American Tantrum audiobook

I have never seen Anthony Atamanuik’s Comedy Central television series The President Show; however, judging from Atamanuik’s book, I’m really missing something. American Tantrum, which I was lucky enough to read in the Audible format with Anthony Atamanuik creating a spot-on portrait of Donald Trump, proves beyond hilarious. Atamanuik captures Trump’s patter, self-absorption, lack of focus and incoherence perfectly. Once upon a time, there was a parlor game where you’d see examples of real National Inquirer headlines and mockery headlines from The Onion, and the challenge was to guess which was which. So would it be just as challenging, if we paired real examples of Trump’s babble with Atamanuik’s satirical versions, to decide which was which.Neil Casey, a writer for The President Show and Inside Amy Schumer, does yeoman’s work playing Trump’s idolizing ghost writer, who is putting together a book version of Trump’s “Presidential Archives” so as to have a presidential “library” before President Barack Obama gets his. While I’m sure the book is great, the absolute best way to enjoy American Tantrum: The Donald J. Trump Presidential Archives is by listening to Atamanuik and Casey (along with some guests) send up the foibles of the Trump Administration. It will be the funniest thing you’ve heard in a long, long time.

I honestly cannot sing enough praises to this book. Absolutely brilliant. What a shame it's not a big hit, poor Anthony Atamanuik... He is of course the star of Comedy Central's President Show, and in my view the greatest 45-impersonator out there. It is a crowded field these days, true, but his oddly deep take analyzes this tragical/satirical era like no one else.I have no idea why there's not more President Show (or The Opposition for that matter, but that's a lament for another day), damn you Comedy Central! The premise of American tantrum, is that an editor of a golf magazine is interviewing our illustrious prez for a presidental library pocktbook that needs to come out before Obama's actual presidential library opens. It starts out innocuous enough, this seemingly apolitical fellow as the straight man to Atamanuik's crazed commander-in-chief. In fact, at the start of the book it's pretty funny but not outstanding and one wonders if the joke can be sustained for an entire book. Then, some kind of a plot begins to develop. The interviewer is apparently an alcoholic, and starts to go on his own rants which can get very dark and very racist, and also involve an infidelity episode. I shouldn't say more and spoil it. Then there's the weird Nikola Tesla references which actually taught me a few things. Some of the funniest parts were the calls to various world leaders and business tycoons, with more smart impressions and unique takes on the state of the whole world not just America. I also enjoyed the call to Area 51 and the Illuminati orgy party descriptions. What a wonderful blend of conspiracy theory (JFK stuff there too) and cutting edge topical analysis. And lest I forget, Bannon's "Jack Renegade" stupid action hero self fan fiction makes horrible anti-Semitism a laugh riot! Seriously, this gets the essence of Bannon like you won't believe. As the book comes to a climax, the Mueller and Cohen plot becomes more central. (The messages at his "consulting" firm, ha! Those election recordings, like that tower meeting and other collusions, are both absolutely hilarious and also seem surprisingly probable. The epilogue absolutely blew me away. Like an essay on the darkness of America's soul, exposing what's bigger than who is in office now, the past and future and what to make of humanity's destiny, and then there's the 7-eyed raven. If only it was required reading all through the land... After reading Woodward's book, I needed this. Even though it's comedy, Atamanuik and Casey are as qualified as anyone to frame just how the world works these days. I suppose one could make comparisons to Fire and Fury, in that much of it may not technically be confirmed but there certainly is a feeling of truth in this kinda-historical document. In fact, Anthony Atamanuik has come up with actual predictions in character on multiple occasions. Look it up: he's done ridiculous bits on his show and then they've turned out to come true later. That's how good he is at getting into our demented leader's head. This is a valuable skill. I just wish this book stood out more among all political tomes that swell the bookstore. Lastly, give audiobooks a chance and experience this book by listening. With the prez in character among other great actors, it's basically a comedy album. Which also happens to be the culmination of the legendary President Show.What a ride. Thanks for bringing a smile to my face as I'm crying.Recommended.

Awesome. Surreal, surprising, thoughtful and willing to go very far.

I was a big fan of the sadly ended The President Show, and this book continues the theme from that show. While one would think the Trump era would produce lots of great satire and comedy, that frankly hasn't really been the case. Most of it has been lazy and relies on base observations (Trump is loud! And orange!), and old stalwarts like The Daily Show and, notably, Saturday Night Live, featuring Alec Baldwin's incredibly lousy Trump impression (maybe the worst political impression in SNL's long history) have only disappointed. But Atamanuik is an exception - his impression is not only pitch-perfect, but he finds actual things to say about Trump and his policies, and the state of things that brought his presidency to fruition. Atamanuik and his writers are smart enough to recognize that Trump is less the disease and more its natural symptom, an exaggerated symbol of everything that was already wrong with the country. The book is perhaps not as consistently hilarious as The President Show or Atamanuik's "Trump v. Bernie" debates with James Adomian, but it is still very clever and funny, and is able to dive into areas that the TV series was less able to, such as the media apparatus that enabled Trump's rise. It also allows more time for things like Steve Bannon's deranged novel featuring himself as a character - though fictitious, those chapters aren't all that far from similar writing by right-wing media figures like Ben Shapiro - and extended chats between Trump and the likes of Michael Cohen, Robert Mueller, or the book's fictional "author," a parody of every Joe Scarborough-like media ghoul who sucked up to Trump for years only to realize too late what a fraud he is. I should note that I have only read the printed version, and not listened to the audiobook. If there is one thing this book is sorely lacking, it is the actual delivery of Atamanuik's hilarious Trump impression, but the writing is strong enough to evoke it, and reading one of "Trump's" unhinged rants (sometimes stretching for a couple pages) is often hilarious in print. And obviously, the audio version would presumably give you the full effect. There are however some funny visual elements in the book that you would miss in that format, so you'll have to weigh those. All in all, this is a very funny, entertaining book that gives you more to think about than your average piece of Trump-era satire.

I don’t know anything about Anthony Atamanuik but I heard he was making fun of Trump in his new book and it became a must read for me. The bulk of the book is in transcript format as if someone dictated the conversation between two people. Most of the conversation takes place between a fictitious Trump and his newly appointed fictitious archivist, Kelsey Nelson. The Trump rantings, ravings, and musings are quality stuff.To truly enjoy this book you must read it in Trump’s voice. I don’t mean read out loud in a voice mimicking Trump but reading to yourself imagining Trump saying the Trump lines. It is so much more enjoyable that way and you will have several LOL moments.Like most parodies, while trying to make us laugh it is a hypothetical form of the real thing. Even though these events and conversations never happened no one doubts that they could. As silly as Trump is made to look in this book it is only based upon a public profile he has already given us. Atamanuik took the persona that we all know and gave us the private conversations that very well could have happened and some of them are hilarious.

This is a great book! Atamanuik’s Trump voice is scary accurate. I especially enjoyed the Epilogue section. Good book!

Truth is funnier than fictionYou"'ll laugh a lot while reading this Trump tale--all the while reminding yourself that although this book is hilarious, the truth upon which it is based is not, there is only a fine line between the comedy and tragedy Of this experience.

Absurdly authentic depiction This was a real treat; I suspect the audio version would have been even better. Having enjoyed the television show, I could picture Atamanuik as well as Trump as the character being interviewed.

I am a huge fan of Anthony Atamanuik’s portrayal of Trump in ‘The President Show’ so this political satire written with Neil Casey was a must have. I obtained it in audiobook format as Atamanuik captures Trump’s voice so perfectly. Just hilarious from start to finish.

Very, very funny. I LOL’d.

Pre-ordered this from Amazon.

I have listened to this audiobook at least 10 times it is absolutely brilliant. I've read 75 Trump books - biographies, election books etc - but this is the one that comes closest to getting to the strange madness of Trumpism. Atamanuik brilliantly captures the demented stream of consciousness that is funny and scary all at once. There are so many brilliant scenes: Trump phoning the Mar a Lago restaurant to make sure the waiters are pushing the salad becasue he's always hustling for a buck and then he ends up sleaing onto the guest he gets on the phone. Steve Bannon's idiotic Dan Brown style obsessions are wonderfully parodied.