Source: Politics<\/p>\n
On May 1, the hotly-anticipated HBO series White House Plumbers will premiere. The 5-episode series takes viewers along on a darkly funny ride with the fumbling ex-spooks and misguided \u201cpatriots.\u201d The series follows E. Howard Hunt, played by Woody Harrelson and G. Gordon Liddy, played by Justin Theroux. The duo \u2014 along with some helpers \u2014 use any means necessary to secure the 1972 reelection of Richard Nixon, including breaking into the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters at the Watergate Office Building.<\/p>\n
Of course instead of saving Nixon, Liddy and Hunt end up destroying his presidency.<\/p>\n
The show is a warped version of a buddy comedy that explores one of the most relevant issues in politics: what happens when true believers lose their integrity and moral compass in pursuit of their cause.<\/p>\n
David Mandel, the director of White House Plumbers, is a man who knows more about the intersection of Hollywood and Washington than just about anyone. Mandel has had a storied career as a comedy writer and producer. He\u2019s a veteran of Saturday Night Live, Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm. He went on to lead production of Veep \u2014 one of the funniest and most accurate shows ever made about Washington \u2014 for its final three seasons.<\/p>\n
On this week\u2019s episode of Playbook Deep Dive, Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza talks with Mandel about lessons he\u2019s learned translating Washington for Hollywood, first with Veep and now with White House Plumbers \u2014 and how a certain president elected in between these two shows changed everything about what makes politics funny.<\/p>\n