We dive into the intersection of politics and pop culture - from Saturday Night Live, to the White House Correspondence Dinner. Guests: Allison Silverman & Ian Crouch.
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Pop Culture Confidential
Episode 2: Clinton to Colbert - The Unbreakable Relationship Between Pop Culture and Politics
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Hi, I'm Christina Yerling-Biro, thank you so much for listening. On this episode, I interview one of the most sought-after writers, producers and television. Alison Silverman is currently a writer on Tina Fey's smash hit series, Unbreakable Kimi Schmidt. Alison Silverman knows all about the intersection of pop culture and politics from her time on The Daily Show and his executive producer of the Colbert Report. But first, last week Hillary Clinton announced that she's running for president, and just hours before, Saturday Night Live's Kate McKinnon had blown viewers away with her new Clinton impression. People already comparing it to SNL's most iconic political impressions of the past, such as Will Ferrell's George W. Bush, and that one that maybe became the biggest phenomenon of all, Tina Fey's Sarah Palin in 2008. The relationship between American politics and pop culture is undeniably important and powerful, and it goes both ways. Politicians are not only being impersonated, they understand that they have to dive in themselves. Way back when Nixon invited Elvis to the White House. And today, President Obama uses BuzzFeed, or does a really cool slow jam with Jimmy Fallon when he needs to get his message out. I really wanted to talk to someone who follows and writes about the relationship between politics and pop culture, and thrilled to speak to writer Ian Crouch of The New Yorker Online. But first, let's listen to Kate McKinnon on Saturday Night Live as Hillary Clinton the day before she announced she was running for president. No, since we're announcing your candidacy via social media, we thought it would be fun if you actually filmed the video yourself on your own phone. That way it seems more personal and intimate, yes, I better take off this jacket then. That's much better. Now, want to do some vocal warm-ups and then we'll get started? Okay, I'd love to, Hillary Zagrani with a twinkle in her eye, and she makes an apple pie. First female president, first female president, me, me, me, me, me. Very welcoming. Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. What did you think? Her impersonation is an unbelievable character. I thought even after just three times appearing on air that it's already one of the better impersonations of a politician that Saturday Night Live has ever had. I thought that there was something about it that was equally a great impersonation of the actual Hillary Clinton and then an incredible creation in its own right. It started as a really effective technical impersonation and then went into this other really kind of funny and almost alarming area at the same time. Could you describe that alarming area? Well, I think it's something about the way that Kate McKinnon shapes her face and especially the look that she has in her eyes. It's almost a combination of extreme intelligence and almost like a flicker of like thinly veiled insanity that all adds up into a caricature that also becomes a comedic character in its own right. But at the same time, there seems to be a lot of respect for Hillary Clinton that she's been through a lot. There's a lot of strengths in this impersonation. Yeah, absolutely. In some ways reminds me of it shares some things in common with the impersonation that Amy Pollard did of Hillary Clinton when she was running for president in 2008 in that it establishes her as the smartest and the most qualified of the presidential candidates who's almost exasperated that she has to engage in the election with other less qualified candidates. It's this idea that she needs to, that it's almost insulting that the lack of respect that she's afforded. Hillary, I've heard that she really liked Amy Pollard, the one you were mentioning. What do you think she's going to think of this one? Well, I'm not sure she's going to be quite as fond of it as the Amy Pollard one. I think the Amy Pollard one was more of a straight impersonation that kind of established her as the credible alternative to some of the other candidates who were being impersonated on the show, especially the impersonation of Sarah Palin that Tina Fey did. I think with the Kate McKinnon one, it's a little more cutting and has a kind of a sharper edge to it that she may not find quite as appealing, although perhaps she'll find a way to laugh it off as she has other things in the past. I think the thing about Hillary Clinton that gets kind of underestimated here in the United States is that she does have an effective public sense of humor and has been able to use that in the past. And speaking of that, do these impersonations that SNL has been doing for years and years and years from everyone from Gerald Ford and on, do they have a real impact on the elections, do you think? I'm not sure if anyone has actually done any statistical polling on the matter. But when you think of, you mentioned Gerald Ford, the impersonation that SNL used to do with Gerald Ford kind of established him as a bumbling, foolish character. And it was completely at odds with his actual public persona, and yet I think that if you were to ask people to look back on the character of Ford, they would think as much of the SNL impersonation as they would of his actual presidency. And then during the 2000 election, when it was Al Gore and George W. Bush, there was a real effective impersonation of each candidate. And the impersonation of Al Gore made him seem haughty and unapproachable and stiff. And the one of George W. Bush made him seem foolish and yet at the same time almost more approachable. And that was Will Ferrell, right? Yeah, that was Will Ferrell actually. And then over George W. Bush's presidency, Will Ferrell continued to sharpen the critique. And in the end, it became a pretty devastating impersonation in its own right. But I think in the beginning, it was the Al Gore impersonation that was more sort of damaging to Al Gore's campaign. And then talking about fiction, the LA Times actually had an article about how different the TV landscape is now compared to when Hillary ran last time in 2008. At that point, we had like President Palmer from 24 and Josiah Bartlett of the West Wing had been sort of what we were watching on TV. And now there's all these powerful women mentioned in the same breath as Hillary. There's Leslie Nopes, Parks and Recreation, some Selena Myers from Veep Claire, from House of Cards, and even Alicia Florick of the Good Wife with marital scandals included. Is there sort of a Hillary fact in fiction as well? That's an interesting question. I hadn't really thought too much about it, but that makes sense that there is an age of strong and powerful women who are being shown in positions of power. And it's perhaps it's one of those, is it the chicken or the egg situations? Is it a changing culture that Hillary has been able to thrive in? Or is it something that she had an effect in establishing over the years? I think it's probably more of the latter. I mean, Hillary Clinton when she was the first lady in the first term of her husband's presidency was often made fun of or questioned for having such an important influence in the policies of the country. And I think that that kind of coverage would no longer accompany an active personality or indeed a woman running for president in her own right. But then on the other end of this that we're talking about, you have politicians that are not also inclined of just being impersonated. They also want to be part of pop culture. How has President Obama reached out? Yeah, I think that Obama is the first, I mean if you look back at Bill Clinton, for example, he appeared on the O'Haul show and played the saxophone and went on Johnny Carson after he had given an ineffective speech in 1988. So he was kind of on the foreground of embracing pop culture. But with President Obama, I think you have someone who appears to be especially credible in that kind of area. He seems at ease, he seems to have a very good sense of humor in his own right. And so for example, when he appeared on the web series between two ferns with the comedian Zach Galifianakis to promote the Affordable Care Act, he seemed to be in on the joke and seemed to really be appreciating what you can imagine some politicians would view as being a kind of a peripheral or strange show. I mean, if you can imagine somebody of an older generation of politicians appearing on that show, they would be combated or confused or just completely overwhelmed by what a strange personality that Zach Galifianakis had. Why is it important for politicians to care about popular culture? Well, I mean, I think that it's an effective way to communicate their policy goals. I mean, every year in March, President Obama has filled out a college basketball tournament bracket on television, and usually he takes some time when he's filling that out. That's a huge phenomenon where everyone is watching all these games and filling out their own tournament parakets, and he sort of uses that as a way to talk a little bit about politics, but then also to suggest that he's sort of plugged into the sort of general cultural interests of the country as a whole. And I think he's been, I think he's especially used both comedy and sports as two avenues to be able to be approachable. And then I guess with the YouTube channel and the interview with David, I'm like, there's sort of using all sort of new types of into buzzfeed and things like that, just to get the word out. Yeah. The interview he gave with David Simon also just made sense because even when he was running for president, he had been an open and very excited supporter of the wire. He was essentially one of the most prominent fans of the show. And so when he speaks to David Simon, he talks about reforming the criminal justice system and about prison reform and about the country's drug laws. And yet at the same time, it doesn't seem like it's like an opportunistic pop culture moment because he's a fan of the show and these are issues that the show actually cared about. Do you have any idea how many people actually, you know, watch that, what's the reach of something like that? I'm not sure. I would suspect that more people probably would see his interview with a news outlet like Buzzfeed where he took a selfie in the Oval Office and when he would speak to David Simon about reforming the criminal justice system. Unfortunately, but that's how it goes. Are conservatives more weary of pop culture? I get that feeling here, but I could be wrong. Well, I think that conservatives have been outspoken in criticizing President Obama for what appears to be him embracing the kind of pop culture celebrity status. But it's hard to say if that's just envy in the sense that they don't feel like they're getting the same coverage or opportunity in pop culture that may be a progressive politician. Whose politics is probably more in line with some of the folks in the entertainment industry are able to access? You know, I mean, there isn't still isn't really an equivalent conservative kind of daily show or what the Colbert report used to be. There isn't like an easy or natural fit. I don't think force certain conservative politics and general pop culture. But I think also that if they were able to find a way to promote themselves through pop culture, they would be eager, you know, to try. I don't think this is an ethical stand as much as it is just a matter of the situation. It's just I have this feeling that people are always making fun of Obama has a cool music taste on his iPod and then the conservatives have like some old country song. I mean, there's like always this it's they're just not as cool. Yeah. No, I think that that's exactly right. Ted Cruz, who's running for president for the Republican party was asked about his taste in music on one of the major network, morning shows and September 11 attacks, he had stopped listening to rock and roll because he didn't think that they had responded in a kind of a patriotic way and he had switched to listening only to country music. And that's the kind of thing that kind of shows him to be aiming for a very specific and essentially fairly narrow target audience. This Saturday, something really big is happening. It's the White House Correspondence Dinner, also known as the Nerd Prom. It's a party where political leaders, the journalists that cover them and what seems to be a growing array of Hollywood stars. It's generally hosted by or always, I guess, hosted by comedians. I get Jay Leno Colbert and this year is another SNL or it's Cecily Strong. What makes this night interesting? Well, I think that there have been a few instances in the past in which the comedian who they have to host is able to sort of pull off a very devastating roast of the sitting president. I'm thinking of, in 1996, when the radio host Don Imus roasted President Bill Clinton or in 2006 when Stephen Colbert issued a devastating kind of a takedown on the administration of George W. Bush. And I think that in more recent years, there's been an obvious toning down of the comedian's sort of take on the president and an emphasis on the president's own sense of the humor. And so in some ways, the remarks that the president gives are in some ways more interesting and funnier than the more careful remarks than the hired stand up. So what you mean if they've become afraid of the comedians that that Colbert was too harsh and that they've asked them to tone it down? Is that what you think? It seems that way or that they're choosing comedians that they feel more confident chair of general ideological outlook with the administration. And it's, I mean, President Obama has been consistently funny in all of his appearances over the years. That owes, I think, in large part to the writers who prepared his remarks, but then also in terms of his own performance, he's just very much at ease in that kind of a setting. Do you remember anything particular he did that was funny or that was particularly talked about after? I'm trying to think of the last few years. I remember the one interesting thing was that a few years ago, he performed at the White House correspondent's dinner amidst the time that the U.S. military was closing in and about to execute its assassination of Osama bin Laden. And he was able to essentially step away from what was this incredibly important international political moment and give a lighthearted and very funny performance and then return to this other thing. It just kind of emphasizes the strange multitasking, I think, that a president these days has to do. But this night sort of encompasses the presidency's relationship with pop culture and comedy and allows everyone to roast each other sort of, right? I mean, there's something about that there's no holds, but you can do whatever you want on this night. Yeah, no, I think that sounds right. And I think that Obama in the past has used it to make a special fun of his political opponents. He referred to one year, the Speaker of the House, John Boehner, and emphasized how tan he was. He was permanently tan, and so this is kind of an ongoing joke in Washington and a few years ago he insulted Trump and kind of infuriated Donald Trump who was sitting in the audience and was unable to respond. Yeah, I remember Donald Trump got really pissed. He could not take a joke. Yeah, I think he's used to having the microphone or being in charge of whatever scenario he's in charge. You know, he's usually in charge of, so the idea that he just had to sit there was especially angering, I think, and very funny, of course. I suspect that this year we'll hear a lot of jokes about the new presidential candidates for 2016, I think this will kind of segue into talking a lot more about Hillary Clinton and then the two handfuls of Republican hopefuls as well. And just rounding off where we started with an SNL, or how do you think Cecily Strong will do who at one point had the news desk on SNL? Yeah, I think it's an exciting choice. I mean, when I heard the announcement, I instantly thought that it would be even funnier if it had been Kate McKinnon just because of her impersonation, but I think she'll do a great job, and I think that Seth Meyers, who has performed in the past and was once the head fighter on SNL, will probably have some advice, and I think that it should be very funny. I can't wait to see it, and this was so much fun and really interesting. Thank you very much for talking to me. Oh, I really appreciate it. It was a whole lot of fun. One of the best representations of politics and popular culture is the Colbert Report, and my next guest, Alison Silverman, was the show's first executive producer and an integral part of developing the character. When she moved on, Colbert even dedicated the popular segment, the word to Alison. But move on, she did, and she's worked on some of the best shows on TV. Alison Silverman has not shied away from projects in many different formats, with smart edgy humor and made some really bold choices. Notably now, with Netflix unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, the outrageously funny show, but with a pretty heavy premise of an abducted woman freed from a sect and making her way in New York City. A miracle today in Dornsville, Indiana, four women rescued from an underground apocalypse cult. You got a secret. I am one of the Indiana more women. From the news. I spent 15 years in that bunker eating beans out of a Florida Marlins County. I just want to be a normal person, I'm having candy for dinner. You yell in your sleep, you bite my nails, and we still don't know why you're afraid of Velcro. Look out in your nothing and stop us now. Alison Silverman, welcome. So you're an Emmy-nominated writer/producer, you've written for Conan, The Office, The Daily Show, you pretty much invented the Colbert Report, you were one of the first writers on printlandia, and now unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. I would say basically you're a national treasure and good television is lost without you. So I just want to know that you're staying safe. Oh, thank you so much, I have to say, that was the sweetest introduction, but I do have to correct you. I'm not only Emmy-nominated, I have one three Emmy's. All the rest of it, national treasure and stuff, I'm not very sure, but there were some voters who gave me a couple of Emmy's there. That's great, and you well deserved. Can you describe your own sense of humor? I think that, that's a hard question, but a good one, I think that I'm just a hybrid of my parents, and my father is a scientist, and he has a very sort of absurd goofy sense of humor, and my mother I think is very, very, she doesn't think she has a sense of humor at all, but she has a real sort of incisive political bent to her. So I think when I'm at my best, I sort of can write some stuff that's both absurd and has some sort of point to it, which was the kind of thing that we got to do on Colbert Report a lot. And can you write for any genre? Oh, I definitely don't think so. There are many, many... What would be the most difficult? Well, for instance, I would say that I'm often, a big struggle for me is to write longer things. And for many, many years, I was writing on late night shows for the Daily Show and Colbert and late night with Conan O'Brien, and even Portlandia, and those are all very short formats. And I got confident in short formats, but to approach something long, you know, I don't know if I can do it or not, frankly, I have not had the patience or confidence to really work with something for a long period of time. So that's a real challenge for me that I'm working on. I'm so impressed with people who have a friend who's been working on this amazing piece of prose for almost a decade, and I have such respect for it. I don't think I have that kind of discipline yet, but I'd like to. The three late night guys you were talking about Conan, John Stewart, and Colbert, how would you describe their writers' rooms differently? Well, the first, I would say, is that there was a market difference in appearance over the writers' rooms. My first writers' room in that bunch was John Stewart's show, and that had a certain appeal, and people were sort of, well, I'll just say that sometimes the writers' rooms seemed to reflect the hosts themselves. So the daily show, most of the writers were not that tall. They were very kind of intellectual-looking. And then once I went to Conan, honest to God, there were a bunch of really tall Irish guys. And I just tend to think it kind of goes that way. In terms of tone at Conan, I feel like there was a lot of, something that I love, a lot of real goofiness. You would sit around the writer's room and really take your time and kind of shoot the shit to come up with some really silly stuff. At the daily show at Colbert, to an extent, you were looking immediately at the news stories of the day and trying to figure out what your take on it was. And because of that, I think it was sort of a more directly goal-oriented writer's room, whereas at Conan, part of the feel was like, let's see if we can just find something magical in whatever pops up, as opposed to we've got to take a certain situation and find the satirical take on it. Talk about a little bit about the development of the character of Colbert, which you actually were a great part of. Did you plan that? Let's see if we can get away with this and that. We definitely did. So Stephen had been on the daily show for a number of years and had sort of developed a bit of a persona, but it was kind of slippery, depending on what kind of story we were trying to sort of obscure, you know, the character could change from very right wing to more left wing, or if he sort of served a purpose of the story, but then once the Colbert report started getting underway, we needed to sort of nail down some things. And you know, the first few weeks and months of development, there was a lot of fun brainstorming on just sort of finding some specifics about him, you know, things about his likes. And just sort of really trying to figure out what was around this character. And then as time went on, you know, we didn't have the time to sort of have those specific brainstorming sessions, but you would learn more things about him as stories came about. I think the character became a little more friendly as the years went on. We always thought of him as being sort of well-intentioned, but poorly informed and very stupid. So meaner in the beginning is what you're saying, or harsh. You know, I, yeah, and I think that there's somewhat about the performance too, and how the audience understood their relationship with Steven. I think as audiences and Steven got to know each other more, the audiences sort of understood the games that we were playing, and there became sort of a rapport where Steven could have sort of a glint in his eye, he knew the audience knew that he was pulling them in, they trusted him, and it became kind of a friendlier take to me. I think at first he's a little bit more hard-lined and not as his performance is not as friendly. And I think that actually happens on a lot of shows as you progress and people get more comfortable. You, I read in an interview that you said that it was tough on Colbert, that after four years you almost felt burnt out by the hours and the amount of work. Is that true? Sure. Yeah, no, it was a very time-consuming and mentally exhausting show for sure. More than other shows you've been on? Well, you know, I would start by saying it's a little hard for me to say because my position on Colbert was different. I was a writer, but I was also a executive producer, where as in a lot of other shows I was a writer only, but yeah, it's a very, that was a very tricky show, it was very, very written and you had to approach things in this kind of backwards way where you were getting a point across by saying the opposite of what you meant. And that, you know, is some verbal gymnastics and mental gymnastics that can get very tiring. There we go! Tonight is our last show with my executive producer, Alice and Silverman, and her departure brings us to tonight's word, "Allison!" Now, folks, my feelings are complicated here. I'm both very sad and very furious that she's leaving, and frankly, I don't want to have a meltdown on camera, so to feel better about it, I am choosing to have false memories that will make me glad she's leaving. For instance, I just remembered that Alice has an island where she hunts old people for sport. So you're from Florida, you went to jail, you settled in Brooklyn, but in between you learned a few things about Portland. Tell me about the writer's room at Portlandia, where you actually were one of the four that started there, right? I was, yeah, that was such a small writer's room, it was kind of unlike anything I've done before since we were really just, I don't even know how to explain it, it was really just trying to find things and discussing things that hit us about the communities we were seeing and the lives or the lifestyles we were a part of. I'd say that was an interesting thing for me, for years I worked on Colbert and was kind of trying to find the satirical bent on lifestyles that I wasn't so much a part of. And then to do Portlandia and sort of take down my own, because I definitely fall into that category, take down my own lifestyle was really, I really enjoyed that, and it was a different process. It was some 10th self-examination. So all your ideas on there, all the writer's ideas are basically from your own life, you're just picking things you're seeing in your communities where you lived. Yeah, I would say so, for sure. And now you are on Unbreakable Kimishmit, which is really one of the most surprising and original shows I've seen in a long time with jokes are just coming every minute. And then there's this commentary on just media's exploitation of victims and feminism and racism, it's super dark and super light at the same time, but sort of essentially about a rape victim. So I want to know when you got into that writer's room with Tina Fey and Robert Karlach, how did they present to you this storyline? Well, you know, the storyline existed before I joined up. They developed that story and wrote a pilot script, and I got on board after reading the pilot scripts and being very impressed that I thought it had a very strong point of view, which is something that's important to me as a writer and viewer, and that it was tackling something that I thought was really bold. And that's something that I feel like I take away from Colbert and Portlandia to extend to that. Sometimes people in the TV industry underestimate how much TV viewers enjoy sort of a bold choice. So I thought it would have an audience and I thought I'd be really interested in working on it. It was definitely a tightrope walk trying to figure out how to present this woman's past and how it was affecting her. And I thought, you know, Tina and Robert were really the arbogers of course of what goes in and what goes out. I thought they did a great job. How openly do you talk amongst yourselves in the writer about like this thing that we want this to be about feminism or we want this? How much do you talk about the commentary that you're doing before you go and sit and write your part? You know, I think a lot of it actually comes a bit after the fact. But there are definitely moments where we're discussing themes very openly and very sort of in the abstract. And there are other times where I think more commonly we come up with a story or a bit of a story that we enjoy and then we discover parts of it that feel like they're, you know, that they have a message that we're interested in communicating. So I was going to ask you about writing for Netflix. How is that different? Well, you know, so we weren't writing for Netflix. At least I didn't know you were writing for Netflix, but the show was originally going to be on NBC. So we were writing it for the NBC audience, which is probably significantly broader and more quote unquote mainstream than the Netflix audience. So we thought it would be, you know, the same place, you know, where the 30 Rock had been and stuff. And then after the fact, after, you know, the majority of production was done, we discovered that we were going to get to be on Netflix. So this coming season, which we're going to start writing soon, I'll get the answer for you. I'll figure out what it's like writing for Netflix instead. Okay. I was just wondering whether there's a difference if you knew that people binge it in one day or if you as a writer think differently was sort of what I was getting to. Well, yeah. We'll see this year. I mean, one of the things that's going to be interesting, I think as a writer is just one thing would be like the length that you can make a show and how things get edited. Because on network television, you'll see comedies, there's very little what we call air in it. There's, you know, that the jokes have to play in a certain speed to get everything done. So often, you know, wonderful, wonderful jokes that wind up on the editing room floor. And I think that Netflix situation is going to allow us to put a lot more of that into the show. So I'm excited about that. Yeah. In your career, I feel that you've written for some very smart, intelligent, but also sort of sensitive and tricky subject matters, which many politically correct groups here or there would be offended by. Is there something in your career that you remember that's given you the biggest reaction that's pissed people off the most? I will tell you this. A couple of moments that don't involve shows that or moments that actually got on the air, but in cases where I've seen those concerns change what comes out of a writer's room. There was a point I was working on the NBC show, The Office, and there was a discussion of there was a character who was pregnant and there was a discussion of whether or not we could show her having a sip from a glass of wine. And it was a very, very big and challenging discussion where there were people who felt that the American public would never forgive this character for having a sip of wine and other people who felt like, you know, they either had been pregnant themselves or had wives within pregnant and had doctors that said it's fine to have a sip every now and then. And that was a moment where I felt like the show decided we're not going to show this character doing that. And it was because of a fear of blowback. But do you feel that the audiences have become more politically correct? Yeah, I do feel like there's more discussion and more political correctness and more sort of -- we call it identity politics here a lot. But I'm not -- I think it's partially about how we're talking amongst ourselves. I think that the rise of social media and Twitter and Facebook are sort of making these -- are sort of aiding in what occasionally feels to me like unfounded outrage. But so I'm not sure where we would be without those new forums. But they seem to transmit anger and very, very quickly and compound anger. So I think there's something connected between those two. And I'm not certain -- sometimes I feel like I get frustrated as someone who's trying to be creative when I see critiques be passed around on social media that make me feel like I could -- you know, I generally feel like I'm a sensitive person and I see critiques of other shows or movies come up where I feel like, my God, how can you possibly make something in this world and not have people decide that you're racist or sexist or whatever? I think it can get in your head and make you sort of question your thoughts which can be a good thing but can also wind up being a little bit of censorship. I know you're writing, Kimmy, season two, do you have something else coming up as well? Well, yeah, so what comes up next mostly are two things. One is a script I've been working on on my own and that I need to get to a network that's purchased it but my gosh, there's a lot of work to be done. TV series? Yes, yes. And that, you know, I should tell you this doesn't mean that it gets on the air but we're going to work on it together and see if we get it on the air. And other than that, you know, I had a baby a little more than three months ago and I'm mostly attending to him and having a lot of fun with him. Congratulations and just the last one, how do you think Steven's going to do in David's shoes? I think you know, I think he's going to be fantastic. I'm excited because he, you know, he is so smart and can have such wonderful conversations with people that I think it's going to be really a fun and fascinating alternative to have on late night. Has he asked you to come along? You know, I'm doing my own thing and he's doing nose but we definitely chat about it and I think he's got some great ideas. Because I know he was incredibly upset when you left it sounded like that. Yeah, he's a, we're very close, I'm a huge, huge fan. I think it's going to be tremendous. I think that my 20 minutes are up and I'm so, so happy to have talked to you and thank you so much for taking this time Alison and good luck with everything. Kristina, thank you. Thank you. I really enjoyed talking with you. Well that's it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening and thanks for all the amazing feedback we got last week. It was really overwhelming. Please continue to get in touch through Facebook, through Twitter, through Instagram and on the homepage, popcultureconfidential.com. And thanks to the amazing people that have worked with this, it's Sound Engineering and Editing by Tom Hanson with additional Sound Engineering by Tumasil, producers Rania Vitishteth and music Karl Bort. The Colbert Report clip is courtesy of Comedy Central and next time, if you like Game of Thrones or this Amazon Series Bosch, you'll want to tune in. I'm Kristina Yarlin-Biro, thanks so much for listening. Hello Podcast Fans, it is I, Bruce Valanche. For over 25 years, I worked on the Academy Awards, so you didn't have to. Even that time, I've seen and heard things that should not be seen or heard or certainly built. And now, for the first time, I'm sharing all my behind the scenes stories and firsthand knowledge about the Oscars, the blood, the sweat, the tears, the slap, all the things you didn't see. So join me as I use humor and insight to break down the Oscar Awards of the past to explain how and why your favorite movie didn't win. Why some actors and some directors had to fire their agents and how the whole process works or sometimes doesn't work. This is the Oscars, what were they thinking? Available wherever you get podcasts. [BLANK_AUDIO]
We dive into the intersection of politics and pop culture - from Saturday Night Live, to the White House Correspondence Dinner. Guests: Allison Silverman & Ian Crouch.
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