Must-Watch: Volodymyr Zelensky’s sitcom ‘Servant of the People’
If you haven’t seen it, be sure to soon.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s sitcom Servant of the People popped up (wonderfully) on Netflix before Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and it’s currently on YouTube, as well . If you don’t know the story, before Zelensky became Ukraine’s real-life hero in war, he became the country’s hero in political comedy on TV.
The show packs a powerful backstory for an amazing leader.
After earning a law degree from Kyiv National Economic University, Zelensky went into comedy, producing films, cartoons, and TV shows. He starred in the Ukrainian sitcom Servant of the People, the story of a high school teacher who unexpectedly gets elected president of Ukraine, which turns the country’s political world upside down. The series ran from 2015 to 2019.
In 2018, employees at his production company, Kvartal 95, formed a political party using the TV show’s name. On Dec. 31, 2018, Zelensky announced he was entering the country’s 2019 presidential election. An anti-corruption political outsider both on the TV show and in real life, Zelensky jumped ahead in the polls and wound up winning the election handily.
Zelensky assumed office in May 2019, just five months after announcing his candidacy. Just two months later, the new Ukrainian leader got a phone call from Donald Trump, the infamous “perfect” phone call that got his American counterpart impeached. Trump was illegally withholding $400 million in congressionally mandated military aid, trying to force Zelensky to open a sham investigation into Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
In February of last year, Russia invaded Ukraine and Zelensky has amazingly held his country together. He has become a recognized face and name the world over as he hops from front lines to foreign capitals like London and Washington for meetings with world leaders.
Again, be sure to check out Servant of the People to get a deeper picture into this amazing man.
