How the Ukrainian President Went from Comedy Star to Wartime Leader

Long before Volodymyr Zelenskyy became a symbol of the struggle for democracy, he was a Ukrainian comic who created a television show about a fictional president of Ukraine.

“Servant of the People” is a Ukrainian sitcom about Vasyl Petrovych Goloborodko, a school teacher played by Zelenskyy who is swept into office after a video rant about government corruption goes viral. The show ran for three seasons from 2015-2019, and the real Zelenskyy was elected president just as the show was ending.

Sure, one of the USA’s most beloved presidents used to be an actor, but Ronald Reagan never actually played the president before he ran for office. Zelenskyy went straight from leading his country on “Servant of the People” to leading his country in real life.

If you’re curious about Servant of the People, 23 episodes of the show are now streaming on Netflix. You might need to turn on the English subtitles to watch. The characters speak Russian and there’s not a dubbed English soundtrack, so pay attention.

The show’s most definitely a satire. Zelenskyy also plays Grisha, a low-level government employee who has plastic surgery so he can serve as President Goloborodko’s double. In the show, the president has to negotiate and undermine the oligarchs who control much of his country. It plays as comedy, but the jokes play a little differently now that the real President Zelenskyy’s country is under attack.

If you want to know whether the comedy hits its target, keep in mind that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has demanded that Zelenskyy’s comedy be banned in Russia. He’s also got some issues with Ukrainian-born Russian film producer Alexander Rodnyansky, who made the 2014 satire “Leviathan,” which was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

The Hollywood Reporter obtained a copy of a letter that Shoigu sent to Russian news site The Insider. In his very Russian agitprop way, he attacks the two men in the missive: “As part of a special operation, the Ministry of Defense is taking measures to shape a positive public opinion of Russian citizens in support of the country leaders and the actions of the Russian armed forces.

“At the same time, in the cultural sector of the Russian media space, films and TV programs with the participation of V.A. Zelenskyy continue to be shown, as do the creative projects of a major Ukrainian media manager, A.E. Rodnyansky.

“Popularization of these persons in the current conditions does not contribute to the implementation of decisions taken by the country leaders and the Russian Ministry of Defense. Taking into account the above, I ask you to work through an issue about the exclusion of V.A. Zelenskyy and A.E. Rodnyansky from the cultural agenda of the Russian Federation.”

If you’re looking to learn more about Ukraine and what kind of person Zelenskyy might be, turn to its culture and get a few laughs from “Servant of the People.”

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