The West Wing Weekly

Latest Episodes:

3.01: Manchester, Part I Apr 11, 2017

Show notes

The Season Three premiere has a dense script, and an enormous production to match. Josh and Hrishi try to sort their way through it all without making any Freudian slips while talking to each mother.

thewestwingweekly.com/episodes/301

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3.00: Isaac and Ishmael (with Ajay Naidu and Fmr Press Secretary Mike McCurry) Apr 05, 2017

Show notes

This is a controversial episode of The West Wing, and one that falls outside the regular storyline of the show. We hash out our conflicting opinions on it to find some common ground. We're also joined by Ajay Naidu to discuss his role as Rakim Ali. And we talk to former White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry, who is now a Professor of Theology; in the spirit of this episode, it's a Jew, an atheist, and a Methodist having a conversation about religion, politics, and pluralism.

thewestwingweekly.com/episodes/300

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2.22: Two Cathedrals (Part II, with Aaron Sorkin and Kirsten Nelson) Mar 22, 2017

Show notes

Aaron Sorkin joins Josh and Hrishi for our final episode of Season Two, to talk about his experience writing "Two Cathedrals." Plus, Kirsten Nelson (@NelsonKirsten) tells us about playing the role of the young Mrs Landingham.

thewestwingweekly.com/episodes/222-part2

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2.22: Two Cathedrals (Part I, with Lawrence O'Donnell and Mary Graham) Mar 15, 2017

Show notes

We present the first of two episodes of our podcast discussing the Season Two finale. In this episode, we're joined by West Wing writer / producer Lawrence O'Donnell (@Lawrence), aka Jed's father, Headmaster Bartlet. Plus, Mary Graham, author of Presidents' Secrets: The Use and Abuse of Hidden Power tells us all about how presidents have hidden the truth about their health from the American people.

And, introducing the BARTLET SECRETARY NAME GENERATOR.

thewestwingweekly.com/episodes/222-part1

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2.21: 18th and Potomac (with Oliver Platt) Mar 08, 2017

Show notes

It's the penultimate episode of Season 2. Oliver Platt (@OliverPlatt) joins Josh and Hrishi to discuss his role as Oliver Babish.

thewestwingweekly.com/episodes/221

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2.20: The Fall's Gonna Kill You (with Marlee Matlin) Mar 01, 2017

Show notes

Marlee Matlin (@MarleeMatlin) joins Josh and Hrishi to discuss her role as Joey Lucas. Along with her interpreter, Jack Jason (@655Jack), she pranked us pretty badly just before we recorded her interview. Listen for the brutal details of that, plus our discussion of satellites, Sam’s "fair share" of taxes, and our favorite cute will-they-or-won’t-they couple, Ed & Larry.

thewestwingweekly.com/episodes/220

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2.19: Bad Moon Rising Feb 22, 2017

Show notes

Before we get into Oliver Babish and the Big Hammer, and Donna Moss and the Secret Pumpkin, we start with a much needed follow-up to our discussion of autism in 2.17: The Stackhouse Filibuster. Special thanks to Amy and Jill, who were two of the many listeners who sent us messages with concerns about how autism was addressed.

thewestwingweekly.com/episodes/219

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2.18: 17 People (with Richard Schiff, Emily Procter, Rebecca Walker) Feb 15, 2017

Show notes

We've got 7 people for "17 People." Richard Schiff (@Richard_Schiff) talks to us about Toby's journey, and the origins of the Spalding ball. Emily Procter (@emilyprocter) talks to us about Ainsley "spilling coffee" with Sam. Rebecca Walker (@rebeccawalker), one of the actual ERA panelists set to debate Ainsley at Smith, responds to her arguments, along with the President of the ERA Coalition, Jessica Neuwirth. And we get a little insight into a fantastic website dedicated to this episode, seventeenpeople.com, from its creator, Jon White (@jonwhitebriefly).

thewestwingweekly.com/episodes/218

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2.17: The Stackhouse Filibuster (Live with Bradley Whitford) Feb 08, 2017

Show notes

Josh and Hrishi are joined by Bradley Whitford (@WhitfordBradley) for the first-ever live taping of a West Wing Weekly episode, recorded at the Marines' Memorial Theatre in San Francisco at the SF Sketchfest Comedy Festival. We also hear from Dee Perkins and Marc Bernardin, parents of autistic children, about the impact "The Stackhouse Filibuster" had on them.

Check out photos from the taping at thewestwingweekly.com/episodes/217.

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2.16: Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail (with Rob Lowe) Feb 01, 2017

Show notes

Sitting here in the darkness
I’ve gotta post the show
Somebody’s joining us this episode
Somebody named Rob Lowe
We found somebody to explain free trade
Cuz there is so muuuch we don’t knowwww
And we asked Aaron about the song…

It’s the West Wing Weekly (ooh-oo-oooh)
Aaron wrote us baaack!
It’s the West Wing Weekly (ooh-oo-oooh)
How f*$%ing cool is that?
It’s the West Wing Weekly (ooh-oo-oooh)
All the maps are wack
It’s the West Wing Weekly

We're joined by Rob Lowe (@RobLowe) to discuss this episode, which earned him an Emmy nomination. And we welcome back Ben Casselman (@bencasselman), chief economics writer for FiveThirtyEight, to give us some modern context for Toby's line, "Free trade stops wars."

Ooh-oo-oooh!

thewestwingweekly.com/episodes/216

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