You're listening to The West Wing Weekly. I'm Rishikesh Hereway.

And I'm Josh Wa Malina. We're here today to discuss season one, episode 10 of the series

in Excelsis Deo. It first aired on December 15, 1999. It was written by Aaron Sorkin and

Rick Cleveland and directed by Alex Graves. Here's the synopsis from NBC. As Christmas

Eve approaches, President Bartlett eagerly sneaks out of the White House for some last

minute Christmas shopping, while Haunted Toby learns more about a forgotten Korean war

hero who died alone on the district's cold streets, wearing a coat that Toby once

donated to charity. In other hushed quarters, Sam and Josh ignore Leo's advice and consult

Sam's call girl friend, concerning her confidential clientele when one political rival

hints at exposing Leo's previous drug problem.

CJ wonders aloud about the president's public response to a notorious hate crime while

a personal resolve weekends as a persistent reporter continues to ask her out. And today

we're joined by Richard Schiff. Hello. Hello. Thanks for joining us. Before we start

talking about the actual episode, could we ask you some background questions? Sure. How

did you get the role of Toby Ziegler? I slept with a lot of people. No, I auditioned

like many other people. You did not have to as I recall. You just bribed Aaron to put

you on the show. I lived with him years earlier. Once we became irrelevant, it was like it

didn't matter if Josh Malina was on our show. Yes. If we're going to jump straight ahead,

I was one of the most memorable quotes I remember from you was not long into my tenure on

the show. You turned to me and you said, we used to get awards before you joined the show.

You got to keep going until you just drop off the cliff and you kind of pushed us to the

edge. I'm the cooler. No, we were very happy when you joined the cast.

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