The U.S.A. has elected numerous celebrities and actors into high office, despite not having much of a political career, though we’re pretty good at it. We took the B-movie actor Ronald Reagan, star of She’s Working Her Way Through College, Tugboat Annie Sails Again, and Brother Rat and a Baby, and made him the governor of California and then President of the United States. We elected the wrestler Jesse “The Body” Ventura as governor of Minnesota, before the Saturday Night Live alumnus Al Franken took that spot. Arnold Schwarzenegger was ready to serve, Shirley Temple did a stint, and even Jerry Springer have held political office. Then, of course, there was that other guy in 2016.

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America isn’t the only country to elect these actors and celebrities into office, however. Hell, the Prime Minister of Canada used to be a boxer, the Federal Deputy for Sao Paulo was a porn star, and the Indian parliament is brimming with former Bollywood actors. One country and its president has been in the news quite a bit though, and has a bizarre history which transcends many of the rest.

     Kvartal 95 / Netflix

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy actually got a law degree before pursuing an acting and comedy career. A successful stand-up comic (who actually did stand-up comedy routines in lieu of real campaign rallies during his presidential campaign), Zelenskyy went on to become a beloved figure in the Ukrainian media, competing in and winning their version of Dancing With the Stars to much celebration. Zelenskyy went on to create a production company, Kvartal 95, through which he produced, co-wrote, and starred in many series and films.

Zelenskyy leaned into his charm and popular appeal, spearheading a slew of successful romantic comedies. 8 New Dates, Office Romance: Our Time, I You He She, Love in Vegas, Love in the Big City and it’s sequel, Love in the Big City 2, all feature Zelenskyy at his funny, magnetic, and lady-killing best. He even voiced Paddington Bear in the Ukrainian dubs of Paddington and Paddington 2. When original voice actor Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey) heard it, he said of his performance, “Until today I had no idea who provided the voice of [Paddington Bear] in Ukraine. Speaking for myself, thank you, President Zelenskyy.”

This is not to say that he was without political depth or substance, however. He had been an outspoken critic of the Ukrainian government, and subsequently a popular voice during the 2014 revolutionary actions. Some of his works, like Love in the Big City 2 and In-Laws, were actually banned by the government due to “non-compliance with the provisions of the Law on Cinematography.” Much of this was due, in a tragic bit of irony, to Zelenskyy’s outspoken support of Russians in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Ministry of Culture had been banning artists and art from Russia, even if it was produced in Ukraine. Zelenskyy believed in art and was against censorship, and even had a respect for Russia (despite the two countries’ history), with many of his movies and programs in the Russian language.

The most popular and acclaimed work in Zelenskyy’s acting and producing career has to be Servant of the People, though. This was the point in which Zelenskyy combined his political passion with his comedy and television chops, crafting something that was part Veep, part Curb Your Enthusiasm, and all him. In another massive twist of irony, he plays someone without any political background who, when a video of him goes viral, ends up becoming the President of Ukraine. Four years after the show first aired, the exact same thing would happen to Zelenskyy. The show was such a success that its name was used for the new political party Zelenskyy ran and won under. Netflix is now streaming it.

Servant of the People follows a high-school teacher who is caught on video ranting and raving in profane ways about political corruption in Ukraine. Overnight, this teacher (who lives with his parents) becomes a viral sensation, and a crowdfunding campaign is started by his history class students for him to run for President of Ukraine, against his wishes. The series follows his victory and befuddlement as President, while he actually becomes a pretty good leader who sniffs out corruption in the country and does his best to serve his people.

Since the tragedy of the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine, Servant of the People has become an international sensation, with Netflix streaming the series and multiple countries requesting broadcasting rights. One specific moment of the show, in which Zelenskyy angrily says “Fu**ing Putin,” has gone viral, reminiscent of the character in the show itself.

Clips of the show have racked up millions upon millions of views on YouTube and other platforms, largely thanks to the supreme irony of the whole thing. However, Servant of the People is an actually funny, clever, and inspirational work of art, and sometimes, fortunately, life imitates art.