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Watch: Bill Hader and Fred Armisen parody 1992 politics as James Carville and George Stephanopoulos

Documentary Now’s next parody target is 1993’s The War Room. Watch an exclusive clip now.

Caroline Framke
Caroline Framke wrote about culture, which usually means television. Also seen @ The A.V. Club, The Atlantic, Complex, Flavorwire, NPR, the fridge to get more seltzer.

IFC’s Documentary Now, a series of documentary parodies that’s equal parts ridiculous and meticulous, returns for its second season on September 14, with even more esoteric references and frighteningly on-point costuming than before.

Season one saw stars Bill Hader and Fred Armisen present their spin on everything from Grey Gardens to The Thin Blue Line, and season two kicks off with a take on 1993’s The War Room, which chronicled Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign.

In the exclusive promo above, you can see how Documentary Now took The War Room and made it into “The Bunker,” focusing on the 1992 Ohio gubernatorial race rather than Clinton’s presidential campaign. Armisen portrays a version of War Room key player George Stephanopoulos as “Alvin Panagoulis, the Boy-Hunk of the Beltway,” while Hader tries James Carville on for size as “Teddy Redbones, the Mississippi Machiavelli.”

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to make fun of politics as the reality of our current presidential election continues to outdo itself. If we’re lucky, though, maybe Documentary Now will run long enough to let us see Hader do his best Tim Kaine, doing his best Donald Trump.

Documentary Now returns for a second season on IFC September 14 at 10 pm.

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