Our Story
Donald Trump won’t be defeated by investigative journalism. He won’t be beaten by incisive op-ed pieces. He won’t be stopped by scandals, exposés, progressive PACs, former prosecutors with permanent residency on MSNBC, books by disloyal former staffers, federal charges of treason, ironclad proof of electoral fraud, massive fines, and jury verdicts in civil rape trials. Even bullets are no match for the Orange One! Trump can’t even defeat himself. How best to deal with this existential threat? With 90 minutes of musical mockery! • The outrageous 83-minute musical comedy Dictator for a Day was written, composed, staffed, cast, choreographed, rehearsed, performed live off-Broadway, filmed in high-def, video and audio edited, and mastered for a total of approximately $100,000. • Despite a well documented politically driven pushback against the entertainment industry by the current administration, as of this June the film has been picked up by the following major platforms: Apple TV, YouTube TV, Google Play, Tubi, Xumo, and JustWatch. These platforms reach a cumulative total of over a billion households nationally and worldwide. • Dictator for a Day, an irreverent spoof of everything MAGA and beyond, not only captures the absolute madness of today's political scene, but predicted most of it, from the new kleptocracy, to the endless assault on civil rights, to government by reprisal, and much, much more. The show has accomplished this with the best Trump impressionist on the planet, J-L Cauvin, and nearly a dozen songs in as many genres with hooks so biting they cannot be forgotten. • Dictator for a Day is not just a comedy, it's therapy. As such, the show is in a unique position to go viral and capture hearts and minds leading up to what is, to date, the most important election in American history. • The producers of Dictator for a Day have begun a successful test marketing program that includes moderate buys through connected TV advertising, frequent posting of key clips from the show across social media, press releases through multiple wire services, and reaching out to well matched podcasts. • The producers, who have so far accomplished the impossible on a shoestring budget, are seeking an investor to fully fund and supercharge their current marketing program. The forthcoming marketing program will allow the producers to retain a well positioned, successful media marketing firm in order to achieve significant traction well beyond the capability and reach of current in-house efforts.
Our Team
Rich Herschlag
Composer/Co-Author/Producer
Rich Herschlag has written and published a dozen books and toured the country repeatedly via radio and on foot spreading the word. His book, "Punk Rock Blitzkrieg" (Touchstone, 2015), was written with Marky Ramone and is the legendary drummer’s outrageous ultimate inside look at the beginnings of punk rock and the evolution of the seminal band that made it all possible. The book spent three weeks on The New York Times Best Sellers list.
Rich Herschlag has been both a professional writer and musician for many years and was a stand-up comic for a few of those years. His background in performance has steered his writing toward creating narration and dialogue the reader can almost literally hear.
Thomas Ryan Ward
Producer/Director
Thomas "Ryan" Ward is a stage and independent film producer/director and performer, published playwright, and new-works collaborator. His collaborators include Fortune 500 CEOs and Academy Award Winners, talented Filmmakers, Actors and Writers (see GBP), and most importantly the amazing Creators he has worked with for over 20 years with people with physical and learning differences through Arts Access South Carolina (formerly the Kennedy Center's VSA program). Ryan is extremely proud of the DFAD Cast, Crew and Production Team who have given their all to make Rich's whacky creations come to life!
J-L Cauvin
Producer/Lead Producers
J-L Cauvin is a veteran stand-up comedian who became an Internet sensation with over 50 million views of his political impersonations and sketch videos since 2020. He has been seen and heard on The Late Late Show, Howard Stern, Marc Maron's WTF podcast, The Adam Carolla Show and ESPN radio. He has 8 stand-up albums to his credit, 2 weekly podcasts (Making Podcasts Great Again (as Trump) and Rain on Your Parade) and in 2022 made his TV acting debut on Showtime's Billions (Darren Russakoff). In 2023 J-L released his first stand-up special, TALL BOY, and since April 2024, his second special, HALF-BLACKFACE, which delves into his half-Haitian, half-Irish background, has been streaming on Amazon Prime. Check out more at JLCauvin.com
Rory Scholl
"Singing/Dancing Trump"
Rory Scholl is very excited to be part of the great cast and crew of Dictator For A Day. He is a comic and storyteller and a best selling humorist with his short story Black Sheep as part of the Amazon Storyteller Collection. He is a Moth story slam winner and a frequent guest on the RISK podcast. Rory was in the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway show Help by Claudia Rankine at the Shed, and was Julius in the Off-Broadway play Mallorca by Newhart writer Sheldon Bull. Rory has been on The Marvelous Ms Maisel, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, CNN and on the hidden camera show Crowd Control on NatGeo.
Sammy "The Deuce" Kassin
Bernie Sanders & Others
Sammy “The Deuce” is an extremely talented actor and impressionist with over 70 original characters and celebrity impersonations in his repertoire such as Jackie Mason, Anthony Cuomo, Bernie Sanders, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, Joe Biden, Marv Albert and many more.
He will be starring in a one man tribute show to comedy legend Jackie Mason in Florida. Aside from being a star of screen and stage, The Deuce currently entertains at Clubs, Charity Events, Business Meetings, Weddings, Corporate Events, Parties, and he does TV commercials and voiceover work as well.