| Our Cartoon President | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | |
| Created by |
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| Voices of |
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| Ending theme |
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| Composer | Gabriel Gundacker |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 46(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Producer | Tammy Walters |
| Editors |
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| Running time | 24–43 minutes |
| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | Showtime |
| Release | February 11, 2018 (2018-02-11) – November 8, 2020 (2020-11-08) |
| Related | |
Our Cartoon President is an Americanadultanimatedsatirical television series satirizing thefirst presidency of Donald Trump that premiered on February 11, 2018, and ended on November 8, 2020, onShowtime. The series was created byStephen Colbert,Chris Licht, Matt Lappin, Tim Luecke, andRJ Fried and is based on a recurring segment from Colbert's late-night talk showThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
In August 2019, it was announced that the series had been renewed for a third and final season, which premiered on January 26, 2020.[1]
Our Cartoon President is based on a recurring segment ofStephen Colbert'sThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert. A workplace comedy taking place in theWhite House and other Washington, D.C., locations, the show takes a look at the first presidency ofDonald Trump, his sycophants, his family members, members of Congress, and cable news-based newscasters and political commentators.
The second season introduces the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, as the focus of the show shifts to the2020 election.
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||
| 1 | 17 | February 11, 2018 (2018-02-11) | August 26, 2018 (2018-08-26) | |
| Special | November 4, 2018 (2018-11-04) | |||
| 2 | 10 | May 12, 2019 (2019-05-12) | July 14, 2019 (2019-07-14) | |
| 3 | 18 | January 26, 2020 (2020-01-26) | November 8, 2020 (2020-11-08) | |
The series is a spin-off fromThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert and is produced by an animation studio,Late Night Cartoons, Inc., which, since 2016, had featured a series of sketches featuring an animatedcaricature of Trump designed by Tim Luecke and Rob Chandler, with Cartoon Trump voiced byBrian Stack. The sketches usedAdobe Character Animator to allow Colbert to interact with the character in real-time.[2][3] The character was also featured in an animated short during Colbert's election night special for Showtime.[3][4]
Following the online success of the sketches,Late Show showrunnerChris Licht suggested to Tim Luecke and Matt Lappin that they develop the concept into its own television series. In their pitch to Showtime, Luecke and Lappin described the potential series as a look "behind the scenes at the White House" and that their goal would be to "produce it as quickly as we possibly could so that we could begin to keep up with the news cycle."[5]
On July 27, 2017, Showtime announced that it had greenlit an animated series based on the sketches, with Colbert, Matt Lappin, andChris Licht as executive producers.[2][6] On December 18, 2017, it was announced that the series would premiere on February 11, 2018.[7][8] On March 8, 2018, Showtime announced that they were ordering an additional seven episodes of the series that are set to air during the summer of 2018. This order brought the first season's total of episodes up to seventeen.[9][10] On May 30, 2018, it was announced that the additional seven episodes of season one would premiere on July 15, 2018.[11] On August 22, 2018, it was announced that Showtime had greenlit amidterm elections themedtelevision special from the series titled "Our Cartoon President: Election Special 2018". The episode aired on November 4, 2018, and featured appearances from the cartoon versions of Vladimir Putin, Rudy Giuliani, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama.[12] On January 22, 2019, it was announced that Showtime had renewed the series for a second season consisting of ten episodes.[13] On January 26, 2020, the first part of the third season was aired, consisting of ten more episodes. On July 29, 2020, Showtime announced in a video that the show would be returning on September 20, 2020, with the second half of Season 3, featuring new characters, such as Cartoon Jill Biden, Cartoon Dr. Anthony Fauci, and Cartoon Andrew Cuomo.
Colbert said during the 2020 presidential election that if Trump won a second term, the series would be renewed for a fourth season. However, Trump lost reelection and the series was cancelled after three seasons, with Colbert and the team moving to other projects.[14][15] However, Trump won a second term four years later in 2024.
On December 18, 2017, Showtime released the first teaser trailer for the series.[7][8] On May 30, 2018, a trailer for the additional seven episodes of season one was released.[11] On October 31, 2018, a trailer for the "Our Cartoon President: Election Special 2018" television special was released.[16]
On April 28, 2018, a special three-minute video created by the cast and crew of the series aired during the 2018White House Correspondents Dinner.[17]
On December 18, 2018, the first season was released on DVD byCBS Home Entertainment andParamount Home Media Distribution featuring all eighteen episodes and the mid-term election special. The release also includes numerous bonus features such as episode commentary tracks, a featurette looking at the animation process, footage from the table read for episode eleven, and clips fromThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Stephen Colbert's 2016 Election Special, and The White House Correspondent's Dinner.[18] The second season was released on DVD on October 13, 2020.[19]
The first season ofOur Cartoon President has been met with a mixed to negative response from critics upon its premiere. On thereview aggregation websiteRotten Tomatoes, the first season holds a 32% approval rating with an average rating of 5.17 out of 10 based on 25 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Sugar-coated satire,Our Cartoon President wavers between scathing social criticism and softball slings in a way that's as unsatisfying as it is uncomfortable."[20]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the season a score of 42 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[21]
Jack Nevins ofThe Guardian praised the show, calling it a farce that "nailed the Trump drama," and contrasting the show's surreal workplace comedy approach with the more reality and headline-driven approach of other late night comedy shows.[22] In contrast,USA Today critic Kelly Lawler reviewedOur Cartoon President negatively, describing it as "slight, dated and unsustainable". She also concluded that "Watching one episode is enough to get the point. Watching nine more feels unnecessary."[23] Ben Travers ofIndiewire also reviewed the show unfavorably, calling it "a pointless, unfunny drudge" and criticized it for "humanizing" Trump.[24] In a mixed review, Brian Lowry ofCNN wrote that "WhileOur Cartoon President certainly has its moments, the best news for Showtime might be it's only stuck with this experiment in quick-turnaround animation, at least initially, for 10 weeks." He also said that the show suffered from many of the same problems asThat's My Bush!, a sitcom produced in 2001 satirizing thepresidency of George W. Bush.[25] Matt Wilstein ofThe Daily Beast was more favorable, writing that "The biggest surprise [of the show] is how hilarious it is" and praising the show for being "remarkably adept at boiling down characters to their core traits, from Trump and his family to members of his Cabinet and Congress to the Fox News personalities he spends most of his day watching".[26]
