The B.S. of A. with Brian Sack

The B.S. of A. with Brian Sack was an American sketch comedy series that debuted on TheBlaze on November 11, 2011. Its title came from host Brian Sack’s 2011 book, *The B.S. of A.: A Primer in Politics for the Incredibly Disenchanted*. The show mixed comedic sketches with a “panel of experts”—improvisational actors playing celebrities or absurd characters—who discussed current events. Though it aired on Glenn Beck’s right-wing network, the show mocked politicians across the spectrum. Beck told *The Daily Beast* he approved the show only if Sack didn’t play favorites, saying, “if it deserves to be poked at, poke.”

Jack Helmuth served as show runner and occasional performer, while Sack acted as host, writer, and performer. All cast members came from the Upright Citizens Brigade in New York City. George Lowe, known for voicing *Space Ghost Coast to Coast*, regularly contributed voice work. Full-time staff included Lauren Conlin Adams (writer/performer), Jon Bershad (writer), Caitlin Bitzegaio (writer), Matt Fisher (writer/performer), and César Zamora (writer). Regular performers included Anthony Atamanuik, Jeremy Bent, Lydia Hensler, Langan Kingsley, Molly Lloyd, Tim Martin, Michael Nathanson, Ben Rameaka, Emilea Wilson, and Sasheer Zamata. Atamanuik, who did many impersonations in “The Experts” segment, later played Donald Trump on *The President Show*; Zamata later joined *Saturday Night Live*.

The show lampooned figures like Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, Michael Bloomberg, Newt Gingrich, and Hillary Clinton. Sack particularly targeted “nanny-state” politics, the TSA, mainstream media malfeasance, and executive branch abuses. The show also poked fun at Beck himself: when Beck proposed a conservative amusement park, Sack created a sketch for the fictional “Libertypendence Park.”

Popular sketches included “Fact-Free News Reporting,” where Sack interrupts an interview to wildly speculate on a breaking story; “99 Problems and a Glitch Day One,” about the Affordable Care Act rollout running on an iPad and outsourced to “Bosco from Serbia”; “Security Theater,” an operatic satire of TSA screening; “NSA Funnies,” a *Laugh-In* homage mocking the NSA; “Video Game Violence,” a 1980s parody of panic over video games; “Moving to Canada,” mocking those who threaten to leave after an election; and “You’re Not Hitler,” a song Sack sings to a puppet comparing a mayor to Hitler.

Recurring segments included “Pumpernickel Boulevard,” a parody of *Sesame Street* featuring politically correct left-wing puppets; “The Experts,” a three-person panel of actors playing celebrities or absurd characters (e.g., Batman arguing for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Paul McCartney on cannibalism, Hitler on breastfeeding); “Patriot Kidz,” with Sack as “Liberty the Penguin” and Lauren Adams as a cheerful DHS show host encouraging kids to snitch; “The Best Stuff of America,” where Matt Fisher mused on Americana like mobile homes and baseball; and “The Glenn Beck Show Highlight of the Week,” a brief out-of-context clip making Beck look ridiculous. Every episode also featured a commercial for an “Under-the-Table Sponsor”—a sponsor paid the show directly, outside the network, for an absurd ad over which they had no creative control, often ending with the death of staff member Benjamin Korman.