Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

Watch: what The Producers would look like if it were about accidentally electing Donald Trump

“Trumped”: a musical comedy about the 2016 presidential race.

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.

If you left your television on after the Oscars — like I did — you might have been pleasantly surprised by Jimmy Kimmel’s live aftershow, which delivered a pitch-perfect spoof of The Producers courtesy of Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick.

Lane and Broderick — who played The Producers‘ Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom on Broadway and in the 2005 film remake of Mel Brooks’s 1967 film — remained in character throughout their appearance in a skit titled “Trumped.” Where the movies followed Max and Leo as they tried to sink a musical to pocket their investors’ money, the Kimmel bit put them in the same producer roles, but in a decidedly more impactful “show”: the 2016 presidential campaign.

Brooks’s version had Max and Leo staging a musical called Springtime for Hitler with the intent of driving audiences away, only to lure them in with its absurdity. Kimmel’s version sees Max and Leo putting up Donald Trump as the Republican presidential nominee, aiming to solicit money from investors in exchange for ambassadorships to Italy, Sweden, or Armenia. “Then, when the public realizes what a nutcase our guy is,” Broderick’s Leo says in excitement, “he drops out of the race—”

“—and we keep all the dough,” replies Lane’s Max, thrilled.

But of course, this plan backfires spectacularly as Trump goes on to sweep the primaries — even though he is what Max calls “the worst candidate in history.”

“Trumped” is a savvy take on The Producers, but even more than that, it’s a sobering look at just how far Trump has made it in the race for the Republican nod, relying on seemingly nonsensical speeches and racism as his driving forces. The bombastic hilarity that once seemed so ridiculous in The Producers is, apparently, more real today than ever.

More in Culture

Life
What is an aging face supposed to look like?What is an aging face supposed to look like?
Life

When bodies and appearances are malleable, what does that mean for the person underneath?

By Allie Volpe
Video
What would J.R.R. Tolkien think of Palantir?What would J.R.R. Tolkien think of Palantir?
Play
Video

How The Lord of the Rings lore helps explain the mysterious tech company.

By Benjamin Stephen
Climate
The climate crisis is coming for your groceriesThe climate crisis is coming for your groceries
Climate

Extreme heat is already wiping out soy, coffee, berries, and Christmas trees. Farm animals and humans are suffering too.

By Ayurella Horn-Muller
Future Perfect
The surprisingly strong case for feeling great about your coffee habitThe surprisingly strong case for feeling great about your coffee habit
Future Perfect

Your morning coffee is one of modern life’s underrated miracles.

By Bryan Walsh
Good Medicine
Do health influencers actually know what they’re talking about?Do health influencers actually know what they’re talking about?
Good Medicine

Most health influencers don’t have real credentials — but they are more influential than ever.

By Dylan Scott
Life
Why banning kids from AI isn’t the answerWhy banning kids from AI isn’t the answer
Life

What kids really need in the age of artificial intelligence.

By Anna North