18 - Veep

WEBVTT
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.740
Welcome back. David, how are you doing? I am
00:00:04.740 --> 00:00:06.980
doing so well. I just got back from a little
00:00:06.980 --> 00:00:10.599
vacation in a city that I'm told is one of your
00:00:10.599 --> 00:00:12.679
favorites. Oh, absolutely. It definitely is.
00:00:14.619 --> 00:00:21.980
I got back from San Francisco. What'd you think?
00:00:22.140 --> 00:00:25.760
And I did not bring home any rice -a -roni. Do
00:00:25.760 --> 00:00:28.739
you remember rice -a -roni? I do. Is that located?
00:00:29.719 --> 00:00:33.280
I'd quartered there. That was their tagline,
00:00:33.299 --> 00:00:36.240
the San Francisco treat. Oh, interesting. I did
00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:38.679
not know that. You learn something new every
00:00:38.679 --> 00:00:41.939
day. I always felt like there was a lot of regional
00:00:41.939 --> 00:00:46.560
pride in like Instant Rice. Remember Zatarain?
00:00:46.659 --> 00:00:49.039
Yes. That was another one. Yes. And they were
00:00:49.039 --> 00:00:55.460
New Orleans. But yeah, I loved San Francisco.
00:00:56.500 --> 00:01:02.140
Wonderful. Natural beauty, wonderful public spaces,
00:01:02.280 --> 00:01:05.340
fantastic food, and really wonderful people.
00:01:05.400 --> 00:01:08.700
I got to be around so many wonderful people there
00:01:08.700 --> 00:01:11.079
who were so very kind and gracious with their
00:01:11.079 --> 00:01:13.299
time. How are you doing, Krista? I couldn't agree
00:01:13.299 --> 00:01:14.980
more with San Francisco, too. And if we ever
00:01:14.980 --> 00:01:17.980
did a MIDS tour, a podcast tour, San Francisco
00:01:17.980 --> 00:01:21.859
would have to be on the tour for me. So if we
00:01:21.859 --> 00:01:23.799
have any listeners in San Francisco, shout out
00:01:23.799 --> 00:01:27.000
to you all. Great city, great people. I'm doing
00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:30.599
well, David. Two weeks ago, we recorded an episode
00:01:30.599 --> 00:01:33.939
that came out today on January 28th, which is
00:01:33.939 --> 00:01:36.959
Stranger Things. And I told you that we were
00:01:36.959 --> 00:01:39.260
supposed to be getting a snowstorm. Well, in
00:01:39.260 --> 00:01:42.099
the last two weeks, I think we've had, honestly,
00:01:42.219 --> 00:01:45.760
probably six storms. We have so much snow. It's
00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:48.239
been brutally cold. It's something I know this
00:01:48.239 --> 00:01:51.879
last ice cold storm has hit most of the United
00:01:51.879 --> 00:01:55.900
States, really. But yesterday, Joe and I went
00:01:55.900 --> 00:01:59.359
to the grocery store. And where the plows push
00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:02.019
snow to the side of the road, these mounds on
00:02:02.019 --> 00:02:04.540
our side of the roads are at least five feet
00:02:04.540 --> 00:02:07.780
tall, I think, in some spots. Wow. There is just
00:02:07.780 --> 00:02:10.680
a lot of snow. So I have no idea when it's going
00:02:10.680 --> 00:02:12.699
to melt. I don't know if it's even going to be
00:02:12.699 --> 00:02:15.120
warm enough to melt soon. We've been in single
00:02:15.120 --> 00:02:18.259
digits for a while, with wind especially. So
00:02:18.259 --> 00:02:21.539
I hope everyone is staying warm out there. That's
00:02:21.539 --> 00:02:25.509
my message for you. You know, I've been keeping
00:02:25.509 --> 00:02:28.810
up with the snow storms in the East Coast generally,
00:02:28.849 --> 00:02:33.990
and I've noted that the young mayoral administration
00:02:33.990 --> 00:02:39.590
in New York City is very active in keeping people
00:02:39.590 --> 00:02:42.610
informed and plowing the streets. And that kind
00:02:42.610 --> 00:02:46.590
of makes me wonder, would a Selina Myers, Myers
00:02:46.590 --> 00:02:52.150
or Meyer? I think, would a Selina Meyer administration
00:02:52.150 --> 00:02:56.590
have the energy and care that it takes to manage
00:02:56.590 --> 00:02:58.969
a snowstorm well? I love that question. I love
00:02:58.969 --> 00:03:01.969
how that leads into today's episode. Does anyone,
00:03:02.189 --> 00:03:03.569
if you're listening, I don't know if you know
00:03:03.569 --> 00:03:06.069
who Selina Meyer is or what episode or what television
00:03:06.069 --> 00:03:09.629
show she's from, but she's from a show called
00:03:09.629 --> 00:03:15.909
Veep. Veep. Which ran on HBO from 2012 to 2019,
00:03:16.310 --> 00:03:21.500
seven seasons. It is a satire sitcom following
00:03:21.500 --> 00:03:25.000
the vice president of the US. David, what's your
00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:29.939
familiarity with Veep, the show? Before today,
00:03:30.039 --> 00:03:34.180
I had actually only seen one episode. Wow. But
00:03:34.180 --> 00:03:38.340
I'm a big fan of Armando Iannucci, who created...
00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:42.979
the show um he's he's done satire satirical uh
00:03:42.979 --> 00:03:46.620
films like death of stalin in the loop and i
00:03:46.620 --> 00:03:50.659
just love that uh there's a focus on on the comedy
00:03:50.659 --> 00:03:53.139
and the farce that can kind of come from bureaucracy
00:03:53.139 --> 00:03:57.360
and political workplaces and and public policy
00:03:57.360 --> 00:04:01.879
so i'm yeah this is a show that i i loved the
00:04:01.879 --> 00:04:04.139
episode that i saw before i will get into how
00:04:04.139 --> 00:04:07.560
i felt about today's episode but it's it's surprising
00:04:07.560 --> 00:04:11.580
to me that i haven't seen more of this uh i don't
00:04:11.580 --> 00:04:15.060
know if it's just i have a difficult time picking
00:04:15.060 --> 00:04:17.100
shows to watch and sticking with them which i
00:04:17.100 --> 00:04:19.220
think might have been the impetus of even creating
00:04:19.220 --> 00:04:22.600
this podcast but that's my familiarity krista
00:04:22.600 --> 00:04:25.680
what is yours this is so interesting also very
00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:31.120
little new julia is it lou louis julia louis
00:04:31.769 --> 00:04:34.050
Julia Louis -Dreyfus. I'm not even gonna be able
00:04:34.050 --> 00:04:36.529
to say that. I knew that she was in the show.
00:04:37.370 --> 00:04:40.970
I know that many people over life have recommended
00:04:40.970 --> 00:04:44.029
this show to me, especially in similar circles
00:04:44.029 --> 00:04:46.750
that we've run, David, which we'll get into a
00:04:46.750 --> 00:04:49.689
little bit later in the show. But going into
00:04:49.689 --> 00:04:51.629
this, I felt as though it's something that I
00:04:51.629 --> 00:04:55.209
would enjoy watching. And I almost felt like,
00:04:55.209 --> 00:04:57.129
is this going to be a show that I'm going to
00:04:57.129 --> 00:04:59.649
start watching after today's? episode which we'll
00:04:59.649 --> 00:05:02.990
get into later um but so very little similar
00:05:02.990 --> 00:05:06.709
familiarity but excited to watch it and i just
00:05:06.709 --> 00:05:08.790
want to mention that we chose this show because
00:05:08.790 --> 00:05:11.089
president's day will be coming up shortly after
00:05:11.089 --> 00:05:14.209
this episode airs so i don't know if you do anything
00:05:14.209 --> 00:05:16.269
fun for president's day but happy president's
00:05:16.269 --> 00:05:19.350
day to everyone listening who's uh do you have
00:05:19.350 --> 00:05:22.889
like any historical presidents that you consider
00:05:22.889 --> 00:05:26.850
among your favorites uh i do harry truman um
00:05:26.850 --> 00:05:32.139
i a lot of research into him for my undergraduate
00:05:32.139 --> 00:05:37.399
thesis so i really enjoyed some of his um some
00:05:37.399 --> 00:05:40.660
of his politics but more like the way he approached
00:05:40.660 --> 00:05:45.560
um his presidency a lot of civic engagement type
00:05:45.560 --> 00:05:49.060
lenses which is you know my my peanut butter
00:05:49.060 --> 00:05:52.560
and jelly i guess um is that what they say what
00:05:52.560 --> 00:05:54.079
do you mean by that i don't know isn't that what
00:05:54.079 --> 00:05:57.220
they say my jam i can't So I just went. Oh, you're
00:05:57.220 --> 00:06:00.139
jam, you're jam. Okay, I thought you were going,
00:06:00.259 --> 00:06:02.800
since we're in this old workplace mode, I was
00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:06.259
thinking, do people in your line of work ever
00:06:06.259 --> 00:06:09.279
say special sauce or secret sauce? Secret sauce,
00:06:09.399 --> 00:06:13.819
not special sauce. Yeah, they're like a consultant,
00:06:13.879 --> 00:06:18.079
but like, you know what? I think, honesty, that's
00:06:18.079 --> 00:06:21.680
your secret sauce or special sauce. It's like,
00:06:21.680 --> 00:06:23.839
what? David, there could be a little bit of a
00:06:23.839 --> 00:06:26.399
secret sauce in this episode. I'm just kidding.
00:06:28.620 --> 00:06:34.819
Oh. Oh. I mean, that's like, if they were talking
00:06:34.819 --> 00:06:36.439
about secret sauce in this episode, that would
00:06:36.439 --> 00:06:40.139
be a very interesting secret sauce. Jeez, Lou.
00:06:40.699 --> 00:06:43.660
What were we talking about? Truman. Truman. Did
00:06:43.660 --> 00:06:46.480
you see Oppenheimer? There's one scene with Truman.
00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:49.019
I don't watch movies, but I did watch Oppenheimer.
00:06:49.180 --> 00:06:54.259
So, yeah, I vaguely remember that scene. Who's
00:06:54.259 --> 00:06:56.060
your favorite president? Do you have one? One
00:06:56.060 --> 00:06:58.680
of your favorites? Lincoln. Yeah, that's a good
00:06:58.680 --> 00:07:01.379
one. It's Lincoln. I have a little Lincoln statue
00:07:01.379 --> 00:07:05.060
in this room, actually. Or not statue, but a
00:07:05.060 --> 00:07:07.399
little desk. Yeah, I guess kind of a desk. David,
00:07:07.420 --> 00:07:10.199
have you ever been to the Lincoln Memorial in
00:07:10.199 --> 00:07:14.199
Washington, D .C.? I have been to the Lincoln
00:07:14.199 --> 00:07:16.939
Memorial. In fact, when I lived in the region,
00:07:17.019 --> 00:07:21.800
that was the last thing I visited right after.
00:07:22.300 --> 00:07:24.160
I went to Ben's Chili Bowl. Ben's Chili Bowl.
00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:26.980
Before I moved out of the area. Shout out to
00:07:26.980 --> 00:07:29.339
Ben's Chili Bowl. Yeah. Ben's Chili Bowl. If
00:07:29.339 --> 00:07:31.160
you would love to sponsor us, please let us know
00:07:31.160 --> 00:07:35.360
in the MIDS podcast email. Yeah. Shout out to
00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:37.800
Virginia Ali. I know she's a big listener of
00:07:37.800 --> 00:07:40.600
this show, but yeah, please, please, Virginia,
00:07:40.660 --> 00:07:43.459
sponsor us. Well, let's jump in if you're ready.
00:07:44.980 --> 00:07:48.790
What's your familiarity with MIDS? I mean, what's
00:07:48.790 --> 00:07:50.769
your familiarity with Washington, D .C.? I'm
00:07:50.769 --> 00:07:55.970
a myth podcast host. Oh, no. I'm sure we've mentioned
00:07:55.970 --> 00:08:01.050
this 18 episodes in. David and I both met while
00:08:01.050 --> 00:08:04.889
we were in Washington, D .C. living. So a lot
00:08:04.889 --> 00:08:07.110
of familiarity with the city and the surrounding
00:08:07.110 --> 00:08:11.399
area. And, you know, we'll talk a little bit
00:08:11.399 --> 00:08:13.399
more about it. I think that makes both of us
00:08:13.399 --> 00:08:15.600
have a unique perspective on this episode and
00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:18.379
this show. Because we both kind of ran in some,
00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:22.199
I don't know, I mean, not directly the Veep office,
00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:26.720
but different circles where some of this dialogue
00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:31.959
feels familiar to us. So I'm going to jump in,
00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:34.460
if you're cool with it, to talk about Veep. Jump
00:08:34.460 --> 00:08:39.009
right in. So basically the show follows... A
00:08:39.009 --> 00:08:41.149
vice president, which is why it's called Veep
00:08:41.149 --> 00:08:43.929
for those who didn't know, named Selina Meyer.
00:08:44.409 --> 00:08:47.470
And this episode specifically follows her on
00:08:47.470 --> 00:08:50.769
what seems to be the beginning stages of her
00:08:50.769 --> 00:08:53.850
presidential campaign. She's trying to decide
00:08:53.850 --> 00:08:56.769
who should be her campaign manager, an outside
00:08:56.769 --> 00:09:01.159
source or an internal candidate. Also throughout
00:09:01.159 --> 00:09:04.019
the episode, we get more information about some
00:09:04.019 --> 00:09:06.659
of the other folks who might be running for president
00:09:06.659 --> 00:09:10.000
and kind of what their strengths may be. So the
00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:13.259
episode starts out at campaign headquarters and
00:09:13.259 --> 00:09:16.759
staffers are providing updates and tips to others.
00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:19.600
Obviously, Meyers coming in. I think there may
00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:21.600
be volunteers, campaign staff. We're not really
00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:25.820
entirely sure. But the team finds out here that
00:09:25.820 --> 00:09:29.740
a man named Joe Thornhill is running. And he's
00:09:29.740 --> 00:09:33.679
an ex -MLB manager who is about to brand himself
00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:36.500
as the common man, not one of those politicians.
00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:40.259
And he says, you know, I've ran a baseball team.
00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:45.200
It's very similar to running the country. For
00:09:45.200 --> 00:09:50.139
me, this moment feels very 2014. This is two
00:09:50.139 --> 00:09:52.779
years. Oh, how's that? I thought this is very
00:09:52.779 --> 00:09:57.000
pre -2016 election. I mean, this feels like Trump
00:09:57.000 --> 00:09:59.580
saying in 2014, like, I'm a businessman. I'm
00:09:59.580 --> 00:10:02.059
not a politician. The country is a business.
00:10:02.179 --> 00:10:04.840
I'm going to run it similarly. So to me, it felt
00:10:04.840 --> 00:10:08.980
very similar in that sense. But yeah, just kind
00:10:08.980 --> 00:10:12.200
of that outside voice that we, you know, people
00:10:12.200 --> 00:10:17.200
try to captivate in elections. Yeah, no, you're
00:10:17.200 --> 00:10:19.860
so right. I mean, we have former... University
00:10:19.860 --> 00:10:22.539
of Tennessee coach Derek Dooley running for the
00:10:22.539 --> 00:10:29.539
Senate in Georgia. We have a former Auburn coach,
00:10:29.860 --> 00:10:33.860
Tommy Tuberville, in the Senate right now from
00:10:33.860 --> 00:10:37.500
Alabama. So there's certainly a precedence for
00:10:37.500 --> 00:10:39.899
this sort of thing. For president, though, the
00:10:39.899 --> 00:10:43.460
jump from major league manager to president would
00:10:43.460 --> 00:10:49.250
be an interesting one. Roberts retires from the
00:10:49.250 --> 00:10:52.710
Dodgers. I would love to see what kind of job
00:10:52.710 --> 00:10:55.529
he would do in the White House. So on this scene,
00:10:55.570 --> 00:10:57.970
I want to point out that one of the first staffers
00:10:57.970 --> 00:11:01.250
we see is a character named Ken, who was played
00:11:01.250 --> 00:11:04.870
by Kent Davison, who actually played the vice
00:11:04.870 --> 00:11:09.169
president in the West Wing. So kind of a fun,
00:11:09.169 --> 00:11:11.710
fun casting there. And, you know, I have not
00:11:11.710 --> 00:11:14.169
watched all of the West Wing. I watched a few
00:11:14.169 --> 00:11:17.429
seasons. Um, I just, it's a lot to get through.
00:11:17.490 --> 00:11:19.929
It's all you need. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Um,
00:11:20.029 --> 00:11:22.190
which I think we eventually will do the West
00:11:22.190 --> 00:11:23.830
Wing on this show. I think it would be a great
00:11:23.830 --> 00:11:25.809
episode to do. We have some, I have some great
00:11:25.809 --> 00:11:28.129
guests in mind for that, for that episode. Yeah.
00:11:28.250 --> 00:11:32.049
So Selena makes a quick little speech about starting
00:11:32.049 --> 00:11:34.289
off on a, with a single step in her campaign
00:11:34.289 --> 00:11:37.269
and like kind of takes a step off a little, I
00:11:37.269 --> 00:11:39.809
don't know. Off of a little post. Yeah. Yeah.
00:11:40.230 --> 00:11:42.750
Which kind of sets the tone for me of like what.
00:11:43.300 --> 00:11:47.080
type of satire and comedy is about to you know
00:11:47.080 --> 00:11:50.279
ensue in the show that felt so real to me bringing
00:11:50.279 --> 00:11:53.019
out the tiny stool for her to step on to give
00:11:53.019 --> 00:11:56.980
a speech in a little in an office i i felt very
00:11:56.980 --> 00:12:00.279
much like i've i've not been in a situation where
00:12:00.279 --> 00:12:02.419
i've had to fetch that stool for someone but
00:12:02.419 --> 00:12:05.460
at least in positions i've been in i've had that
00:12:05.460 --> 00:12:07.740
thought like are they gonna want a stool and
00:12:07.740 --> 00:12:11.879
for me I think I've been even more so in positions
00:12:11.879 --> 00:12:16.019
where someone will have this, this object. That's
00:12:16.019 --> 00:12:19.580
a very day to day. And they almost make like
00:12:19.580 --> 00:12:22.179
an entire campaign about it or like a speech
00:12:22.179 --> 00:12:23.779
about it. And it, you know, it'll be like, here's
00:12:23.779 --> 00:12:26.240
this water bottle. And then, you know, they do
00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:27.480
their whole thing and they circle back to the
00:12:27.480 --> 00:12:29.159
water bottle at the end or, you know, whatever
00:12:29.159 --> 00:12:31.019
it is. I think that's really common. Do you like
00:12:31.019 --> 00:12:37.539
that? I want to like it more than I do. I think.
00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:40.659
sometimes it works really well but oftentimes
00:12:40.659 --> 00:12:45.480
it it doesn't i you know i have one example that
00:12:45.480 --> 00:12:48.700
i do like really well which was the theme of
00:12:48.700 --> 00:12:51.759
a few years back the buffalo bills had former
00:12:51.759 --> 00:12:54.960
head coach sean mcdermott had an entire kind
00:12:54.960 --> 00:12:59.500
of brand about oh the no no I honestly forget
00:12:59.500 --> 00:13:03.039
that that happened. No, Brandon defended our
00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:05.460
dirt. So the idea is dirt, right? And it's your
00:13:05.460 --> 00:13:08.419
home field. And, you know, he carried that through
00:13:08.419 --> 00:13:11.500
many seasons. And that's why, you know, we were
00:13:11.500 --> 00:13:13.879
like undefeated at home for many years. But even
00:13:13.879 --> 00:13:16.940
so, there was dirt. He took dirt from the field
00:13:16.940 --> 00:13:19.220
and put it in each person's locker as a reminder
00:13:19.220 --> 00:13:20.840
before the game that, you know, you're going
00:13:20.840 --> 00:13:23.450
to be defending your dirt. it was a lot about
00:13:23.450 --> 00:13:25.529
dirt and grit and it really like signified a
00:13:25.529 --> 00:13:27.509
lot about Buffalo and it worked well, but I think
00:13:27.509 --> 00:13:29.350
sometimes people try to like push it a little
00:13:29.350 --> 00:13:31.350
far. Like it doesn't work as well. It's like
00:13:31.350 --> 00:13:33.710
too, it's not as natural. And that's where I'm
00:13:33.710 --> 00:13:36.049
like, this feels a little cheesy. It's going
00:13:36.049 --> 00:13:39.090
to convince some people, but all you need is
00:13:39.090 --> 00:13:41.470
for it to convince some people. Cause I've definitely
00:13:41.470 --> 00:13:43.950
been in, in, you know, in that space where I'm
00:13:43.950 --> 00:13:46.850
like, this is just not working on me as a motivational
00:13:46.850 --> 00:13:49.230
thing, but I can see that it's working on others.
00:13:49.309 --> 00:13:51.539
So I'm going to. play along yeah that kind of
00:13:51.539 --> 00:13:54.080
reminds me i remember i think it was the head
00:13:54.080 --> 00:13:57.000
coach for george mason another another local
00:13:57.000 --> 00:13:59.759
dc area uh i think it was their men's basketball
00:13:59.759 --> 00:14:02.259
coach they were in the tournament and they were
00:14:02.259 --> 00:14:05.460
playing notre dame or somebody who was highly
00:14:05.460 --> 00:14:08.500
favored and you know a perennial participant
00:14:08.500 --> 00:14:10.820
in the tournament. And to psych his team up,
00:14:10.940 --> 00:14:13.320
I think he took like the picture of their logo
00:14:13.320 --> 00:14:16.259
and did like some sort of magic trick or ripped
00:14:16.259 --> 00:14:18.059
it up. He said like, we're gonna make them disappear
00:14:18.059 --> 00:14:21.059
something. And it's like, dang, like, I feel
00:14:21.059 --> 00:14:22.980
like you need something in your back pocket sometimes
00:14:22.980 --> 00:14:25.820
to get people to really believe in themselves.
00:14:26.159 --> 00:14:27.860
Yeah. And that's what this is about, right? Is
00:14:27.860 --> 00:14:31.700
believing in your leader, your boss, this campaign
00:14:31.700 --> 00:14:35.519
message, whatever it is. But in order to run
00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:39.460
this campaign, Selena needs a campaign manager.
00:14:40.179 --> 00:14:45.559
Manager. And she quickly has or goes to a meeting
00:14:45.559 --> 00:14:48.360
with someone she's meeting with named Bill Erickson,
00:14:48.440 --> 00:14:54.779
who is played by. And Diedrich Bader, who I recognized
00:14:54.779 --> 00:14:57.879
immediately. I thought he was in a lot of things.
00:14:57.879 --> 00:14:59.639
And I think he is like a supporting character
00:14:59.639 --> 00:15:02.139
in a lot of different shows. I noticed him from
00:15:02.139 --> 00:15:05.700
another DC -based TV show that I love, Bones.
00:15:05.700 --> 00:15:08.539
Whose line is it anyway? No. Oh, he was in Bones?
00:15:08.539 --> 00:15:11.080
He was in only three episodes of Bones, y 'all.
00:15:11.220 --> 00:15:14.279
Which, that's why I, that shows you how many
00:15:14.279 --> 00:15:16.320
times I've watched Bones. Because immediately
00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:18.480
I was like, yo, I know exactly who this is. And
00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:20.799
Joe watched Veep with me. And he was like, oh,
00:15:20.860 --> 00:15:22.399
he was in Bones. And I was like, oh, yeah, I
00:15:22.399 --> 00:15:24.379
know exactly who he is. He's Booth's partner,
00:15:24.600 --> 00:15:26.299
Brennan Dates. I'm like, he didn't even need
00:15:26.299 --> 00:15:28.019
to tell me the name. Like, I immediately knew,
00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:30.440
placed him as soon as he told me the show. But
00:15:30.440 --> 00:15:32.019
he did tell me he was on Who's Line as well.
00:15:32.259 --> 00:15:34.360
Yeah, it's funny. Joe and I, I feel like, have
00:15:34.360 --> 00:15:36.740
seen a lot of, have a lot of the same background
00:15:36.740 --> 00:15:38.840
in these things, which I know we'll get to later
00:15:38.840 --> 00:15:41.340
with one of the other guests. But I recognize
00:15:41.340 --> 00:15:45.399
Dietrich from the Drew Carey show. based out
00:15:45.399 --> 00:15:47.919
of Cleveland. That show was always on syndication
00:15:47.919 --> 00:15:50.419
when I was growing up. And yeah, and then Drew
00:15:50.419 --> 00:15:53.320
took him, Drew Carey took him and some others
00:15:53.320 --> 00:15:57.120
from that to do Whose Line. So she takes that
00:15:57.120 --> 00:15:59.519
meeting with him and he's immediately telling
00:15:59.519 --> 00:16:02.679
her like, okay, first of all, you have it backwards
00:16:02.679 --> 00:16:07.059
starting your campaign. without a campaign manager,
00:16:07.259 --> 00:16:10.759
and that your staff, they're all like incompetent.
00:16:10.820 --> 00:16:12.720
And the fact that they would let you do that
00:16:12.720 --> 00:16:15.360
is indicative of the reason why you should fire
00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:18.899
them and bring me on. And specifically, she mentions
00:16:18.899 --> 00:16:22.919
Amy and Dan, who are her internal front runners
00:16:22.919 --> 00:16:25.779
for campaign manager. Yeah, absolutely. And I
00:16:25.779 --> 00:16:29.440
think there's four kind of main staffers that
00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:32.919
the show really follows. Amy and Dan are two
00:16:32.919 --> 00:16:38.179
of them. And then Gary and Mike. Amy is played
00:16:38.179 --> 00:16:41.779
by Amy Chlumsky, who was, I think, probably most
00:16:41.779 --> 00:16:45.159
famously in My Girl. The other person I truly,
00:16:45.179 --> 00:16:50.019
really recognized was Gary, who is played by
00:16:50.019 --> 00:16:53.799
Tony Hale, who was Buster Bluth in Arrested Development,
00:16:53.980 --> 00:16:55.980
which is my favorite character in Arrested Development.
00:16:56.200 --> 00:16:58.480
So I was really, really pumped to see him. This
00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:01.460
show is so stacked with a great cast, truly.
00:17:02.269 --> 00:17:04.250
And then there's this chief of staff named Ben,
00:17:04.390 --> 00:17:06.009
who I never caught his name through the entire
00:17:06.009 --> 00:17:08.670
show. I don't look it up after. And he's just
00:17:08.670 --> 00:17:12.529
in and out. But kind of Erickson says, like,
00:17:12.569 --> 00:17:14.349
you kind of need to fire most of these people.
00:17:14.369 --> 00:17:16.970
Right. Mike, you're your media guy. It's got
00:17:16.970 --> 00:17:19.970
to go. Everyone. And meanwhile, back at the office
00:17:19.970 --> 00:17:23.089
while Selena's in this meeting, we are in the
00:17:23.089 --> 00:17:27.609
men's bathroom with Gary and. Mike, Gary's cleaning
00:17:27.609 --> 00:17:29.869
a shirt because Selena mentioned something about
00:17:29.869 --> 00:17:32.369
the smell bothering her. I'm thinking it's Icy
00:17:32.369 --> 00:17:34.589
Hot or something. I didn't catch what it was.
00:17:34.690 --> 00:17:36.849
Yes, it was Icy Hot. Yeah, yeah, it was. I didn't
00:17:36.849 --> 00:17:38.829
catch what it was, but by the context. She said
00:17:38.829 --> 00:17:42.750
it was like a war zone in her nostrils. Yeah.
00:17:42.950 --> 00:17:45.849
The Icy Hot. Do you ever mess with Icy Hot or
00:17:45.849 --> 00:17:48.170
Bengay or Tiger Balm or any of those? You know
00:17:48.170 --> 00:17:50.750
what's funny? I've used Icy Hot in the last year
00:17:50.750 --> 00:17:52.309
a few times when I've just had like a really
00:17:52.309 --> 00:17:57.079
bad. stiff neck. I couldn't think of the word
00:17:57.079 --> 00:18:00.420
stiff for some reason. What about you? I, you
00:18:00.420 --> 00:18:05.220
know, last year, I had some success with traditional
00:18:05.220 --> 00:18:10.779
Chinese medicine patches that go on. Yeah, my
00:18:10.779 --> 00:18:14.019
my girlfriend got them from I think an acupuncturist
00:18:14.019 --> 00:18:16.799
she was working with. And they worked really
00:18:16.799 --> 00:18:20.099
well. I Yeah, I grew up with icy hot and Salonpas.
00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:24.359
I think Vicks like in a pan shift can do some
00:18:24.359 --> 00:18:27.960
similar things. For sure. I feel like I remember
00:18:27.960 --> 00:18:33.000
getting that scent of those sorts of mentholatum
00:18:33.000 --> 00:18:36.339
type things from walking around or being in spaces
00:18:36.339 --> 00:18:40.359
around like older men specifically. I don't know.
00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:42.019
I feel like I smelled it all the time and then
00:18:42.019 --> 00:18:44.160
I just stopped. You know, I feel like I smelled
00:18:44.160 --> 00:18:46.220
it a lot around high school athletes. I don't
00:18:46.220 --> 00:18:48.119
know if it was like... Oh, yeah, they're always
00:18:48.119 --> 00:18:50.430
sore. Kind of like a, hey, this is the... fix
00:18:50.430 --> 00:18:53.450
all for your soreness but i didn't really have
00:18:53.450 --> 00:18:56.410
a lot to do like that's when i used it and then
00:18:56.410 --> 00:19:00.069
kind of like or remember it being used a lot
00:19:00.069 --> 00:19:03.069
and then most recently so yeah uh but they're
00:19:03.069 --> 00:19:05.910
in gary i almost called him buster um gary's
00:19:05.910 --> 00:19:08.250
using it he has some shoulder issues which we'll
00:19:08.250 --> 00:19:11.630
get into but uh mike comes out of a stall with
00:19:11.630 --> 00:19:14.769
a like a lunchbox cooler And they're kind of
00:19:14.769 --> 00:19:16.450
both like bantering to each other like, hey,
00:19:16.470 --> 00:19:18.269
why do you have a cooler in the bathroom? And
00:19:18.269 --> 00:19:20.210
like, what were you doing in the stall? And then,
00:19:20.210 --> 00:19:22.230
you know, why is your shirt off? And you're like,
00:19:22.269 --> 00:19:26.069
drying it under a little hand dryer. What we
00:19:26.069 --> 00:19:29.390
find out is that Mike was collecting his own
00:19:29.390 --> 00:19:32.890
sperm because him and his wife are doing IVF.
00:19:33.329 --> 00:19:35.329
And of course, there's like some funny banter
00:19:35.329 --> 00:19:38.630
back and forth here. Gary later sees an ortho
00:19:38.630 --> 00:19:41.259
specialist about his shoulder. Who advises him
00:19:41.259 --> 00:19:43.640
to get a new job because he shouldn't be like
00:19:43.640 --> 00:19:45.839
carrying weight. He's basically Selena's body
00:19:45.839 --> 00:19:48.400
man. Yeah. In that he carries her bag and has
00:19:48.400 --> 00:19:50.660
things ready for her. Yeah. But yeah, that's
00:19:50.660 --> 00:19:52.640
kind of the end of that scene. And then we're
00:19:52.640 --> 00:19:56.359
back at the Veep office where the team is talking
00:19:56.359 --> 00:19:59.099
about another potential candidate that might
00:19:59.099 --> 00:20:02.799
be announcing his run. And his name is George
00:20:02.799 --> 00:20:06.769
Maddox. um who is some sort of cabinet cabinet
00:20:06.769 --> 00:20:08.890
secretary yes which i don't think we actually
00:20:08.890 --> 00:20:14.170
find out in this episode what he is um but maddox
00:20:14.170 --> 00:20:18.410
and he has played oh yeah yeah i'm proud to say
00:20:19.389 --> 00:20:22.930
That he is play. I'm proud as if I had anything
00:20:22.930 --> 00:20:26.650
to do with making The Wire. But it is a show
00:20:26.650 --> 00:20:28.890
that I love. And I know it's a show Joe loves.
00:20:29.069 --> 00:20:32.430
But yes, this character is played by Isaiah Whitlock
00:20:32.430 --> 00:20:35.450
Jr., the late Isaiah Whitlock Jr., who passed
00:20:35.450 --> 00:20:39.230
away right at the end of 2025. And he's, yeah,
00:20:39.309 --> 00:20:42.009
one of my favorite actors. He's very funny, but
00:20:42.009 --> 00:20:44.230
he's just he has just incredible presence. So
00:20:44.230 --> 00:20:46.170
I was really happy to see him here. Yes. And
00:20:46.170 --> 00:20:47.750
like I said earlier, I watched this with Joe.
00:20:47.829 --> 00:20:50.880
So immediately when he came. on he's like she
00:20:50.880 --> 00:20:53.799
or something i don't know um and it was like
00:20:53.799 --> 00:20:56.900
joe joe was like david will know exactly who
00:20:56.900 --> 00:20:59.920
this is so um i have not watched the wire but
00:20:59.920 --> 00:21:02.819
similar we got to do that one sometime yeah absolutely
00:21:02.819 --> 00:21:06.420
but maddox has actually invited meyer out to
00:21:06.420 --> 00:21:08.480
his virginia home for some sort of conversation
00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:11.500
the team thinks this is a perfect time to see
00:21:11.500 --> 00:21:14.140
if he's running and also to see if he would want
00:21:14.140 --> 00:21:16.700
a secretary -level position in her administration,
00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:20.140
which is kind of interesting because, like, I'm
00:21:20.140 --> 00:21:21.980
not saying you wouldn't want to be a secretary
00:21:21.980 --> 00:21:24.680
twice, but, like, that doesn't seem like it would
00:21:24.680 --> 00:21:29.740
prevent someone from running. Yeah, I think to
00:21:29.740 --> 00:21:33.759
me it depends on what position. Like, there have
00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:35.960
been a few times when someone has been a secretary
00:21:35.960 --> 00:21:40.329
in two different... But you're right. It seems
00:21:40.329 --> 00:21:42.569
like it would be a lateral move unless it was
00:21:42.569 --> 00:21:45.950
like, I don't know, agriculture to state. Right.
00:21:45.950 --> 00:21:49.289
Absolutely. She is trying to figure out who to
00:21:49.289 --> 00:21:52.150
bring with her and is pretty disappointed with
00:21:52.150 --> 00:21:55.549
Mike when he says he can't go. Of course, Amy.
00:21:55.690 --> 00:21:58.109
Because he's on a strict schedule for the IVF.
00:21:58.130 --> 00:22:00.970
Of course, Amy and Dan are like both vying for
00:22:00.970 --> 00:22:03.390
the opportunity because obviously it seems like
00:22:03.390 --> 00:22:05.609
whoever is going will most likely incline to
00:22:05.609 --> 00:22:09.660
be. chosen as campaign manager. Before entering
00:22:09.660 --> 00:22:12.920
the Maddox home, Selina mentions that these types
00:22:12.920 --> 00:22:16.000
of houses have walls lined with guns and animal
00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:19.819
heads, which I loved because then you go in and
00:22:19.819 --> 00:22:21.559
immediately there's this like very odd looking
00:22:21.559 --> 00:22:24.359
boar on the wall. There's like a wolf sitting
00:22:24.359 --> 00:22:27.480
in the corner. She said it's like a flow chart
00:22:27.480 --> 00:22:30.839
for how the animal got that way. Yeah, yeah.
00:22:31.740 --> 00:22:36.599
Once inside, the team runs into Jonah, who, Seems
00:22:36.599 --> 00:22:40.019
to be like a former staffer, intern, friend of
00:22:40.019 --> 00:22:44.460
the... He worked in that office. In Selena's
00:22:44.460 --> 00:22:46.359
office, yeah. So they run into him because he
00:22:46.359 --> 00:22:50.359
now works for Maddox. And he is played by Timothy
00:22:50.359 --> 00:22:52.440
Simmons. David, I don't know if you recognize
00:22:52.440 --> 00:22:55.900
him, but he was just in a Netflix original called
00:22:55.900 --> 00:22:58.880
Nobody Wants This, which I thought was very good.
00:22:59.099 --> 00:23:02.539
Just came out with a second season. And his character
00:23:02.539 --> 00:23:07.630
is great. I recommend that show even just for
00:23:07.630 --> 00:23:11.029
him. I do like that actor a lot. Is he in a car
00:23:11.029 --> 00:23:13.549
commercial right now? It's possible. It's definitely
00:23:13.549 --> 00:23:15.470
possible because that show has gotten pretty
00:23:15.470 --> 00:23:17.190
big. So I think some of those folks have gone
00:23:17.190 --> 00:23:19.930
into other places. Kristen Bell, I think, got
00:23:19.930 --> 00:23:22.869
her start on that show. Yes. Never before knew
00:23:22.869 --> 00:23:25.380
who Kristen Bell was. Is this where we learn
00:23:25.380 --> 00:23:29.119
that someone gets some intel that Jonah, who,
00:23:29.160 --> 00:23:33.259
by the way, Maddox refers to as Jake, which they
00:23:33.259 --> 00:23:36.319
take note of. Okay, so I wrote that down, that
00:23:36.319 --> 00:23:38.059
his name was Jake. And then later on was like,
00:23:38.119 --> 00:23:40.319
oh, it's Jonah. I must have heard it wrong. Yeah,
00:23:40.440 --> 00:23:42.799
we do find out the connection in a little bit,
00:23:42.819 --> 00:23:45.359
but they go fishing first. Oh, yes, they go.
00:23:45.839 --> 00:23:48.119
Would you call that fly fishing where they're
00:23:48.119 --> 00:23:49.740
in the water and they're casting? I don't know.
00:23:50.539 --> 00:23:54.450
It's possible. Also, y 'all. Nonetheless. I was
00:23:54.450 --> 00:23:56.910
just going to say, this episode is called Fishing.
00:23:57.029 --> 00:23:59.549
We never even said that. And for those listening,
00:23:59.690 --> 00:24:04.130
it is season three, episode five, which aired
00:24:04.130 --> 00:24:07.089
in 2014. So halfway through kind of the show.
00:24:07.250 --> 00:24:10.069
I'm so sorry that I didn't even share that at
00:24:10.069 --> 00:24:12.529
the beginning. But it's called Fishing because
00:24:12.529 --> 00:24:16.750
they are fishing. You know what, though? I think
00:24:16.750 --> 00:24:18.750
there's double meaning in that, too. Like with
00:24:18.750 --> 00:24:21.190
the whole thing about the campaign manager. So
00:24:21.190 --> 00:24:24.000
they're knee deep in the... Maybe even further,
00:24:24.019 --> 00:24:26.759
I guess, for Selina. But they're deep in the
00:24:26.759 --> 00:24:29.819
water casting. And they're, first of all, that's
00:24:29.819 --> 00:24:32.039
like such an indignity that you have to like
00:24:32.039 --> 00:24:35.019
suffer in this sort of space. Yes. That's not
00:24:35.019 --> 00:24:38.259
her world at all. Absolutely. So she offers him
00:24:38.259 --> 00:24:41.579
Secretary of State. But it kind of like gets
00:24:41.579 --> 00:24:44.839
caught off, cut off because that's when she like
00:24:44.839 --> 00:24:47.400
catches a fish. And it's funny because I think
00:24:47.400 --> 00:24:49.359
Gary and Dan are in the water with her. So they're
00:24:49.359 --> 00:24:51.880
like, it's just like this chaotic like moment.
00:24:52.519 --> 00:24:54.319
They seem like, I don't even know. They're just
00:24:54.319 --> 00:24:57.259
goofy. They're both trying to help her. It's
00:24:57.259 --> 00:25:00.799
not really working. They lose the fish. And it
00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:03.740
kind of is an abruptly ending scene. Like this
00:25:03.740 --> 00:25:06.440
whole fishing scene is very short because we
00:25:06.440 --> 00:25:09.019
soon see Gary and Selena getting ready for dinner.
00:25:09.819 --> 00:25:13.259
And Meyer, Selena's asking Gary, like, do you
00:25:13.259 --> 00:25:15.059
think I'm ruthless enough? Like, do you think
00:25:15.059 --> 00:25:18.680
I'm like, you know, mean? I don't know. Like,
00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:21.640
do you think I can do hard things? Like maybe
00:25:21.640 --> 00:25:24.299
fire people that aren't living up to their expectations.
00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:27.339
And I'm not really sure if Gary catches on here.
00:25:27.700 --> 00:25:31.259
But the conversation quickly turns to Mike is
00:25:31.259 --> 00:25:37.500
doing IVF. And Selena's not happy about him doing,
00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:39.700
you know, keeping to his schedule in the office.
00:25:39.900 --> 00:25:42.319
But not even necessarily because she's like grossed
00:25:42.319 --> 00:25:44.799
out. But she's like, Wendy can't get pregnant
00:25:44.799 --> 00:25:48.740
during my campaign. It's very much like focus
00:25:48.740 --> 00:25:51.339
on the campaign. She also doesn't want an injured
00:25:51.339 --> 00:25:54.900
Gary. Yeah. I think she kind of implies that
00:25:54.900 --> 00:25:58.079
she can't have that. She needs him to carry the
00:25:58.079 --> 00:26:01.059
bag. Yes. Yes. And I was just going to say, I
00:26:01.059 --> 00:26:02.700
think that's like one of the few moments in the
00:26:02.700 --> 00:26:05.059
show where you kind of see that like political
00:26:05.059 --> 00:26:08.079
positions at this scale is like you're really
00:26:08.079 --> 00:26:09.539
putting your personal life on the back burner.
00:26:09.700 --> 00:26:11.819
When the expectation is like, you can't have
00:26:11.819 --> 00:26:13.579
a child. You have to be like focused on me and
00:26:13.579 --> 00:26:16.400
my campaign. There was another comment. Or another
00:26:16.400 --> 00:26:17.980
situation later in this episode that kind of
00:26:17.980 --> 00:26:20.339
indicates the same thing. But while at Maddox's
00:26:20.339 --> 00:26:22.460
house, the rest of the staffers are at Amy's
00:26:22.460 --> 00:26:25.039
for dinner, which is clearly like not the norm.
00:26:25.140 --> 00:26:27.920
It's kind of low -key awkward. Amy's nervous.
00:26:28.619 --> 00:26:31.140
She's trying to play a role maybe. And it's to
00:26:31.140 --> 00:26:33.880
get support from everyone so she can be campaign
00:26:33.880 --> 00:26:36.059
manager, which they do call out pretty quickly.
00:26:36.279 --> 00:26:40.619
Yes. She has a lot riding on this. She has caterers
00:26:40.619 --> 00:26:43.000
basically working. And this is like a tiny DC
00:26:43.000 --> 00:26:46.079
apartment. She has caterers working in the kitchen
00:26:46.079 --> 00:26:49.579
and she brings out the one dish that's ready
00:26:49.579 --> 00:26:52.880
as if she made it. And it's just a potato dish
00:26:52.880 --> 00:26:55.519
that she wants to serve alone. And the caterers
00:26:55.519 --> 00:27:08.970
are like, no. I knew Zach Woods from Silicon
00:27:08.970 --> 00:27:12.289
Valley, which was also on HBO around the same,
00:27:12.349 --> 00:27:15.269
actually at the same time. I think he is so funny.
00:27:15.470 --> 00:27:18.910
And one thing about him is that actor has never
00:27:18.910 --> 00:27:21.769
seen himself on film. He doesn't watch anything
00:27:21.769 --> 00:27:23.789
that he's on. Wow. That's crazy. He just has
00:27:23.789 --> 00:27:25.730
a really hard time with it. Yeah, I think he's
00:27:25.730 --> 00:27:27.549
hilarious. Yeah. But he makes the line. He says,
00:27:27.670 --> 00:27:31.519
oh. S -M -S -S starch. Yes. Like it's a boat
00:27:31.519 --> 00:27:36.240
full of starch, which is so funny that we're
00:27:36.240 --> 00:27:39.420
already seeing. I didn't realize he was Amy's
00:27:39.420 --> 00:27:41.900
boyfriend in the show. Which is funny. He's like
00:27:41.900 --> 00:27:44.279
cutting, making cutting comments just like her
00:27:44.279 --> 00:27:45.859
colleagues are. Yeah. And it's funny because
00:27:45.859 --> 00:27:48.339
that's the other piece is that we find out later
00:27:48.339 --> 00:27:50.059
on that it's actually their like one year anniversary
00:27:50.059 --> 00:27:52.579
during this dinner party. And she's like, oh,
00:27:52.599 --> 00:27:53.920
we've been dating for three months. He's like,
00:27:53.980 --> 00:27:56.160
it's actually been a year. Three months. I think
00:27:56.160 --> 00:27:58.200
it kind of goes to show not to me. It's like.
00:27:58.460 --> 00:28:00.160
Obviously, she's not taking it serious, but time
00:28:00.160 --> 00:28:04.299
is just so different there. One of the characters
00:28:04.299 --> 00:28:07.039
raises, they're initially like, we won't talk
00:28:07.039 --> 00:28:09.680
about work. Maybe every time you drink, every
00:28:09.680 --> 00:28:11.619
time you say work, someone has to drink. One
00:28:11.619 --> 00:28:14.059
character is excited about that, which gets remarked
00:28:14.059 --> 00:28:19.079
on. Very DC. Yeah. And they really do not have
00:28:19.079 --> 00:28:21.759
anything to talk about, but work. Yeah. And you're
00:28:21.759 --> 00:28:25.490
right. This is where it comes up that. And Jonah's
00:28:25.490 --> 00:28:30.009
uncle is Jeff Kane, who is the guy who basically
00:28:30.009 --> 00:28:33.049
runs the senior citizen vote in New Hampshire,
00:28:33.130 --> 00:28:36.430
an early primary state. Yeah. And they relay
00:28:36.430 --> 00:28:38.470
this pretty quickly to them, right? Yep. They
00:28:38.470 --> 00:28:41.829
relay this back to Selena because it's kind of
00:28:41.829 --> 00:28:44.910
like we got to get Jonah back. Also, just a quick
00:28:44.910 --> 00:28:47.650
note here. Everyone kind of finds out that Mike
00:28:47.650 --> 00:28:49.650
is doing IVF because he has to use the bathroom
00:28:49.650 --> 00:28:53.819
and come back. He discloses this thinking that
00:28:53.819 --> 00:28:58.839
that somebody that Gary rats on him and he did
00:28:58.839 --> 00:29:01.400
not. But I think only one person knew and kind
00:29:01.400 --> 00:29:04.420
of like, I don't know, got it to everyone. And
00:29:04.420 --> 00:29:06.299
like, oh, I guess everyone knows. And he's like,
00:29:06.339 --> 00:29:09.000
well, now they do type thing. Very sitcom there.
00:29:09.420 --> 00:29:12.940
That's like, it's good. I mean, the whole the
00:29:12.940 --> 00:29:14.920
whole episode was good when it comes to those
00:29:14.920 --> 00:29:17.740
like quick witted moments. But yeah, they notify
00:29:17.740 --> 00:29:21.480
Selena and. It's immediately Dan has got to go
00:29:21.480 --> 00:29:25.680
try to get him back basically. And Dan and Jonah
00:29:25.680 --> 00:29:27.960
are in the closet in this like back and forth
00:29:27.960 --> 00:29:31.640
scene. I think a lot of that scene has to do
00:29:31.640 --> 00:29:33.859
with previous episodes. Like I feel like there's,
00:29:33.859 --> 00:29:35.900
it brought, it was a callbacks to certain things.
00:29:36.039 --> 00:29:38.900
So I was not super lost, but like a little lost
00:29:38.900 --> 00:29:41.779
on like probably the funniness of it. I do get
00:29:41.779 --> 00:29:44.440
the sense that Jonah is, like, kind of a despicable
00:29:44.440 --> 00:29:48.740
character who is, like, not very effective. And
00:29:48.740 --> 00:29:53.259
Dan offers him a job just to get him off of the
00:29:53.259 --> 00:29:56.980
Maddox campaign and onto Selena's. But he says
00:29:56.980 --> 00:29:59.420
no. Like, he says, nope, I'm not going to do
00:29:59.420 --> 00:30:00.559
it. I'm going to stay on the winning side. He
00:30:00.559 --> 00:30:02.980
feels like he got there on merit anyway. Yeah.
00:30:03.839 --> 00:30:06.500
Maddox and Selena have dinner. And they're both
00:30:06.500 --> 00:30:09.019
trying to, you know, talk to each other about
00:30:09.019 --> 00:30:13.079
what. The elephant in the room, per se. And they're
00:30:13.079 --> 00:30:14.539
both trying to convince each other, like, you
00:30:14.539 --> 00:30:17.180
know, the VP position is really good position.
00:30:17.240 --> 00:30:19.299
It does have a lot of power. And then they both
00:30:19.299 --> 00:30:21.680
at the same time ask each other to be each other's
00:30:21.680 --> 00:30:25.599
VP. And then Selena freaks. I mean, you know,
00:30:25.640 --> 00:30:28.819
what's funny is like, it seems silly. And when
00:30:28.819 --> 00:30:30.700
he says, no, you know, I thought about this.
00:30:30.799 --> 00:30:33.480
And yeah, you'd be the first VP to do it over
00:30:33.480 --> 00:30:36.750
two different presidencies. I was actually I
00:30:36.750 --> 00:30:39.410
wrote down here and I thought this at the time
00:30:39.410 --> 00:30:42.470
that I really thought there was a chance that
00:30:42.470 --> 00:30:47.049
candidate Secretary Clinton would offer the VP
00:30:47.049 --> 00:30:51.190
spot to Biden. Oh, I thought this in 2016. I
00:30:51.190 --> 00:30:53.990
thought that there was at least a chance. I don't
00:30:53.990 --> 00:30:56.029
know. I think that could be an underrated thing
00:30:56.029 --> 00:30:58.150
if you if I mean, we'll never maybe we'll never
00:30:58.150 --> 00:31:00.670
have a popular vice president ever again. But
00:31:00.670 --> 00:31:04.170
the idea of one bridging between two administrations,
00:31:04.190 --> 00:31:06.369
I don't think is the worst. I don't think it's
00:31:06.369 --> 00:31:07.930
the best idea in the world, but I don't think
00:31:07.930 --> 00:31:08.970
it's the worst idea in the world either. Yeah,
00:31:09.009 --> 00:31:12.029
it'd be interesting, for sure. I think that just
00:31:12.029 --> 00:31:14.589
kind of goes into, like, maybe how the VP position
00:31:14.589 --> 00:31:17.930
has changed over time, too, of, like, yeah. There's
00:31:17.930 --> 00:31:21.849
a lot we could go into that. Maddox says, why
00:31:21.849 --> 00:31:25.089
would I accept a position that has basically
00:31:25.089 --> 00:31:28.849
no authority? And she goes, it has some. Yeah.
00:31:29.769 --> 00:31:34.509
She also has quite, like... such a strong reaction
00:31:34.509 --> 00:31:37.869
to staying vice president which is why this scene
00:31:37.869 --> 00:31:39.450
is so funny because it's like no you should do
00:31:39.450 --> 00:31:42.230
it it's like so good but also and she says she's
00:31:42.230 --> 00:31:44.410
like i would rather be shot in the face than
00:31:44.410 --> 00:31:46.750
be the vice president again like but you should
00:31:46.750 --> 00:31:49.450
do it right and i thought that was that's really
00:31:49.450 --> 00:31:51.470
really funny honestly the way she said it and
00:31:51.470 --> 00:31:54.250
just that whole scene was great it's so funny
00:31:54.250 --> 00:31:57.009
it's like very verbally The equivalent of like
00:31:57.009 --> 00:32:00.789
a Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, or like Roadrunner,
00:32:00.789 --> 00:32:02.990
Wile E. Coyote type thing, like just the way
00:32:02.990 --> 00:32:04.710
it's flipped. I thought that was so brilliant.
00:32:05.130 --> 00:32:07.349
We should mention too, in the opening credits
00:32:07.349 --> 00:32:10.269
for the show, it like gives you a timeline of
00:32:10.269 --> 00:32:13.349
her trajectory. She ran for president once before,
00:32:13.490 --> 00:32:16.309
and there's a headline that's like, Meyer thrilled
00:32:16.309 --> 00:32:19.309
to be tapped for VP role, but it shows like a
00:32:19.309 --> 00:32:24.130
very visibly dour and upset Selena. So I just,
00:32:24.210 --> 00:32:28.640
I... I don't know. I get a lot out of these visual
00:32:28.640 --> 00:32:31.740
gags. There's almost like a cartoon logic to
00:32:31.740 --> 00:32:33.259
it. And I just think it's really fun. Yeah, for
00:32:33.259 --> 00:32:37.039
sure. Back at the Veep office, Selena calls Mike
00:32:37.039 --> 00:32:40.200
out about the cooler. So she's like, hey, no.
00:32:40.799 --> 00:32:43.740
Before meeting up with Erickson once more to
00:32:43.740 --> 00:32:46.160
formally offer him the position. Because obviously,
00:32:46.279 --> 00:32:49.579
Dan and Amy are not it. And she's willing to
00:32:49.579 --> 00:32:52.460
get rid of everyone. Actually, Dan interrupts
00:32:52.460 --> 00:32:56.369
her about some polling data. Internal Maddox
00:32:56.369 --> 00:32:59.490
data. And finds out here, like, oh, you're going
00:32:59.490 --> 00:33:02.230
to hire somebody else. And she does it in front
00:33:02.230 --> 00:33:03.750
of him. She's like, yeah, I don't really care.
00:33:03.750 --> 00:33:07.529
I'm going to still offer this job. And Erickson
00:33:07.529 --> 00:33:11.930
declines because he's taking a job running Thornhill's
00:33:11.930 --> 00:33:15.180
campaign. thornhill is thornhill the baseball
00:33:15.180 --> 00:33:17.180
manager or is it somebody else yeah oh it is
00:33:17.180 --> 00:33:20.519
okay great uh we know about thornhill maddox
00:33:20.519 --> 00:33:23.660
selena and then there's another unseen character
00:33:23.660 --> 00:33:26.039
named chum who was also yeah they only mentioned
00:33:26.039 --> 00:33:28.339
like three times a military veteran yes yeah
00:33:28.339 --> 00:33:31.640
they end up dan and selena end up having a conversation
00:33:31.640 --> 00:33:35.819
later on the way home um which basically she
00:33:35.819 --> 00:33:39.759
offers the campaign manager to dan they also
00:33:39.759 --> 00:33:43.319
have a conversation in her office which is kind
00:33:43.319 --> 00:33:46.559
of like sexually coded it's flirty yeah it's
00:33:46.559 --> 00:33:48.079
flirty and then they start kind of saying like
00:33:48.079 --> 00:33:49.720
hey like do you have any skeletons that we both
00:33:49.720 --> 00:33:51.339
need to know about now that we're doing this
00:33:51.339 --> 00:33:55.079
and dan admits that he killed a stray dog once
00:33:55.079 --> 00:33:58.960
which is like when he was a child really weird
00:33:58.960 --> 00:34:02.220
really weird like that's the one piece of this
00:34:02.220 --> 00:34:05.220
episode that doesn't fit for me but i haven't
00:34:05.220 --> 00:34:07.339
seen other episodes to see if it actually doesn't
00:34:07.339 --> 00:34:09.440
fit if that makes sense that's like you know
00:34:10.119 --> 00:34:12.679
that worked for me because i felt like that's
00:34:12.679 --> 00:34:16.099
a very dc no no hold on i'm not like admitting
00:34:16.099 --> 00:34:19.960
i know anything but i i mean that that is a process
00:34:19.960 --> 00:34:22.019
you have to go through when you're when you're
00:34:22.019 --> 00:34:25.199
doing a campaign is just is there anything that's
00:34:25.199 --> 00:34:27.860
going to surprise me if i find out later and
00:34:27.860 --> 00:34:30.940
yeah i mean i from dan i get kind of like dc
00:34:33.380 --> 00:34:37.000
sociopath sociopath vibes a little bit very personable
00:34:37.000 --> 00:34:39.219
i think even in the beginning of the episode
00:34:39.219 --> 00:34:41.599
he's going around complimenting people and like
00:34:41.599 --> 00:34:44.880
making sure that they know that he has a specific
00:34:44.880 --> 00:34:48.360
character trait in mind of theirs that he admires
00:34:48.360 --> 00:34:52.519
so i get very much like dc i think as he's leaving
00:34:52.519 --> 00:34:54.960
she goes oh how did you do it and then he's like
00:34:54.960 --> 00:34:56.719
she's like you know what never mind i don't i
00:34:56.719 --> 00:34:59.170
don't want to know in her skeleton Oh, yeah,
00:34:59.230 --> 00:35:02.489
her skeleton. Is that she torched her ex's car.
00:35:02.969 --> 00:35:06.250
And she goes, I torched a car. I torch cars.
00:35:06.449 --> 00:35:09.449
Give me the nuclear codes. That was my favorite
00:35:09.449 --> 00:35:14.300
line in the entire. That one had me geeking a
00:35:14.300 --> 00:35:16.500
little bit. I'm not going to lie. Oh my gosh.
00:35:16.699 --> 00:35:18.900
Julia Louis -Dreyfus is so funny. That's what
00:35:18.900 --> 00:35:21.619
it is. The execution from her in this moment
00:35:21.619 --> 00:35:24.340
was so good. And then the episode ends with the
00:35:24.340 --> 00:35:26.099
staffers. They're out at a bar. It's kind of
00:35:26.099 --> 00:35:28.519
two parts. They learn that the chief of staff
00:35:28.519 --> 00:35:31.800
is going to be Erickson. And then they learn
00:35:31.800 --> 00:35:33.719
it's going to be Dan. They're not super happy.
00:35:33.860 --> 00:35:36.139
They're drinking. Kind of talking about random.
00:35:36.380 --> 00:35:39.260
Amy is so. Yeah. They're kind of talking about.
00:35:39.380 --> 00:35:42.320
Amy's drinking a bit. Too much, right? Go ahead.
00:35:42.559 --> 00:35:44.739
Yeah, no. And like, they're just talking about
00:35:44.739 --> 00:35:47.619
all the other things that are going on. I'm so
00:35:47.619 --> 00:35:50.420
sorry. I'm being an Erickson right now because
00:35:50.420 --> 00:35:53.340
he was an interrupter. Oh, yes. Yes. Which a
00:35:53.340 --> 00:35:58.079
lot of men in DC are. And apparently not in DC,
00:35:58.159 --> 00:36:00.440
too. Well, that's true. But I think there's a
00:36:00.440 --> 00:36:04.659
DC type of Dan in some ways or Erickson that
00:36:04.659 --> 00:36:08.500
are like that. And then the end with they're
00:36:08.500 --> 00:36:10.880
like, we should go throw the cooler. liquids
00:36:10.880 --> 00:36:14.760
on uh jonah's door so they all think that's like
00:36:14.760 --> 00:36:16.659
a super funny idea well actually not everyone
00:36:16.659 --> 00:36:20.179
two people say back um but gary like open knocks
00:36:20.179 --> 00:36:21.840
on the door i think the whole point is that they
00:36:21.840 --> 00:36:22.980
weren't gonna do it they were just gonna like
00:36:22.980 --> 00:36:24.880
leave it there kind of like egging a house or
00:36:24.880 --> 00:36:27.420
something but like gary knocks on the door and
00:36:27.420 --> 00:36:29.579
then jonah opens it and like the scene is done
00:36:29.579 --> 00:36:33.280
it's so funny gary is quite drunk he has for
00:36:33.280 --> 00:36:36.380
the first time a boiler maker which what is that
00:36:36.380 --> 00:36:38.739
krista is it a shot in a beer yeah something
00:36:38.739 --> 00:36:42.179
like that i've never had one I mean, I don't
00:36:42.179 --> 00:36:46.059
I don't I don't think I had either. Yeah. Yeah.
00:36:46.900 --> 00:36:50.920
So that that was V. What were your general thoughts?
00:36:52.179 --> 00:36:56.400
Can I raise one thing? So after it after it finished
00:36:56.400 --> 00:36:59.760
for me, it played a deleted scene from the dinner
00:36:59.760 --> 00:37:04.780
party. Did you get that on yours? No. It's them
00:37:04.780 --> 00:37:07.300
playing Never Have I Ever. It was cute. It was
00:37:07.300 --> 00:37:11.460
like maybe 30 seconds long. But I thought it
00:37:11.460 --> 00:37:14.179
was very funny. And I was watching it. I was
00:37:14.179 --> 00:37:17.599
like, look, this show is very funny. It's smart.
00:37:17.820 --> 00:37:21.800
It's brisk. And that's huge for me. I mentioned
00:37:21.800 --> 00:37:24.920
last week I'm doing a Mad Men rewatch that is
00:37:24.920 --> 00:37:29.070
such a dense. show it's an hour show this is
00:37:29.070 --> 00:37:32.090
also very dense but with jokes and it's half
00:37:32.090 --> 00:37:34.769
and it's less than half an hour so i could totally
00:37:34.769 --> 00:37:38.210
see myself watching this regularly krista what
00:37:38.210 --> 00:37:41.570
was your takeaway same fast -paced witty easy
00:37:41.570 --> 00:37:46.110
to watch great comedy great cast the two other
00:37:46.110 --> 00:37:49.010
notes that i have here couple beautiful shots
00:37:49.010 --> 00:37:52.480
of washington dc made me super nostalgic I haven't
00:37:52.480 --> 00:37:54.480
been there in a few years in such a beautiful
00:37:54.480 --> 00:37:58.179
city. So just like that was great to see. This
00:37:58.179 --> 00:37:59.760
is a type of show I mentioned at the beginning
00:37:59.760 --> 00:38:03.099
that I would gravitate towards. I'm a kind of
00:38:03.099 --> 00:38:06.760
a sitcom, a very specific sitcom girl. I love,
00:38:06.960 --> 00:38:10.260
love, love Parks and Rec, my favorite show. And
00:38:10.260 --> 00:38:13.599
there's some similarities this episode that made
00:38:13.599 --> 00:38:15.619
me fond of it because of Parks and Rec. And that's
00:38:15.619 --> 00:38:17.260
because there's a whole storyline about a campaign
00:38:17.260 --> 00:38:21.389
manager in Parks and Rec. Which is so funny.
00:38:21.530 --> 00:38:23.190
And that's like the whole Erickson thing in this
00:38:23.190 --> 00:38:25.070
episode. I was like, oh, like you're going to
00:38:25.070 --> 00:38:26.989
set this up for some things that are going to
00:38:26.989 --> 00:38:28.590
be funnier down the line. Like I could see that
00:38:28.590 --> 00:38:31.409
happening. But yeah, I think I thought it was
00:38:31.409 --> 00:38:33.809
great. I mean, do we want to do like a heat thermometer?
00:38:34.130 --> 00:38:35.829
Oh, I have one more thing before we go to heat
00:38:35.829 --> 00:38:38.550
thermometer. I do think this episode in specific
00:38:38.550 --> 00:38:42.329
was a little bit of a bridging episode or a filler
00:38:42.329 --> 00:38:46.329
episode. Like not in a super bad way by any means,
00:38:46.409 --> 00:38:48.289
but I do think that it really is connecting some
00:38:48.289 --> 00:38:50.690
bigger plot lines. funnier scenes throughout
00:38:50.690 --> 00:38:53.849
this season but it was so like quick through
00:38:53.849 --> 00:38:56.889
everything that I feel like it was they needed
00:38:56.889 --> 00:38:59.210
it to like keep the show going and it was probably
00:38:59.210 --> 00:39:01.170
not the best episode of the season type thing
00:39:01.170 --> 00:39:05.349
or the funniest I should say that very well could
00:39:05.349 --> 00:39:08.150
be the case it did seem like it was leading up
00:39:08.150 --> 00:39:11.480
to something And I mean, that's the thing about
00:39:11.480 --> 00:39:13.480
this podcast is sometimes that's going to be
00:39:13.480 --> 00:39:15.440
the case. But nonetheless, I think that speaks
00:39:15.440 --> 00:39:18.360
to the strength of this show that there were
00:39:18.360 --> 00:39:21.519
so many good moments, even without being a more
00:39:21.519 --> 00:39:25.460
pivotal plot point area. Your heat thermometer?
00:39:26.639 --> 00:39:30.800
See, I was worried like, oh, am I going to sound
00:39:30.800 --> 00:39:34.340
like I'm exaggerating or too enthusiastic about
00:39:34.340 --> 00:39:37.199
it? But I mean, I'll say it was eminently watchable.
00:39:39.190 --> 00:39:44.329
I'll give it 90. I'm going to do like 75, 80,
00:39:44.469 --> 00:39:47.210
somewhere in there. But with the caveat that
00:39:47.210 --> 00:39:51.070
I think many episodes would probably be like
00:39:51.070 --> 00:39:54.969
higher rated. Sure. Would you recommend the show
00:39:54.969 --> 00:39:56.570
to somebody then now that you've seen two episodes,
00:39:56.730 --> 00:40:01.329
let's say? I wouldn't recommend it to my mom,
00:40:01.409 --> 00:40:07.730
but I would recommend it most, yeah. I would.
00:40:08.349 --> 00:40:10.630
recommend it and actually i think joe and i are
00:40:10.630 --> 00:40:12.230
going to start it because we both agreed that
00:40:12.230 --> 00:40:13.809
it's something that we would like to watch so
00:40:13.809 --> 00:40:15.889
i think that might be something we watch and
00:40:15.889 --> 00:40:18.090
if i do watch it i will share my overall thoughts
00:40:18.090 --> 00:40:21.070
with you all at the end on you know a future
00:40:21.070 --> 00:40:24.150
podcast episode or maybe a little minisode but
00:40:24.150 --> 00:40:29.909
yeah veep krista yeah do you miss dc absolutely
00:40:29.909 --> 00:40:34.050
yeah do you for folks who don't know krista and
00:40:34.050 --> 00:40:36.949
i actually worked down the street from each other
00:40:36.949 --> 00:40:41.289
for How many years was that? Like three, maybe
00:40:41.289 --> 00:40:44.969
four. I think that's right. Yeah, something like
00:40:44.969 --> 00:40:50.769
that. Yeah. It was, I mean, it's a fun, it can
00:40:50.769 --> 00:40:53.550
be a very fun place. I did just see, I think
00:40:53.550 --> 00:40:57.530
DC, I was looking at cities with the most millennials
00:40:57.530 --> 00:41:01.750
in it. And DC was number one. Arlington was like
00:41:01.750 --> 00:41:04.210
number three and Alexandria was number four.
00:41:04.349 --> 00:41:07.070
So it's like, wow, it's a very. These are just
00:41:07.070 --> 00:41:10.550
perennially going to be very young places just
00:41:10.550 --> 00:41:12.869
because of the nature of the work there. And
00:41:12.869 --> 00:41:16.809
I got there when I was 25 going on 26. Krista,
00:41:16.869 --> 00:41:20.210
you were a little bit younger, but it's just
00:41:20.210 --> 00:41:22.750
a very fun place to be in your 20s, I think.
00:41:23.070 --> 00:41:25.889
David, is there like one spot for somebody listening
00:41:25.889 --> 00:41:28.050
who's planning their first trip to Washington
00:41:28.050 --> 00:41:32.289
that you're like, hey, go here for sure. Even
00:41:32.289 --> 00:41:35.659
if it's like a cliche one. Maybe yours is the
00:41:35.659 --> 00:41:36.960
Lincoln Memorial. I don't know. But if there's
00:41:36.960 --> 00:41:39.320
just like one spot, you're like, you got to go
00:41:39.320 --> 00:41:42.500
here for sure. I'll give a shout out to Malcolm
00:41:42.500 --> 00:41:49.860
X Park, aka Meridian Hill. It is over a stone's
00:41:49.860 --> 00:41:52.980
throw away from. It's a stone's throw away from
00:41:52.980 --> 00:41:55.039
Adams Morgan. I was thinking Adams Morgan. I
00:41:55.039 --> 00:41:57.860
didn't say it. I'll give a shout out to to there's
00:41:57.860 --> 00:42:00.639
a coffee shop or actually not just a shop, but
00:42:00.639 --> 00:42:03.400
you can sit there. Trist in Adams Morgan. I love
00:42:03.400 --> 00:42:06.679
that place. And also folks are familiar with
00:42:06.679 --> 00:42:09.219
the guy who dresses up with a bunch of question
00:42:09.219 --> 00:42:12.699
marks on him and sells a book that tells you
00:42:12.699 --> 00:42:15.079
how to apply for like government programs and
00:42:15.079 --> 00:42:19.320
like grants and stuff. That guy is Matthew Lesko.
00:42:19.460 --> 00:42:21.820
Him and his wife are always walking around that
00:42:21.820 --> 00:42:23.860
area and they do dress like that all the time.
00:42:23.900 --> 00:42:25.559
And they even have a car that has the question
00:42:25.559 --> 00:42:28.880
marks on them. And one of my last good memories
00:42:28.880 --> 00:42:32.239
before the pandemic was telling him that, running
00:42:32.239 --> 00:42:35.000
into him when I was buying sunglasses and telling
00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:37.519
him that I'm a big fan and he was very nice.
00:42:37.780 --> 00:42:41.980
Love that. Love that. I think my favorite. What
00:42:41.980 --> 00:42:47.300
is your area? If you've really never been, if
00:42:47.300 --> 00:42:48.960
you've never been to D .C., one of the coolest
00:42:48.960 --> 00:42:51.460
things about D .C. is you can do it so many free
00:42:51.460 --> 00:42:55.019
things. For me, I think go walk around the National
00:42:55.019 --> 00:42:58.420
Mall at night. Yeah. It's so, I mean, it's beautiful
00:42:58.420 --> 00:43:00.480
during the day, but there is something special
00:43:00.480 --> 00:43:04.019
about walking around at night and just seeing
00:43:04.019 --> 00:43:06.239
the monuments lit up. I could give a million
00:43:06.239 --> 00:43:09.139
more recommendations. David, do you want to know
00:43:09.139 --> 00:43:12.679
a place I've never been to? In Washington, D
00:43:12.679 --> 00:43:14.159
.C., which is very embarrassing that I never
00:43:14.159 --> 00:43:17.699
made it here. And I lived there for so many years.
00:43:18.780 --> 00:43:20.900
I feel like if you would have asked me this two
00:43:20.900 --> 00:43:22.760
years ago, I'd be like, oh, yeah, that's the
00:43:22.760 --> 00:43:26.480
place you've never been to. Let's see. Can you
00:43:26.480 --> 00:43:30.639
give me a hint? I've been there? Yes. I'm fairly
00:43:30.639 --> 00:43:34.739
certain. In fact, I think our program, a program
00:43:34.739 --> 00:43:36.659
that we both were in, went there and I just didn't
00:43:36.659 --> 00:43:39.599
go. Oh, the Supreme Court? No, I did go to the
00:43:39.599 --> 00:43:44.340
Supreme Court. Oh, I remember you there. Well,
00:43:44.440 --> 00:43:47.119
the National Archives? Or the Library? The Library
00:43:47.119 --> 00:43:49.800
of Congress. I've never been to. Library of Congress.
00:43:49.880 --> 00:43:53.539
Isn't that crazy? It's really cool. You can get
00:43:53.539 --> 00:43:58.340
a library card there that expires fairly quickly.
00:43:58.940 --> 00:44:03.039
Mine expired. Well, if you are living in D .C.
00:44:03.059 --> 00:44:05.440
and listening to this, send us your favorite
00:44:05.440 --> 00:44:08.260
spots as a local, and let's see if Dave and I
00:44:08.260 --> 00:44:09.900
have been to them. It could be a fun little extra.
00:44:10.699 --> 00:44:14.159
I'm probably going back late September. I'll
00:44:14.159 --> 00:44:17.400
be in the DC and College Park area. So if folks
00:44:17.400 --> 00:44:23.820
want to hang, and you're cool, then that's certainly
00:44:23.820 --> 00:44:26.320
an option. Awesome. Thanks for listening, everyone.
00:44:26.599 --> 00:44:27.380
All right. Bye, everybody.