This is the most dramatic podcast ever and iHeartRadio podcast. Chris Harrison and Laurence Zema Comedy from the home office in Austin, Texas, and welcome America to the greatest reality show in the history of reality shows. Yesterday, episode one, season one of the political reality show formerly known as VEEP. Now I'm not sure what the new name is. Do we have a working title for what happened yesterday? In politics in America?
Alzi, I'm the West WTF? I don't know. Instead of the West.
Wing, the real West Wing, it's kind of like the the real West Wing, Real West.
Wing twenty twenty four Presidential election in America.
Waiting for them to introduce Julia Luis Dreyfus because this has been and I don't know if there's plagiarism going on with the producers of this new reality show, but definitely the storyline are very closely being followed by the seasons of VEEP. If you if you want to know what's going to happen in American politics, just watch Veep. It's all been it's all been done before.
I had a friend text to me and say, between Veep and The Simpsons, we have no right to be surprised anymore.
The Simpsons does predict, It does everything bizarrely, so.
I don't consider you know, people. I saw someone tweet the other day like the term conspiracy theorist has gotten to twisted, and I agree with that. I will say it is a bit of a I would still dub it a conspiracy theory that like there's a time traveler who came back and wrote The Simpsons, which some people think, but I'm starting to.
First of all, in situations like this where the President of the United States says he's not running again, the Internet wins immediately. It's one of the reasons why I think SNL struggles so much, because the Internet wins so quickly in these situations, and they have crushed it. Someone says, been kind of funny the other day. It's like, in this day and age of conspiracy theory is only a theory for about forty eight hours, and now it's and
then it plays out. It has been such an interesting, in all seriousness, historic, interesting, compelling time in the world of politics. First and foremost, could anybody be happier than morning shows and cable news who were all but obsolete? I mean, these these MSNBC, Fox, CNN, doesn't matter who you watch. All the ratings were down. Everybody was struggling. This is the shot in the arm that they needed.
Yes, and I want to get into that, But I want to back up for a second and hit on what you and I had talked about earlier, because you just introduced it. But I feel like I need to go back into interview mode with you when we were talking about and look, we usually don't get political, and we're not going to. I don't want to get into policies and specifics here. I always think that you and I give people a place where like, yes, we want to be real and get into the reality of life.
But also there's a lot of places you can get specifics on politics and policy where people have more expertise than us. So that isn't really our place. But every citizen in our country has been glued to the news. I think, or should be. Abody's talking about it based
on what's happening, and so it's real. And what's funny to me about the word real is you turned to me and this is part of why we wanted to get into it, and you said, this feels like a reality show like it's a like the election cycle from the assassination, attempt not to make light of that, but that and now the Biden stepping down or stepping aside. Some people have compared it to the West Wing. But you said, this feels like a reality show. Why what about it feels that way.
It feels so heavily produced, all of it, And if you think any of this has been left up to chance, it reminds So. I just talked to some interns at this local production company here in Austin, and they were asking me about the reality of reality TV. I get this question a lot. How real is the Bachelor? How real is this show? That show? And I said, there's this spectrum. I always say, there's this huge spectrum. There
are shows that are one hundred percent produced. Then there's kind of The Bachelor that's kind of in the middle where the reality, the fish bowl environment is created. Then you drop people into that environment. What happens within that environment that you have one hundred percent created is the reality of it. Then there are game shows. Then you have to be very careful because, as I explained, there's standards and practices and lawyers because money's involved, so.
Kind of those competition shows.
Yes, the competition shows like Dance with a Star, Survivor, etc. You have to be very careful. Yes you want drama, Yes you want to push those buttons, but you can only go so far. The Bachelor there's no money on the line. It's one of the reasons we got rid of Bachelor Pad, where there was money involved. We wanted to be more involved where we could push those buttons. So, long story short, I think we're right in line with the with what's going on here. This is being produced.
This is just a reality show. We are we're excitedly watching this, watching the news. The news isn't in on it. By the way, you know, we had this weird I know technically Biden says he pulled out, but he just there was this piece of paper that was sent without official letterhead. It wasn't his letterhead, it wasn't the White House letterhead. He didn't sign it. It was some electronic signature. Then the mainstream media jumped on that. Kamala Harris is it was really weird.
Well a lot of people. I haven't seen him right, and I think people think that's strange. Like you and I always go to like this doesn't pass the smell test. The thing is, every single thing that has happened feels weird, like the assassination attempt. Again, I'm not like a conspiracy theorist that I think aliens are walking in human bodies among us. Okay, but there's a difference between conspiracy theorists, which I think a lot of people throw that term
now to get people to stop asking questions. And we should ask questions. We should investigate. We should figure out what happened. A presidential candidate in our country, no matter how you feel about him, was almost shot and killed. And I don't want to see America descend into like Mexico that just had thirty what was it, thirty seven people who are trying to run for president be murdered.
It's awful. So we have to investigate these things. You have to put on a little bit of a what are the theories hat here and ask, well, what was this person's motivation? Why have they not found a manifesto yet? Like that feels a little weird. Why was he apparently in a black Rock commercial? Why you know there are so many.
How did he get three shots off three shots?
How did a twenty year old kid buy the Where did he get the gun? You know, there's all these questions that we should be asking. And then I go back too, as you were just saying, everything feels a little weird. I didn't realize. Someone pointed out, like we look to our own history. When Lyndon B. Johnson stepped down, he'd give He gave a forty minute on camera addressed to the nation.
Around the Oval office, right. It was, Yeah, there is decorum to this there and what we've seen, sorry, what we haven't seen is the best producing of all and that that's why I find this very interesting and it's very well produced. The question is who's the executive producer or executive producers? Because you heard a lot of people supposedly allegedly talked yesterday, although we didn't hear him, see him, nothing official from Biden. It was all the It was on Twitter for crying outline.
Okay, so you were a producer on one of the most successful reality shows of all time. You helped create the reality TV world as a producer and working I mean I know more so you worked with the people who are really producing the show, and some things you knew and some things you didn't. But knowing how they operate. What about this to you feels produced?
What do you need? You need story? We have that for days. You also need characters that were very emotionally involved in and if those characters are rivals, all the better. We have found out very recently Joe Biden and Barack Obama do not like each other. There is a vitriol there and there is a hatred that we are now learning more and more about. That is perfect for our show.
So you have Biden desperately trying to hold onto power. Cognitively, now we can all admit what we've known for three years, he's not well. Then you have Barack Obama, who's allegedly many conspiracies say he's been running it from behind the scenes. Whether this is conjecture, whether it's true. This is such great drama. Who didn't speak yesterday? The Obamas. Then you have this third party. You always have to have that kind of third party, like the dark Horse enter the Clintons.
So it's such great theater and it is reality TV. Like reality TV. We're just we're watching this, We're glued to our seats, We're watching the news thinking that all of this has happenstance. All of this is just happening haphazardly. This is wild all along. Was it an accident that this happened the day after the you know, the week after the rn C. No, of course not. It after the RNC so they couldn't talk about who was running. But a month as much time as possible before we
get to the DNC. This is such good production. And if you think that this hasn't been laid out for you all the way to November, just watch. This isn't over yet. If you think that Kamala Harris is just going to calmly walk into this and going to run for president, you haven't watched a lot of reality TV. That's not how this is going to go.
It's just not We've always said, if there's two industries that are similar, and i've side of the country, it's DC and Hollywood, and they have they're just similar, but they're different industries. And you're right. You need characters, you need emotional attachment that I mean, and you need for people to believe. Listen, you always said, like the reason that people love the show The Bachelor so much, and there is some truth to this, It isn't all fake.
But it's like they needed to believe that love was real. And I think in this case people need to believe that, like democracy is real. But it seems to be getting more and more the veil seems to be getting the curtain pulled back more and more and more. I think in the.
Pause, are all just right, left, these are just people?
Well, look, I mean and and and part of it is because of social media and the fact that everybody has a phone in their hand. I mean, think about Look, the jfk assassination attempt has been such a mystery for so many years because we got one bit of footage the Zuppruder film, you know, that's all we got with this. Everybody there had a cell phone in their hand. Very quickly.
We already got the curtain pulled back a little bit that people knew the guy was on the roof, and there's footage of people shouting he's on the roof, So why wasn't it, you know, address there's so much like it's harder to pull off behind the scenes things these days, as you learn in reality TV.
But yeah, and you are seeing so much unfold so quickly, and the press is already you know, the machine is working, but this is far from over and I find it tragic, sad, fascinating. But as I also say, the only thing that really hurts a reality show is apathy, meaning the audience doesn't care. We all couldn't care more this because at the end of the day, this is a game show, because what's the prize at the end? Leader of the free world,
ultimate power, the most powerful position in the world. And then you enter the Vanguards, the Black Rocks, these other companies that own eighty percent of the world's money and industry. Are are they the actual executive producers of all this? It is crazy? How about George Clooney being involved. So I was listening to several podcasts this morning because George Clooney very oddly kind of put out that statement about asking George or asking Joe Biden to step down.
Yeah, and he was the one behind that big fundraiser where Biden was seen on stage with Obama and Obama kind of appeared to help him walk off the stage.
It's out that George was kind of pushed and urged on by his friend Barack Obama because he's friends with Obama, He's not friends with Joe Biden. People are taking sides now. Jon Favreau, who is a speech writer, he's part of the pod boys who kind of came out. So it's very interesting the characters that involved, how everybody's playing this game that is truly emerged out of all this.
I think you're right, people have a lot of Again, like I said before, people have compared it to the West Wing. Aaron Sorkin even he changed his tune really quickly. He wrote an op ed saying, if I was scripting this, the Democrats should put up. And then I think a day later, when Biden stepped down, I'm not joking. A day later he said, okay, I take it all back. I stand with Kamala. I'm like, okay, okay.
Well, but Joe was so defiant that he wasn't going to step down. I mean up to ask several hours before all this he was being so defiant, and word is now leaking about how defiant he was and how angry he was and doctor Joe Biden.
But what I was going to say is, I think it's more I think you're right, it's more reality. It's more like reality TV than it is a scripted show. Because there's the difference of you know, when you're scripting something, people take it as it is, and I think, I guess what I'm trying to say is I think with reality TV, now we've seen again how we kind of believe this reality, but we're now able to, like we're questioning it, and now more and more people are able
to deeply question it and pull the curtain back. And that's happening in Paul.
Now, you're right, it's the tails wagging the dog or the dogs wagging the tail. I'm not sure anymore. Baby, it happened with The Bachelor and Reality TV first.
You're right, So I think you and I also always like where we find our way to, you know, talk about these things, like where we feel valid in discussing it beyond just at home, but on the podcast or
wherever is where our expertise lies. And we were both journalists for a long time, and I have for the first time in a long time since the debate between Biden and Trump, and since the assassination attempt turned on cable news, like for the first time in a while, because a few years ago, I was just so tired of a split screen of ten talking heads screaming at each other, and I thought, this is not the business I came to get into. This is not good journalism,
and I couldn't watch it anymore. But when things are happening on this level, you just have to like get the insight and turn it on. And I will say I've been surprised by I thought that both Fox and CNN were both a bit more back to what I wanted them to be than a few years ago. I have to give them credit there MSNBC I still found to be like, what is it was so one sided there?
They're off the rails.
Yes, but like Fox, and I will say, I'm not talking about like the late night shows or stuff like that, but just the during the day coverage when the assassination attempt happened, and then the post debate coverage. In those blocks, I found both CNN and Fox News to be better than they had been a few years ago at bringing alternate voices in so that the discussion was more in depth versus just we're giving you one side.
I'm like you the producer in me, I never watch one channel. If you looked at my yeah, we go back and if you look at my viewing, you'd be like, who does this guy support, Like, who does he watch? I watch them all because I think it's fascinating to go from one to the other to the other and hear them spin and what they decide is important, what they tell you is important, and then really just give you their opinions, which is very interesting. The journalism is
very interesting to me. And we can talk about that because there is the broadcast networks that's ABC, CBS, and Fox. Then there's the cable deep cable and that is MSNBC, CNN, Fox, and then the News Nation all the other ones and now Merritt Street. But the delineation was network news. The Tom Brokaws and all those of the world would never give you their opinion. Technically they kind of could slide it in and how they covered something, but it was
supposed to be completely unbiased journalism. The deep cable network started like that, that was the idea.
Well, yeah, CNN just started is breaking twenty four seven news?
Yeah, that's all gone. Now it's you have the Rachel Maddow's Joy reads whatever. They're just telling you what they think. Now. There is no news. There is no journey, I think, but I get.
But my point is I think a few years ago, it was a lot worse. And I do think CNN under Chris Lick, who's now gone, but he was trying to push them more back towards the center, and then Fox News like Pol Tucker Carlson after that big lawsuit, and I think they were trying to push a little bit more towards the center, not completely because they have to rely on this opinionated coverage for their ratings.
They're still obviously.
I think you can really see it in breaking news, and I thought with the breaking news of Biden's stepping down and of the assassination attempt, they were more moderate than I expected them to be, and I it made me a little hopeful. I as wild as everything is right now. I actually was thinking this this morning and
I was getting ready. I feel a little bit hopeful, more hopeful actually than I did a few years ago, because I think with this election, we have the opportunity for the first time in a while, for like some for people to not feel defeated, for them to care about something, for us to all feel like maybe change
can happen. I feel, and I'm just speaking of the sense of like me and my friends and people we know, but like, I think the past couple years have felt really hard and really dark, and so maybe there's hope here. I hope for hope, and the glimpse of the difference in coverage made me feel a little bit better.
Did you say hope and change?
That sounds familiar, unburdened by what has been, I hope for hope in the terrific new context. It's gonna be great. I'm just trying to do all of our politicians.
How about that? How about that? Like of all this, Trump is barely even a character in this reality show going on, like they still have to pull him into this.
True? Who would have thought the Democratic Party would be the absolute you know that they would be the f boys in Paradise right now. That's what's happening.
It is such, It is such good reality and kudos to the writers, Kudos to the producers. You guys have done an amazing job. I can't wait to see how this plays out leading into the DNC, Because again, if you think there's like, Okay, we've come to our conclusion, oh, you have not been watching reality TV over the last ten, fifteen, twenty years. This will get much better and this will continue to change.
By better, you mean more dramatic.
More dramatic. This will be the most dramatic election ever, and I'm with you, LZ. At the end of the day, the good news maybe the bright spot out of this. We're all paying attention more, we're all caring more. Yeah, there's more craziness on social media and all that, but at the end of the day, we're all involved and that is the most important thing in our democracy, is that we all have a voice. So we all care and we will keep you up to date on this
reality show. I can't wait to see episode two. We will talk to you again next time because we have a lot more to talk about. Thanks for listening. Follow us on Instagram at the most Dramatic Pod ever, and make sure to write us a review and leave us five stars. I'll talk to you next time.