Trump vs. Bernie

Trump vs. Bernie is a satirical comedy act created by Anthony Atamanuik and James Adomian that imagines a series of fictional presidential debates between Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders during the 2016 presidential election. 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, 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 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