It was written by series creator and showrunner Charlie Brooker and directed by Bryn Higgins, and first aired on Channel 4 on 25 February 2013.

The episode tells the story of Jamie Salter (Daniel Rigby), an unhappy and disillusioned comedian who plays a blue animated bear called Waldo in a satirical television programme.

Initially based in part on the politician and future British prime minister Boris Johnson, the character of Waldo was widely compared to business magnate Donald Trump following his successful 2016 campaign to become President of the United States.

On a topical comedy show, Jamie Salter (Daniel Rigby) plays Waldo—a vulgar, animated blue bear who interviews public figures under the pretence of a children's television programme.

After Conservative politician Liam Monroe (Tobias Menzies) files a complaint over his interview, a television pilot starring Waldo is commissioned.

Executive Jack Napier (Jason Flemyng) notes that Monroe is standing to become a member of parliament in the by-election for the fictional constituency of Stentonford and Hersham.

Meanwhile, Gwendolyn Harris (Chloe Pirrie) has been chosen as the Labour Party candidate, though the constituency is a safe seat for the Conservatives.

Waldo and the other candidates are invited to a student-organised hustings, in which Monroe details Jamie's mostly unsuccessful television career and derides his message as meaningless.

Afterward, Jack and Jamie meet with American agent Jeff Carter (David Ajala), who talks about the advantages of a cartoon figurehead over a human in spreading political messages abroad.

It aired on Channel 4 on 25 February 2013 at 10 p.m.[1] On 22 January 2013, a trailer for the second series was released, featuring a dream sequence, a factory location and a large dust cloud.

[8] Brooker based Waldo on Ratz, a virtual floating cat head from the first series of 1990s children's show Live & Kicking.

Describing the comedy as "implicit", Higgins aimed to film the episode in the style of a "fairly slick modern thriller".

[9][11][12] It bears similarities to the programme's first episode, "The National Anthem", which also has a storyline where "the political process is subverted by the general public's insatiable appetite for stupidity and scandal", according to Sam Parker of HuffPost.

[12] Serena Davies of The Telegraph commented that the episode was "a mockery of the deeply compromised ideals of modern politics", whilst reminding viewers that politicians are "all we've got".

[13] Morgan Jeffery of Digital Spy analysed that the episode criticises satire and "those who persecute others without having anything meaningful to say",[14] and Emily Yoshida of Grantland believed that it exposed the issues of "cheap humour" being leveraged by politicians.

Brooker described Johnson as "quite a clown", opining that his image "inoculated him from criticism" and set him apart from other politicians, who were seen as "bland robots parroting the same platitudes".

[24] The character of Waldo was also compared to "Professor Pongoo", a candidate in the 2012 Scottish local elections who dressed as a penguin and received more first-preference votes than the Liberal Democrats.

The website's critics consensus reads: "'The Waldo Moment' aims for sharp political commentary, but comes off as uninspired as the obnoxious cartoon that runs for office.

[12] Edwards found the storyline to be predictable and filled with tropes and Parker wrote that the characterisation in the episode was "riddled with stereotypes".

[30] Sims criticised the American think-tank meeting as "the laziest kind of spoofery"[31] and Edwards concurred, calling it "totally unconvincing".

Lambie described it as "sudden" and "on-the-nose",[9] Sims opined that it was "ludicrous",[31] and Jeffery and Davies called it "half-baked" and "hammy", respectively.

[37] Proma Khosla of Mashable ranked the 22 Black Mirror instalments excluding Bandersnatch by tone, concluding that "The Waldo Moment" is the most pessimistic episode of the show.