You carried yourself with grace and dignity for eight whole years. So, on behalf of comedians and talk show hosts everywhere, were gonna miss you, joe [ cheers and applause ] you got us through, buddy. President obama surprised his white house staffers with a private concert by Bruce Springsteen to thank them for their work over the last eight years. Meanwhile, trump thanked his supporters with a performance by a Bruce Springsteens cover brands drummers dj friend. [ laughter and applause ] [ audience boos ] tomorrow at noon eastern time, donald trump will be sworn in as the 45th and final president of the United States. [ laughter and applause ] take us home, buddy. Donald trump will be sworn in as president of the United States tomorrow. Thats right. Tomorrow we will go from this Amazing Grace [ cheers and applause ] seth to this. Bing Bing Bong BongBing Bing Bing [ laughter and applause ] seth basically basically, we as a nation are going from the first season of lost to the last season. As it turns out, were all in purgatory. Thats the best case scenario. [ light laughter ] thats right. Donald trump becomes the president of the United States tomorrow, so step aside, russian prostitutes. Its our turn to pee a little bit. [ laughter and applause ] donald trump donald trump will be attending the liberty and freedom and salute to our Armed Services balls after his inauguration tomorrow. Hell then spend the next four years tending to Vladimir Putins balls. [ cheers and applause ] north korea is reportedly readying two Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles to nuke Donald Trumps inauguration. Listen, tubby, youre gonna have to do a lot better than that if you want to scare us this weekend. [ laughter ] the senate began its confirmation hearing today for Energy Secretary nominee former texas governor, rick perry. And to look prepared, rick perry wore double glasses. [ laughter ] ill have to check my notes. [ light laughter ] donald trump said in a speech today that his cabinet has by far the highest iq of any cabinet ever assembled. Then someone asked him what iq stands for, and he yelled, fake news, and ran away. [ laughter and applause ] fake news. Madam Tussauds Wax Museum unveiled new lifesize donald trump figures yesterday in new york, london, and at trumps request, Daily White House briefings. [ laughter ] mr. President , are you with us . [ laughter ] and finally, donald trump and president obama will have coffee at the white house tomorrow morning before trumps swearing in ceremony. Well, one of them will be having coffee. [ laughter and applause ] ladies and gentlemen youve earned it, ladies and gentlemen. [ cheers and applause ] weve got a great show for you tonight. We have some really fantastic guests. He is a fantastic actor, a wonderful guy. Hes got a new show on sirus xm radio, jim parsons is too stupid for politics. Jim parsons is here tonight. [ cheers and applause ] here tonight and from foxs fantastic show gotham, ben mckenzie is back on late night. [ cheers and applause ] im so happy to have him back with us. And they are the cohosts of pod save america, the number one ranked pod cast on itunes. Jon farreau and dan pfeiffer are here tonight. [ cheers and applause ] perfect time to have those two gentlemen here to talk about all the changes we are going through as a country. Before we get to all of that, donald trump will be sworn in tomorrow as the 45th president of the United States. For more on this, its time for a closer look. [ cheers and applause ] seth we are about to witness a landmark moment in American History tomorrow, not just the inauguration of a new president , but the inauguration of a president who may very well be the least popular incoming president in modern history. Donald trump will become president on friday with recordlow Approval Ratings. Just 32 of americans have a favorable view of the president elect, and thats lower than any president elect that cbs news has measured going back to Ronald Reagan back in 1981. President elect trump is taking office with the lowest Approval Ratings that anybody can find in recent memory. Yeah. Seth can you feel the excitement . [ laughter ] its like getting ready for the super bowl if the super bowl was the Cleveland Browns versus players who were cut by the Cleveland Browns. [ laughter ] and yet, despite his recordlow Approval Ratings and the fact he hasnt even taken office yet, trump told the Washington Post in an interview wednesday that hes already got a Campaign Slogan for 2020. Here is how the post described that conversation. Halfway through his interview, trump shared a bit of news. He already has decided oh his slogan for a reelection bid in 2020. are you ready . he said. keep America Great, exclamation point. [ laughter ] keep America Great . [ light laughter ] you havent done anything yet. Youre like a guy who goes into a Job Interview and talks about plans for his retirement party. [ light laughter ] i picked out the gold watch you guys should buy me, and its topnotch. [ laughter and applause ] but there actually was [ applause ] there actually was one part of the slogan trump wasnt totally sure about. get me my lawyer, the president elect shouted. Two minutes later, one arrived. will you trademark and register keep America Great with an exclamation point, with or without an exclamation . [ laughter ] first of all, get me my lawyer will probably end up being a much more appropriate slogan for president trump. [ cheers and applause ] second, given how trump operates, hell probably start with keep America Great, exclamation point, then drop the exclamation point. Them after putin threatens to annex rhode island, well be down to just keep america. [ laughter ] but while trump is focused on 2020, preparations for this inauguration have apparently been a little rocky. After reports of alist celebrities refusing invites to his inauguration, trump tweeted last month, the socalled alist celebrities are all wanting tickets to the inauguration, but look what they did for hillary. Nothing. I want the people. Who does he think he is convincing with tweets like that . He sounds like a senior getting ready for prom. All the popular girls asked me to go, but i wanted to go with my mom. [ laughter and applause ] shes got a drivers license, and she always packs juice boxes. [ light laughter ] and its perfectly reasonable to make the case that having celebrities at an inauguration is overrated. Thats perfectly reasonable. But trumps claim that he doesnt want celebrities was undermined by this report from entertainment website, the wrap that claimed, quote, trumps team is struggling so hard to book alist performers for his inaugural festivities, that it offered ambassadorships to at least two talent bookers if they could deliver marquee names. You get an ambassadorship for booking an inauguration performer . If that were the case, you can bet Chris Christie would be coldcalling everybody in the los angeles phone book. [ laughter and applause ] please, please, rihanna. If you do this, i could be ambassador to chile, and i love chilis. [ laughter and applause ] but trumps team is apparently not worried. In fact, the chair of his inaugural committee explained to cnn that in a way, the inaugural ceremonies would feature plenty of celebrities. We have three of the greatest celebrities in the world here already. We have president obama, number one celebrity in the world as it exists today. We have this, washington d. C. , which is a stage that is incomparable anywhere in the world, and we have the president elect donald trump. [ laughter ] seth so your three celebrities are two people who have to be there, and the city it takes place in . [ laughter ] and also the sun will be overhead tomorrow, and Everybody Loves the sun. And need i remind you, the sun is literally a huge star. So thats four. [ laughter ] [ cheers and applause ] so trumps team trumps team has insisted they dont care about the fanfare or the lack of celebrities. In fact, a spokesman for the inaugural Committee Said they were intentionally scaling back the typical theatrics because, quote, the inauguration ceremony ultimately is about getting to work. Thats right. Its all about getting to work. So i assume we can expect to see trump at his desk signing executive orders as soon as hes done with the ceremony, right . Though his term officially begins at noon on friday, trump said in an interview with the times of london that the work will begin in earnest next week, saying he will sign orders beginning, quote, day one, which i will consider to be monday, as opposed to friday or saturday, right . I mean, my day one is gonna be monday because i dont want to be signing and getting it mixedup with lots of celebration. [ audience ohs ] seth yeah, totally makes sense. Take the weekend off. In fact, take the next four years off. You earned it, buddy. [ cheers and applause ] working so hard at those rallies. And then, there is the question of what trump will say in his speech. Its a crucial moment for a man entering office with historically low Approval Ratings to prove himself to his critics and try to unite the country. And to that prove that hes personally writing the speech, trump tweeted this photo yesterday with the caption, writing my inaugural address at the winter white house, maralago, three weeks ago. Looking forward to friday. Time to connect with the american people. Jeeves, fetch my writing cufflinks. [ laughter ] he has the face of the dude with the laptop at starbucks who you know is never finishing that screenplay. [ light laughter ] open on space monsters. [ laughter ] now to preview their inaugural addresses, president s often give clues by mentioning who they are drawing inspiration from. In 2009, barack obama said hed be reading Abraham Lincoln speeches to prepare. So whats trump been reading . Well, some reporters tried to ask him during an interview in his Trump Tower Office this week which books hes read that he would recommend, and he give this cryptic answer, quote, i like a lot of books. I like reading books. I dont have the time to read very much now in terms of the books, but i like reading them. [ laughter ] i dont have the time to read very much now in terms of the books. [ laughter ] he sounds like an alien pretending to be a high school student. [ laughter ] i very much love the skateboarding and the kissing with the girls and also, im going to prom with my mom. My choice. [ laughter ] we did get a little more information about trumps Reading Habits in that interview, though. When trump was asked about his intelligence briefings, quote, trump says he likes his briefings short. Ideally one page if its in writing. i like bullets, or i like as little as possible. ideally, i like my security briefings delivered via fortune cookie. [ laughter and applause ] because that way, even if its bad news, you still have the cookie. [ laughter ] the most exciting thing about tomorrows inauguration is this the moment trump takes his hand off the bible tomorrow, he may very well be in violation of the constitution. Thats because he has not divested from his company or put his holdings in a blind trust. Even the chief ethics lawyer for george w. Bush has said as much. Do you believe he is going to be in violation of the constitution when he takes that oath on friday . I believe yes. If he does not make sure that all the Foreign Government payments, that all of that money is not out of the Trump Organization by friday when he takes the oath, he will be in violation of the constitution. Seth i guess that explains the inaugural schedule. Noon, swearing in. 3 00 p. M. , inaugural parade. 6 00 p. M. , impeachment hearing. [ laughter ] [ cheers and applause ] and then, there is the fact that when trump does officially take office, hell be relying on a cabinet consisting mostly of incredibly unqualified people who seem either unprepared for or actively hostile to the jobs they are taking, like his pick for education secretary betsy devos. At one point, devos was asked how she felt about guns in schools, which would seem to most people like a nobrainer, a slam dunk answer, and gave this baffling response. Do you think guns have any place in or around schools . I think thats best left to locales and states to decide. If the underlying question is you cant say definitively today that guns shouldnt be in schools . Well, i will refer back to senator enzi and the school that he was talking about in wapiti, wyoming. I think, probably there, i would imagine that there is probably a gun in the school to protect from potential grizzlies. [ laughter ] seth thats right, you need guns in school to protect from grizzly bears, but what do you do about the grizzlies who are under cover . [ laughter ] are you sure . You better be sure before you take the shot because that may be a grizzly [ laughter ] or its a super hairy kid. [ laughter ] i need a gun in school because i brought my mom to prom, and a bear ate her. [ laughter ] or the finest moment of the confirmation hearings so far was from trumps nominee from Energy Secretary, rick perry, who would be in charge of our Nations Nuclear arsenal. Again, this is a clip from a man who would be in charge our nuclear arsenal. Thank you so much for coming into my office. Did you enjoy meeting me . [ laughter ] i hope you were as much fun on that dais as you were on your couch. Well [ laughter and applause ] may i rephrase that, sir . Please, please. [ laughter ] [ imitates explosion ] [ applause ] seth this has been a closer look. [ cheers and applause ] well be back with more late night everybody. [ cheers and applause ] introducing a deodorant saving millions of clothes. New degree ultraclear black white. No yellow stains on white clothes. No white marks on black clothes. New degree ultraclear black white. It wont let you down. Dont let the food you eat during the day haunt you at night. Nexium 24hr. Shuts down your stomachs active acid pumps. To stop the burn of frequent heartburn. All day and night. Have we seen them before . Banish the burn with nexium 24hr. Remember 2007 . Smartphones . O m g ten years later, nothings really changed. Its time to snap out of it. Hello moto. Snap on a jbl speaker. Put a 70 screen on a wall. Get a 10x optical zoom. Get excited world. Hello moto. Moto is here. The moto z with motomods. Get 50 off on moto z droid. [ping] [ping] [glass breaking] [statue breaking] hello, mr. Ortiz. Do you have a tax question . Yeah, im teaching tennis on the side now. Thats nice. But im going through a lot of balls. Can i deduct them . In your case, yes. You can enter your expenses right here. Oh, cool. Hey, david. Are you ready for your lesson . [ping] just like that. Oh, okay. [ cheers and applause ] seth welcome back, everybody. Please give it up for the 8g band right over there. [ cheers and applause ] also, this week weve been very lucky to heave been joined by an excellent drummer from the california based rock band black level motorcycle club, who will be releasing a brandnew album later this year. Leah shapiro, everybody [ cheers and applause ] thank you so much for a fantastic week, leah. Thank you. Seth okay, so the day after Donald Trumps inauguration, i dont know if you heard this, but hundreds of thousands of protesters are expected to attend the womens march on washington in our nations capital. In fact, three of my writers are going to the march, and theyre here to talk about it now. Please welcome, amber, jenny, and allie. [ cheers and applause ] hey, seth hey, seth thanks for having us. Seth okay, so, guys, tell me why are you all going to the womens march . Easy, were marching to speak out against Sexual Assault and normalizing locker room talk. Well, yes, but as a gay woman, i have to say, the key message of the march is there will be consequences if the Supreme Court tries to overturn our equal rights. Uhhuh, yeah, sure. But since black women are the most marginalized, were really going to protest voting right suppression and gerrymandering. Oh, my gosh, totally. But normalizing assault is, like, the worst, so well, well, i mean, its up there, but above it is taking away equal rights. But black women, so, yeah. [ laughter ] seth okay, so who are all these messages for . Oh, trump. Pence and the Supreme Court. White dudes . [ laughter ] seth there is some concerns protest could get out of hand. What would you do if you were confronted by a Police Officer . Id allow the officer to arrest me for the cause. Id allow the officer to arrest me for the cause. Id allow the officer to arrest them for the cause. [ laughter and applause ] seth i see, i see. Now a march is an all day event. What are you preparing to bring . Oh, a thermos of rose. Lotion. My business cards. [ laughter ] seth business cards, why . Seth, were talking about a hundred thousand hot and bothered feminists squashed up against each other. Im going to clean up. [ laughter and applause ] seth yeah, but, im sorry, you use business cards . Ill a lesbian. Were all business. [ laughter ] seth okay, got it. [ applause ] so what else are you preparing for the march . Oh, we made matching shirts. Like this. And this. I made my own. [ laughter and applause ] seth so in addition to the march, do you have anything else planned for your time in d. C. . Oh, yeah, were going to go to a Washington Capitals game. Were going to visit the National Museum of african American History and culture. I thought we could all go see la la land. Not again. Not la la land. Im sorry. Im not seeing that again. Seth okay, so it sounds like you all arent really in agreement about your intentions for the march. Listen, at the end of the day, we all agree this march is about women from different backgrounds coming together to make sure this administration respects our rights. Absolutely. Agreed. And that vaccines cause autism. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a second. Thats not seth give it up for allie, jenny, and amber, everybody [ cheers and applause ] well be right back with more late night. [ cheers and applause ] you could spend the next few days weeding through w2s, pay stubs and Bank Statements to refinance your home. Or you could push that button. Sfx rocket launching. Cockpit sounds. Skip the bank, skip the paperwork, and go completely online. 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I heard at night, the boogeyman checks under the bed for chuck. I heard cats say they have chucklike reflexes. Do you think hes still got it . I bet you a buck he catches this salt shaker. Youre on hey chuck you owe me a buck. You cant always see whats coming but when you choose unitedhealthcare, finding an innetwork doctor thats close to home is easy. So what happened . I had lunch with chuck norris. Unitedhealthcare. [ cheers and applause ] seth welcome back, everybody. Our first guest is a fourtime emmy winner who stars in the hit series the big bang theory. Starting tomorrow, you can hear his new radio show, jim parsons is too stupid for politics on sirus xms radio andy channel. Please welcome to the show jim parsons, everybody. Seth how are you . Im wonderful. How are you . Seth im really good. Its great to have you here. Good to be here. Seth when you have a podcast called jim parsons is too stupid for politics im hoping thats a name you came up with. Yes, it certainly is. Seth okay good. And i meant it from the bottom of my heart. Seth you meant it from the bottom i really did. I really did. Not because i think im actually a stupid person but i just feel there was especially something about this last election i think to say the least that made me feel boy, am i worked up and passionate and lhlh well, and then but i dont always know exactly why, you know. I mean, i get headlines and i get a couple sentences into things and then i kind of break down. And i think part of it its not the news. I love the news. I love podcasts. Your guests that are coming up, i listen to their podcast all the time. And i love all these things, but these are frequently people that are so smart about all this stuff that there is for me at least theres a certain secondhand language going on seth right. And so the fighting can ensue at a very deep level for them and a very passionate level for them quicker than im able to keep up with. And honestly, the thing im more scared about than anything is im going to get some guests on and i dont theyre going to get three sentences out and im like, im sorry, what again is nafta . [ laughter ] im sorry. I mean, when i say stupid, i mean seth but, you know, its interesting, because yes. Seth its not, of course, stupid, its just no, not literally. Its uninformed. Seth but i think i feel like there are so many people who want to be more informed. Yep. Seth and i think its nice that youre putting in a position of hey, everybody, i i think because there is that thing where you dont know what nato is and you never learn what nato is and then its too late, youre too old, and you cant say whats nato . Lhlh its like, i mean at this point, not knowing what your name is. Like i cant ask what your name is at this point. Seth yeah, if you ask now id say, weve known each other for a decade. Lhlh hey, buddy. It would be awkward. Seth hey, buddy. Hey buddy, guy. Is there a blog anywhere with his name . There it is. Yeah, thats exactly right. Seth and its great that as the host you can now you can totally have it at your pace. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Seth do you think the guests know that theyre coming on a show where theyre really gonna have to spell it out for you . Well, its in the title. I hope so. Look, my main goal here, both first and foremost for myself and if somebody else gets anything out of it, yay but i can only be selfishly focused to work on this and it is to i feel like if i understand processes and specifics better, it puts me in a better position to hear another side. Because again, the passion and the whatever is rightfully there and i just want to make sure that i dont jump there so quick that i no longer am able to hear but here is the thing. Anything that happens good, in government, in the world, anything that i think is wonderful, i know somewhere deep inside there is a cost to it somehow. Whether its financial or peoples or something. The same goes for anything terrible sounding to me. I know most of things like that, there is some reasoned argument behind it. So look, i may still end up saying oh, thats still terrible after i hear the facts, but at least then ill hear them. Seth i think its more the thing i took away from the election is a complete appreciation for all the things i didnt know. And all the things i didnt know what people were thinking and i think its nice that youre taking the steps because i think all of us could do a lot better to listen to people that do not share our views. Absolute look, i am right now in my current life as a 43yearold, i am a gay man who lives on a coast, who works in hollywood. And that checks off certain boxes. But until i was 26, i was a texan of a conservative family who went to church every weekend. My father was a plumbing supplies salesman and my mother a first grade teacher. And i will never forget this. Standing in line for my first election clinton, bush. And my father asked me who are you voting for . I had just started theater. I was a freshman in college. Im like, im im clinton. He goes, not while im paying for your life. Lhlh and i said, okay, and i went in and voted for bush. So seth he bought your vote. Thats voter fraud. He bought your vote. Its very true actually, isnt it . Im not saying that im unique, but i do feel intrinsically inside of me this pull. You know, i still have family and friends in texas and i know a lot of conservatives and obviously, i know a lot of liberals, too, and i dont know. Seth no i think thats good. I mean, i think its very fair to say that there is this coastal bubble, but i also think its fair to say there is a bubble everywhere. Seth everywhere, yeah. Everyone right now in the internet and social media i mean there is a million reasons for it. But this is again why im so attracted to process and literal facts about things, because if we can start there, it may seem minute and almost not even worth talking about but if you get all that groundwork, then i think that helps connect. Because that is not that doesnt have to be hard areas, you know . It will turn into hard areas immediately, difficult areas to talk about, but theres something just the very, very basics. We start there like, when do they start work in congress . I dont know. Thats not the right sentence, but you know what im saying. Seth who is your first guest though . This is interesting to me. My first guess is he is admiral steve rochon is his name. He used to be the chief usher at the white house. Seth what does the usher do . He well, im going to find out. But partly, i do know. He really many things, but he really is in charge of directing the house, and that includes parties and dignitaries coming over. But there is a really kind of home aspect to it and one of the reasons i want to talk to him two main reasons. Number one, he served at the end of the Bush White House into obama, so he went through a transition and not just transitioning but to like were doing now, two different sides of the coin. And also, what was my second point . Seth moving oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So its this just really human level of like the day to day stuff. Im dying to ask him, have the obamas been living around like packed boxes like we all do . Seth right. Because they are out of there tomorrow. Seth yeah. I see people on the news going, oh, yeah, the moving trucks are coming and im like, are they like us in an apartment . Like oh, my god, i cant live around these boxes anymore [ laughter ] you know. I cant imagine thats exactly it but there must be a touch of it. Where am i going to put my toothbrush . You know. I dont know. Seth or just the movers coming like, ah ah ah exactly. No, wait im crying. But i think there is that level of connecting. Theyre all human beings. And i dont mean to be whistling past a graveyard. I know there are probably people going, oh, no, hes not. You know, whatever. Thats not but just wait, wait. Back up. Hold up. I dont know. Seth yeah. Well, im glad i keep saying that, dont i . Its not a good sign. Seth i like two things i like that youre saying you dont know and i like that you started a podcast to try to get answers and try to know more. Dammit, i will. Seth there you go, thanks so much for being here. Im thrilled to be here. Thank you very much. Seth jim parsons, everybody. Jim parsons is too stupid for politics starts tomorrow on sirus xm radio andy channel. Well be right back with ben mckenzie. Are you getting this . These numbers are off the charts. Sir whats the status . Theres a meteor hurtling towards earth. How long until impact . Less than a minute. What do you want to do, sir . Listen carefully. 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Construst number one doctor recommended dulcolax use dulcolax tablets for gentle overnight relief suppositories for relief in minutes and stool softeners for comfortable relief of hard stools. Dulcolax, designed for dependable relief [ cheers and applause ] seth welcome back, everybody. You know our next guest from shows like the o. C. And southland. Hes currently starring as jim gordon on the third season of gotham. New episodes air monday nights on fox. Lets take a look. James gordon. The james gordon. Thats actually you. So cool. Im meeting you. You should thank your friends. Theyre the ones who left you behind. Eh. Id have done the same. Tell me where he took jerome. Why . You cant stop it. Stop what . The night of the awakening. You mean waking up jerome. Jerome is just the first step. You think were a small band, but we are everywhere. Seth please welcome back to the show ben mckenzie. [ cheers and applause ] seth thanks for being here. My pleasure. Thanks for having me. Seth we were talking a little bit about this backstage, but congratulations. Since the last time you were here, you had a baby. I did. Seth baby girl. [ cheers and applause ] yes. Seth and ours are very close. Very close. Within weeks. Seth the same month. And how is it going . How is your baby girl . Shes crawling. Seth okay. Which, uh seth game changer. Yeah, game changer for sure. Our house now has all those rubber things on every possible surface. Seth right. Doesnt do wonders for the look of the house but it is safer. Seth exactly. I found it fascinating the change from sort of, come on, you can do it like crawl, crawl, crawl you know the sort of like im a little competitive, as you seth sure, yeah. And new york city parents are very competitive and so it becomes this battle who can crawl first. And then as soon as they start crawling, you sort of take the cute video and then you go, stop dont do that. Dont hit that. Seth right, they all of a sudden have the power to just be a nightmare. Theyre just a menace. Absolutely. Mainly to themselves. Seth i mean i feel like its that thing where you say, come in the other room hes crawling and then you turn around and hes gone. Youre like, oh no, i lost the baby exctly. Seth hes mobile now. We have lost the baby. Indeed. Indeed. Indeed. And her brother, who is three, loves hugs but also head locks. Its sort of a seth okay, got you. [ light laughter ] oh, you cant tell if its a loving hug or just kind of slowly yeah, like sometimes its like oh, you really want to hug her really hard, dont you . [ light laughter ] seth we saw from the clip one of the great things about gotham is theres fantastic villains. Yes. Seth you have taken such advantage of the batman universe and last time you were here you said that the show has sort of reached the point of cacophony of villainy. Yes. Seth are we still at cacophony . We keep amping it up. Were trying to avoid cluster [bleep]. Seth okay, gotchya. [ laughter ] so youre trying to so stay right below that with cacophony. Were ramping up to it but we dont want to get there too soon. Seth that is kind of i feel like when you drive into gotham, it says, welcome to gotham, a cluster [bleep]of villains. [ laughter ] indeed, indeed. We have a lot of villains, a lot of scary things that are about to happen, as you can tell from that clip. Seth of course. Not to mention his make up and his hair and everything. Seth hes definitely a guy whos a villain. Hes does not seem nice. Seth that wasnt James Gordons best detective work to say i think hes a guy. Wait a minute. [ laughter ] you seem fishy. Cameron monaghan, who plays our joker character, is back, and we have a lot of good villains this year. Seth and you directed an episode this year. I did. Yeah, i just finished, which was a blast. Seth have you directed episodes on any other shows you worked on . Never. Seth never . Okay. [ light laughter ] i didnt tell them that. [ laughter ] seth oh, right, yeah. Was it hard to direct yourself . A little bit, yeah. It was a little bit odd. You know i had to have playback and whatnot. But what was interesting was sort of how much i actually didnt know that i knew until i got there, you know what i mean . Seth sure. It was like, oh, i know the answer to that question because ive sat here for three years and sort of been like, are you sure you want to do it that way . And everybody has to say yes to you because youre going to be here next week as an actor. Seth they cant treat you like garbage because youre only here for an episode. There are a lot of like you have a great idea for a shot, or what you thought was a great idea, and theyd be like, yeah, great. Well totally sure. And then you come back and theyd be like, were doing something else. Itd be like, what happened . [ laughter ] its like, eh, you know, we just oh, really . I cant even remember. It was really, really fun, man. I really, really enjoyed it. We have an amazing cast, so to able to work with them in that way, it was really fun. Seth thats great. You obviously have worked on other shows, southland. We mentioned the o. C. That is a show that i imagine you still have people coming up and talking to you about it. That was such a passionate yes, uh yes. For example, when i lived in los angeles, a very nice lady came up to me at one of my favorite breakfast places and said she said, im Clint Eastwoods wife. And we watch the show. The kids watch the show. She introduced me to their adorable children. And i said thank you very much, and we had small talk and she said, just so you know, clint watches the show. And i i sort of my jaw dropped. I said in what way does he watch the show . [ laughter ] why does he watch the show . Well, when hes babysitting, he watches the show. So i now have this image of client eastwood in his boxers [ laughter ] drinking a beer, watching ryan and marissa and seth and summer. Like, will they or wont they, you know . [ laughter ] and i will never get it out of my head. Sure enough, i ended up running into him as you do in l. A. , you know, a few times at parties, and no clue whatsoever who i was. So she was probably just lying through her teeth, but it was very sweet. Seth so sweet. It makes me i wish there was you could get o. C. Dvds and watch it with just a Clint Eastwood commentary track of just like [ laughter ] [ growling ] hes wrong for you. Its not gonna work out. Seth this is a bad boy. Dont make that mistake. [ laughter ] oh, thats nice. Seth i like that. [ laughter ] seth i like happy endings. Thats kind of sweet actually. Got me there. Seth thanks so much for being back. Congratulations on the show and the baby. Thank you. [ cheers and applause ] seth ben mckenzie, everyone. Gotham airs monday nights on fox. Well be right back with jon favreau and dan pfeiffer. [ cheers and applause ] remember 2007 . Smartphones . O m g ten years later, nothings really changed. Its time to snap out of it. Hello moto. Snap on a jbl speaker. Put a 70 screen on a wall. Get a 10x optical zoom. Get excited world. Hello moto. Moto is here. The moto z with motomods. Get 50 off on moto z droid. Youd see all the sickness ifyoure spreading. Ur cough, robitussin cf max severe soothes and delivers powerful relief of cough, sore throat, stuffy nose and fever. Robitussin cf max severe. Because its never just a cough. Hthe first ever chevy getcruze hatch. On but more importantly, i wanted to get your opinions. bark you wanna check it out . bark the cruze has apple carplay compatibility. So when you plug your iphone in, some of your favorite apps show up. bark plenty of space for all of mias friends. Or not. Gotta go current qualified lessees can get a sign and drive lease on this firstever cruze hatchback. 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Our next guests both worked for president obama. Their new podcast pod save america is currently number one in the itunes store with episodes released mondays and thursdays. Welcome to the show jon favreau and dan pfeiffer. [ cheers and applause ] seth welcome, gentlemen. Im so happy to have you here. Thanks for having us. Seth its a very interesting time to have you. It is. Seth you both worked in the obama white house. Senior advisor. You were chief speech writer. You actually interviewed you got the last interview with president barack obama in office. Managed to snag that, yeah. Seth you got him to do your podcast, which is a huge get. [ light laughter ] thats a huge get. Seth for him, the fact that he got to do a podcast. He must be like lucky guy. He was very excited. [ light laughter ] seth and obviously, tomorrow, donald trump being sworn in, being in the white house in the final days. How are you processing . How does this feel right now . Feels great. Wonderful. [ laughter ] no, its bizarre. I mean, we were there yesterday and, you know, theres moving trucks and boxes and everyone is leaving their offices and its weird to think that, you know, just eight years ago we were walking in there on our first day. Seth so talk about what a first day is like in the white house. Because it really is like, just the starting gun goes off and youre the president. Yeah. Yeah, you sit there in the cold. You watch your boss give this speech, become president of the United States. They put you on a bus. They drive you to the white house. They drop you off. The buildings empty. They show you to a door that has your name on it. You go inside, theres a postit note with a password for your computer, and youre in the charge of the country. Yeah, go. [ laughter ] go run the country. Yeah. Seth and are there do your predecessors leave notes . Is there any sense of, this is or is that handled in the transition . My predecessor left me some cigars in the drawer. [ light laughter ] thats about all i had. Seth thats about it. And obviously, we talked about it earlier in the show, president elect trump says hes going to get sworn in tomorrow, friday, and hes considering his first day monday. That is not that is unconventional, yes . Yeah, that doesnt usually happen. You dont get weekends off in the white house. [ light laughter ] seth what is what are what is the difference between a weekend and a weekday at the white house . Uh, you can not wear suits on the weekend. Although we wore a suit on the first weekend. Right. And the president called us in and said, in my white house, you can wear jeans on saturdays and sundays. Seth well, there you go. It was a laid back white house. [ light laughter ] so and then, working with president obama and i assume just in any sort of advisory role, or speech writing role, it must be strange to be in a position to give criticism or to be to feel as though in order to do your job you have to give criticism to the most powerful man in the world. Is that something you learned to do . How did you find your way to that . I remember the first day i ever wrote for him when he was still senator, and he edited a speech. He came over to my desk and he goes, so, i just i made a bunch of edits in the speech and i just want to make sure youre okay with these edits. And im like, youre barack obama. [ laughter ] yeah, im okay with the edits. So hes very good about it. Like, he always wants to hear opposing viewpoints. Hes he was very good. Seth are there people that are too afraid to give opposing viewpoints and then does that make them bad at their job . Well, its hard at first. Like, even if as smart as you are, or as tough as you are, you go in the oval office and the pageantry of it, its what you see on tv or in the west wing or whatever. But he demands that of you, and he sort of tests people early on. He often likes to argue the opposite point he believes to sort of test the parameters of the argument, and he kind of looks hell call on the new person to see what they will say about it. And those who will push back, he sort of makes a mental note, this might be someone whos gonna be very useful to me. Seth right. And if theyre just kind of like, yes, sir, that makes great sense. You know, he has a different opinion. Seth right, like if he says, i think beyonce is overrated, and people agree with him, theyre like, get rid of them. Thats right. [ laughter ] seth i gave them a layup and they blew it. Get them out of here. So i want to talk you did a podcast called keeping it 1600. Its now pod save america. Yes. Seth and its on so, Crooked Media. Tell me what Crooked Media is and what the game plan is. Yeah, so we wanted to create a place where you can talk about politics like normal people talk about politics. So we had this podcast, and, you know, during the election, it was a lot of political analysis. You know, we spent most of the time predicting hillary would win. So we nailed that one. [ laughter ] seth and in fact you had a word you had a word for democrats who were worried. Bed wetters. Seth you were calling them bed wetters. Yeah. Seth you said, youre overreacting, dont worry about this. Turns out the bed should have been wet. [ laughter ] seth i think it is, now. I think it technically is. I read something about that. [ laughter ] but one thing we did say is, you know, dont be bed wetters, go out and do something. Knock on doors, register people to vote. Seth right. And with this new podcast and this new company, we want to have a Media Company that encourages activism and encourages people to get organized and to actually do something. And so you dont just read the news, you actually do something about it. Seth you know, i think now as there is sort of this postop of the election, certainly the democrats are looking at what happened, went wrong. You have a theory about this idea of an electable candidate and how important electable is. Talk me through that. I mean, i think the whole idea of whether someone is electable or not after this election is sort of out the window. But i think the most important thing for a candidate is to be comfortable in their own skin. You know . I think this idea of like, lets look for the resume, where are they from, whats their background really its, you know, can you be comfortable in your own skin . Can you be who you are, say what you believe and run like youre not afraid to lose . Like you wouldnt have like, if you were trying to build a candidate in a laboratory after george bush won, you wouldnt have picked an African American guy from the south side of chicago with a name that rhymes with osama bin laden. [ light laughter ] who wasnt on the list. Had been in the Illinois State senate two years prior. Like, so it is as much about the makeup of the person as their resume or what state theyre from. Seth and certainly you would argue that there is an authenticity to donald trump. There was an authenticity to bernie sanders, where these are guys on paper who did not look like jackpot candidates. Correct, yeah. Seth as this wraps up, you know, obviously, its come to a close. You mentioned eight years ago you walked in. Do you guys have a favorite memory . Do you have things that are fun to look back on . I think back about the first trip we ever took with president obama, in the campaign right after he announced, where we were such a ragtag operation back then that we were flying southwest to get to iowa and new hampshire. And so we would go to the airport. Hed stand in the tsa line with everyone else. Hed take his shoes off. Then, you know, he had good staff, so we had a boarding passes, and we get in line at southwest, and people would be like there, oh, theres barack obama and they would all come over and line up to try to get his autograph and to sign his book. And it would create this mass confusion, because no one would know which line was for the book signing [ laughter ] which line was to get on the southwest plane. When he gets off air force one, i always think, weve come a very long way from those early days. [ light laughter ] seth exactly. Thats a very long way from southwest. Well, congratulations on the last eight years. Congratulations on the new endeavor. Its a fantastic podcast. You guys are really good at it. I appreciate you guys being here. Thanks. [ cheers and applause ] seth jon favreau, dan pfeiffer, everybody. Subscribe to pod save america on itunes. You can hear my conversation with jon and cohost tommy vietor and jon lovett on the late night pod save america podcast. Well be right back. [ cheers and applause ] [ cheers and applause ] seth my thanks to jim parsons, ben mckenzie, john favreau and dan feiffer. [ cheers and applause ] leah shapiro, and of course the 8g band. Stay tuned for carson daly. Well see you tomorrow. [ cheers and applause ] carson welcome to last call, im your host carson daly. Coming to you tonight from 230 fifth