- Hi.

- Hi.

- That was great.

- Thank you.

My son is a huge fan.

He's about to graduate from Wesleyan.

- Oh, yeah.

- Ah, see!

It didn't make sense that mentioned it all the time.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- That's good.

- He's a film studies major.

- Great department.

- Wants to move to LA and make it as a screenwriter-director.

What would your advice be for him?

- Yeah, look, my advice for him is to write every day because no matter what is going on, and it's a peculiarly horrific time in show business for a lot of reasons.

But that is where the power is.

If you can create that material.

And as a storyteller, no matter what sort of aspect of filmmaking he's in, I would suggest to him that he expanded, if he's not a writer, into that.

I also think in a very sort of specific way, I've seen it be helpful for a lot of people to, young filmmakers, to really think about a short that they can make, that they can get into one of these festivals, which is a kind of an entry point.

- We're about to see his thesis at graduation.

- Oh, wow.

- Which is a 12 minute short.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm very proud.

My wife is here, and my wife just wrote and directed, and we made a low budget film.

You have to generate your own material.

I think that you really, really do.

And I say this to actors because an acting, it's, you know, you're basically taking your self-esteem, putting it on a platter and handing it to a schizophrenic.

Unless you are generating, even if nothing comes of it, you really need to not be at the mercy of other people's approval.

Which is why I'm here in front of a live audience.

- Thank you.

- [Aaron] Also, her kid could call you, right?

- Oh, yeah, yeah, of course.

- Oh, does he want a career?

- [Aaron] Did I not explain?

We give your phone number out to everybody in the audience as they leave.

- If you support PBS.

- Hi, Karen.

- Hi.

Thank you for being here.

Huge fan.

I would love to hear a little bit more about your experience on "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," which had an amazing cast, and yet it did not last as long as I was hopeful it was going to.

And if you could include a little bit about the amazing Matthew Perry, I would really appreciate.

- That show was on for like a minute, it feels like.

- Yeah.

It was on for a season.

One season.

Matt, I loved with all my Heart.

You haven't lived until you've...

I mean, brilliantly, brilliantly funny and self-deprecating guy who was heroically battling a monster that that just wouldn't let up on him.

I loved working with him.

You know, the reason that show didn't last was it was too expensive a show for a media, a commercial media, and a television environment that was fracturing.

It started off incredibly expensive because of that cast and the sort of scope of it.

I mean, is this being filmed?

- Yes.

- Oh.

- Is is there something else on your mind that you'd like to say?

- No, you know, I always felt like it's dangerous to do a show about a fictional version... Matt used to call it, well, this is a drama about comedy.

It's very hard to pull that off.

It was also a show that ended up a lot being about sort of writer's block.

Like, that was kind of the drama of it.

Are we gonna get the show on?

"Saturday Night Live" is on every Saturday.

I think we know it's gonna be on, I think we know at different times what their sort of batting average is gonna be.

But it's very hard to pull off when you watch "The West Wing" and you're watching basically C-span and you get wit and character, you're like, thrilled.

It's like a bouquet.

When you're doing a show about supposedly the funniest people in the world, and you get wit it can be a little disappointing.

And I think that may have been part of it.

- My memory is that "30 Rock" came on around the same time as you all did, and there was some question about whether they were competing for the same storyline or narrative.

Is that right?

- Yeah, I remember at the Upfronts that year, I'm like... Oh, here's another aspect of that show.

Television.

They market television completely wrong.

We all use Possessives.

We say, "Oh, that's one of my shows.

That's one of my shows."

When you market "West Wing," nobody thought it was gonna be a hit.

They really did not.

And then people get to like, find it, and you'll see it... On "Studio 60," they were saying, "This is a hit.

This is a great show and a hit."

There's something very interesting about how we want to find a show rather than be told.

Television's a very intimate thing.

We're in bed, you know, alone with it.

You know, like, it's very, very personal and I think that the sort of, "Yeah, we're gonna be a big deal!"

set up an expectation that it couldn't fulfill.

- [Aaron] Got it.

Hi.

- Hi.

My name's Theresa and I'm running for Congress.

- Oh, wow!

(audience laughs) - And I blame you, and I thank you for that.

'Cause I can't tell you how many times I've watched "West Wing."

Advice from Josh Lyman or you?

- Exactly.

(audience laughs) - Seriously, though- - Have God write a better script.

- True.

(laughs) True.

What are you doing next?

And is it a "West Wing" reboot?

And can you bring a story of Texas in there and politics in Texas?

- A character named Theresa- - That's right.

Who wins!

- A heroic candidate for Congress- - In a red district.

- In a red district.

Oh, good for you.

The thing I'm doing is called "Death by Lightning."

It's about the assassination of James Garfield.

I'm amazed, I'm thrilled that they're doing this.

Nick Offerman's in it.

Matthew Macfadyen is in it.

Michael Shannon is in it.

It has nothing to do with your candidacy.

- That's okay.

- I'm sorry to say.

A "West Wing" reboot?

- Yeah.

I keep seeing it on that on social media, so- - [Bradley] That's just this idiot named Josh Malina, who... - Yeah, I... (audience laughs) - Right.

(audience laugh) - I do have to say that- - It will take five minutes to run Josh Malina down.

We have time.

- I absolutely will.

- [Theresa] I'm gonna send a note about that.

- There was a thing.

I remember there was a thing, like an after the "West Wing" was over thing, several years later.

It was like a one time thing.

- Oh, we did, we restaged... - [Theresa] I saw that.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, we restaged an episode for a part of Michelle Obama's Get Out The Vote thing, - And there was a podcast for a couple years, right?

- It was Josh Malina trying to make money.

- But surely someone has come to you and said, "Let's put the band back together."

- Yes, you know, I think it's...

I guess Joe Biden's doing his part because age-wise, it could now, like, make sense.

But look, when we were doing the show, one of my mantras is you want to get out before your banana turns brown in show business, which is a disturbing way to put it.

- Yes.

I'd like to take 30 seconds to think about that.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- There you go.

- If you go...

I think, this is just me, this is not Aaron, this not everybody.

I think it would be interesting to see these characters down the line in some political capacity, not in the same political capacity, actually living in the world that we did not anticipate.

I think would be an interesting way to do it.

- I'm remembering that at the end, the mayor of Houston was elected president.

- Right?

- Yes.

- Wasn't Jimmy Schmit the mayor of Houston?

- Yes.

- He was a congressperson.

- Congressperson.

But there was a Texas thing, I remember.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

- We would all like to know what happens with that.

- Yeah, it's a very tricky thing to do because it was such a wonderful thing for us.

And like, you don't want to do, you know, like, Josh is not walking as fast.

Is it like, a knee... Did he get his knee replaced?

Josh Malina, can we talk about for a second?

- [Aaron] Yeah.

Can we- - Josh, the very first time I was ever on Broadway, which is, replacing in a Broadway play is of the many terrifying things.

There is a lot of terrifying things you do as an actor.

That is the most terrifying.

It's an Aaron Sorkin play.

It flies, and it's like jumping on a train.

You only rehearse with the stage manager on Broadway who is telling you where you're gonna be standing, and that you go one put in, and then you're on Broadway, and you're trying not to dislocate your arms as you jump on the train.

And I'm getting through the first show, and it's going well.

And I have a big courtroom scene, and I come down, and we're facing the audience, and I'm feeling really confident.

And I put my briefcase down, I open it up, and it is plastered with pornography that haunts me to this day.

(audience laughs) And I did not know Josh Malina.

He was one of the understudies.

But that's how I met him.

I don't wanna go into, he did a ridiculously horrible thing to me.

His idea of fun is getting the director's keys from transpo at three in the morning on a Friday night when the director is staggering home exhausted.

Josh would fill the car with Teddy Roosevelt's Nobel Prize, a bunch of computers.

Then he would alert security at Warner Brothers when we wrapped.

And then you would be leaving the studio and your director would be handcuffed.

And Josh would think that was funny.

And he did something to me.

And I actually had a check written to the editor of the memoriam reel at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, to have Josh cut into the memoriam reel so that he would be declared dead in front of all of show business.

- So it goes both ways here, it sounds like.

- Well, he has no sense of proportional response.

Like, you use a hand buzzer and he would like pick your daughter up from school.

Like, he's not...

It's dangerous.

- I am here for these Josh Malina stories, I have to say, and it's excellent.

Thank you.

Thank you to Theresa.

- Well, this is the only national coverage he's gonna get this year.

- Okay, good.

(all laugh) Zing!

Yes?

- I thank you for being here.

And you kind of alluded to, when you were talking about the reboot, my question, which is I've always wondered if you were satisfied with the way that Josh and Donna's storyline came together and ended.

(audience laughs) - Well, you know, you're... One of the fun things about Josh was his sort of emotional constipation.

Just, like, what an idiot he was about her.

The problem is that dramatically... My wife is here, so unlike life, there is nothing more boring on a television show than consummation.

- It was a very TV decision, right?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But they...

I thought it ended well.

I mean, we didn't know what was gonna happen after, but I always imagined they found each- - Live happily ever after?

- Yeah.

I mean, I'm gonna embarrass myself, but Josh Lyman was my favorite character, but I, as a nice Jewish girl from Texas, I had a huge crush on him.

But I was very happy that he and Donna live happily ever.

- Yeah.

They needed to... Yeah.

Good.

Good.

(all laughing) (audience applauds) - That was a moment.

- Yeah, yeah.

- That was actually very nice.

Yes.

Hi, how are you doing?

- Hi.

- Hi, Our family recently started watching "Brooklyn 99" on Netflix.

And we love it.

And you're so good in it as horrible deadbeat dad.

So I was wondering if you could just share a couple anecdotes from the show.

- Andy Sandberg's dad, right?

- Yes.

I'm Andy Sandberg's dad.

And actually, Jimmy Smits was on the show as Andy's fiance's dad.

It was a little bit of a "West Wing" reunion.

Andy was a complete joy.

That cast was great.

It was a really fun, really, really fun place to work.

I got both of my thumbs cut off.

I loved it.

I mean, I'm always trying to get on comedy, but I always end up in, you know, Gilead, like, scowling.

But that one of the most fun things I've ever done.

And he's an incredibly nice guy.

Incredibly nice.

- Thank you.

- Good guy.

You get offered a lot of stuff, as much as you wanna be offered the kind of shows like that?

- As much as I want?

- Well, I mean, you may think to yourself, "God, I wish I got offered more stuff like that."

I'm just wondering, like, are you still getting those kinds of opportunities?

- Yeah, I'll tell you one thing.

I'm very lucky.

There's nothing worse than auditioning.

It is just, you know, a human dog show.

It's awful.

And, you know, somebody comes out at the end and goes, "The schnauzer, it's better than the poodle."

- Okay.

- You're on the other side of it.

- Right.

I'm very lucky that I don't have to do it.

And it's gotten worse in the age of Zoom and video auditions because I really worry about people coming, actors coming out into this business now because they don't even get in the room.

And I never would've gotten a "West Wing" if I was auditioning, if I was sending a tape in, never.

None of those people would've gotten it.

And while the technology has made some things easier, it's somehow has made auditioning, which is just the worst thing in the world, exponentially worse.

- [Aaron] Hi.

- Hi.

Thank you again so much for being here.

- Sure.

- My question is, what was it like to work with Jordan Peele on the film "Get Out," and what was your favorite scene to film?

- Oh, wow.

- He's pretty talented guy.

- Yeah.

I mean, oh my God.

I remember I was the biggest fan of "Key & Peele" that there ever was.

And my son was a huge fan, and I was always badgering the people who represent me, "Let me do, like, let me do like a background pass in you know, one of their skits," and Jordan particularly is I thought of just as an actor, he's like, if there's any downside to his incredible filmmaking talent, it's, he's a great comic actor.

I mean, deep and wonderful.

So I got told that he was interested in me for this movie, and I was like, "Yes!"

And they were like, "Well, we'll send you the script."

I was like, "I don't care.

You know, I'll do, like, yard work for Jordan Peele."

And then I read the script and I vividly remember the experience of reading the script.

And it's one of those forehead knocker moments.

I wasn't sure it was gonna work, but as Jordan sort of reiterated part to me later, you know, horror movies are about things we can't talk about death, sex.

And nobody had pressed race through that, which is why it seemed like such an obvious thing to do.

When you're reading the script at, this point, Jordan is, I thought he was gonna be be in it.

And it's like, "No, he is not doing anything in it.

He wants to direct it."

Well, it's the first time director.

It's a $4 million movie.

At one point it was supposed to shoot in LA and we lost the credit there and it was now shooting in Alabama.

I had kids, I wasn't sure if I was gonna do it.

And somebody turned down the part that I had, and nobody had any idea that this thing was going to work.

When you're reading it, the sunken place, I don't know, you know, I'm reading this kind of description of it.

In my role in particular, Oh, you know, the smart-ass racist, you know, that can go wrong.

Like, if the tone, and the excruciating thing about any kind of storytelling is if it's slightly off, it's like an out of tune note.

It's excruciating.

You've all sat in theaters and watched a play that doesn't work and you did not know it was gonna work.

We all loved Jordan.

He is joyous.

He's, you know, imitating Obama, directing you, we all wanted it to really work.

But man, I remember going into loop and I was, it been like nine months since we shot it.

I'm like, "How is it?"

And he's like, "I think it's pretty good."

And I'm like, "Well, you have to think that.

You know, you've devoted your life to this for the last couple years."

And he's like, "No, I think it's really good."

And I said, "Can I see it?"

And he's like, "I want you to see it with an audience."

And it was a midnight showing at Sundance, and I could not believe what he did for $4 million in 21 days.

It makes the hair stand.

- And the casting, again, it's like Sorkin, right?

You and Catherine Keener together.

Catherine Keener, as great a character actor as you are a great character actor.

- Right, right.

- Made Daniel Kaluuya, right?

Made his career.

- Well, he's the real thing.

He boggled my mind in that, like, we're shooting so fast and the teacup scene, like, I was there that day 'cause I'm like shooting the next thing.

His, like, emotional dilation in that is what makes that movie absolutely terrifying.

It it brings up an interesting point, which is another problem with Hollywood is, that if Hollywood, if anyone had any idea that "Get Out" was gonna be a 10th as successful as it was, none of us would've been in it.

Jordan would not have been allowed to direct it.

The same is true of "The Sopranos."

You never would've met Gandolfini, David Simon, never would've made it.

If Aaron wasn't in a different but peculiar position that did not allow conventional development, which I sometimes call pasteurization of storytelling, you never would've gotten these voices.

And it's a lesson that Hollywood, you know, never seems to learn.

But that was the biggest surprise.

I was like, "Oh my!"

And so thrilled for him, 'cause he's a beloved sweet soul.

- Yeah.

It was a great film.

- Thank you.

- Thank you so much.

- Alright, speaking of "Get Out," we have to get out.

- We have to get out.

(audience applauds) - Give everybody an opportunity to love on Bradley Whitford one more time.

- Thank you!

- We'll see you next season.

Thanks so much.