknight hour-long talk show, ''Hardball with Chris Matthews'', on America's Talking and later on M ...

(Adomian) with panelists Donna Brazile ( Nicole Byer), Jeb Bush (

Daniel Van Kirk Daniel Van Kirk (born Daniel Nall) is an American comedian, podcast personality, and writer from Rochelle, Illinois. Early life and education Van Kirk earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in theater performance from Roosevelt University. Care ...

), and Ben Carson ( Jerry Minor), the pundits ignore an impending cataclysmic asteroid strike in favor of political optics while throwing to interviews and field pieces with Trump and Bernie. Atamanuik also impersonates alleged serial killer Robert Durst while Adomian plays former Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura.

''Live from Brooklyn'' (comedy album)

Comedy Dynamics released ''Trump vs. Bernie: Live from Brooklyn Starring Anthony Atamanuik and James Adomian'' on July 29, 2016 on vinyl as well as on iTunes and other streaming service

The album featured a tour debate moderated by the HuffPost, Huffington Post's Howard Fineman. It debuted at #5 on Billboard's Comedy Album charts.

Other media appearances

Atamanuik and Adomian promoted the debate tour in character on an episode of '' Comedy Bang! Bang!'' that also features Gilbert Gottfried. On February 12, 2016, a week after the New Hampshire primary, CNN's Brooke Baldwin interviewed Atamanuik and Adomian on

Newsroom A newsroom is the central place where journalists—reporters, editors, and producers, associate producers, news anchors, news designers, photojournalists, videojournalists, associate editor, residence editor, visual text editor, Desk Head, s ...

as if they were the real life candidates. The duo has appeared on The Howard Stern Show twice: first in June 2016 and again after the election of Donald Trump.

Reception

Both Atamanuik and Adomian have received praise for their portrayals. Critic for '' The New York Times''

Jason Zinoman Jason Zinoman (born 1975 or 1976) is an American critic and author. He has written for ''The New York Times'', ''Time Out New York'', '' Vanity Fair'', and ''Slate''. In 2011, he published ''Shock Value'', a non-fiction book about horror films. ...

said of their initial debate, "The best sketch about the current political campaign that I've seen this year was not on ' Saturday Night Live.'" Dan Caffrey of The A.V. Club credits Atamanuik with taking a "psychological approach" with "moments of self-awareness" that allows him explore the emptiness of Trump's soul. Both Salon and Huffington Post called Adomian's Sanders better than Larry David's, which Jené Gutierrez of the Daily Dot attributed to his ability to not only capture the essence of Sanders, but to bolster it with improvisation that "communicates complex issues in an accessible way" and transforms it into "smart and subtly flattering comedy." Comedian Patton Oswalt agreed saying, " ames Adomianand nthony Atamanuikare the scary best at everything. Actor

said of the routine, "Beyond hilarious! On a scale of 1-10, it's an 11! TREMENDOUS Trump. BRILLIANT Bernie."

Aftermath

After the election of Donald Trump, Comedy Central premiered ''The President Show'' on April 27, 2017 as a weekly late-night show starring Atamanuik. Adomian reprised his role as Bernie on an episode of the show as well as on its one-hour special "I Came Up With Christmas."