1 Joshua Malina. Reitz Union grand ballroom march 23rd, 2005 7:30 p.m. presented by accent >>> Good evening. I'm the Jewish student president. I want to thank you and welcome you all here for Josh Malina. The Jewish student union is an organization that strives to provide quality programming that emphasizes Jewish culture and just have a good time. Some of the programs we're going to be having this week, tomorrow night, at 7:30, a free pizza, free carnival games and a lot of good times. I hope to see you there. 2 Another initiative we're currently involved in is raising awareness of studying abroad in Israel. Josh will be speaking about some of his experiences there. I myself studied in Israel at HAifA university last spring. I encourage you all to find out more information about studying abroad in Israel. You can speak to me after the show and we have brochures outside the lobby. Without further adieu, we will continue tonight's programs with David bu halter, the chairman of accent. David Buckhalter. The chairman of accent. 3 >> good evening. My name is David Buckhalter, chairman of accent's speaker's bureau. Spanning the minds of students, accent has hosted prominent and controversial speakers for the University of Florida. For over 40 years. speakers include the great pornography debate, Janet Reno. Fanny Shakur and numerous co-sponsorships similar to tonight's events. Accent is a student organization fueled by students interest and support. We would love to hear your thoughts about tonight's presentation or accent in general. Please take a few minutes 4 to log on to our website. or on your way out, stop by our feedback table outside the doors an fill out a survey Anyone who fills out a survey tonight will be entered into a drawing to win a signed poster of tonight's speaker. The winner will be notified by e-mail within one week and congratulated on your website. Before I introduce, I would like to extend my gratitude to Ramone and HilA, president of the Jewish student union and Rachel Matthew for all their hard work on tonight's presentation. This evening, accent has decided to host acclaimed actor and activist, Josh 5 Malina. Carrying quite extensive list of credits such productions as the American president, clock watchers, a few good men, sports need and a view from the top. His most opportunity role is that of speechwriter will Bailey from NBC's hit drama, "the west wing" hopefully he won't take offense to my inferior speech writing skills. An avid poker player he is give producer of the poker show. His Jewish heritage plays a large part in his career. As a child he attended a school in West Chester New York, where he learned to write and speak Hebrew. He got a jump-start in his career Dow his Jewish 6 mother's intuition. He graduated from Yale university in 19 88 and currently lives in California with his wife and two children. Without further adieu, accent speakers of the University of Florida proudly present to you, Josh Malina. [ Applause ] how are you doing? Thanks a lot, David. I want to thank accent in association with jam, Jewish awareness month for inviting me to be here. I did check out your website. I discovered that I am the latest in line, the illustrious in line of past guests including President 7 Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev and the cast of real world. I am honored. As a kid I have seen every episode of real world. That's another episode, a topic for another night. An evening with Josh Malina at the University of Florida, whoever would have thought there would be such a thing. Certainly not I. My lovely wife, lovely Melissa, not all that impressed at the prospect of an evening with Josh Malina. Yet you all showed up. Look how many people are here. Let me say I'm honored to be here. Flattered that you all showed up. 8 Also, you should know that a country away on the West Coast, my parents are failing for the Yiddish challenge means to taken a excessive amount of vicarious pleasure in the achievements of someone else. Particularly one's offspring. essentially the Jewish mothers do that. Thank you for helping my parents. Also, as I mentioned, I have a wife of eight years, I have a daughter, Isabelle, who's 7 or she would have me tell you she's 7 and 1/12. A boy who will turn 3 next month. I'm used to essentially having no one evince the 9 slightest shred of interest in anything I have to say To have all these people sitting here and actually listening to me is a new and thrilling sensation. so I thank you for it. I also want to say that it's always an eye opening experience for me to come visit a college campus. I'm 39, but somewhere in my delusional actor's mind, I think, I can still play, I can play a college kid. Then I actually see a college kid and realize they're essentially a different species at this point. I want to thank you for being half my age and making me feel twice my age. One last caveat before I 10 begin, since this is -- this event is part of jam, part of Jewish awareness month, I have prepared a slightly Jewy talk. That being said, I'm aware there may be large percentage or some percentage of the audience not Jewish. If I had to guess, I'm guessing a third of you are Jewish, a third of you aren't, a third of you have no idea who I am but had nothing better to do tonight and it is free. I am planning to talk a little bit about my Jewish ground was lot about my acting ground, and then a bit about how only recently the two of started to co less, started to 11 intertwine. But again -- started to intertwine. There will be long non-jewish sections of the talk pn I will do Q&A as long as you want. I'm not in court, am I? This can't be used against me? Say something because then you have to write it. push please stop stop stop stop stop stop I'll just delete it. in any event, I'll do Q&A as long as you like, as long as you have cues, I'll give you my A's, I'll be happy to talk more about west wing or celebrity poker, anything you feel didn't get covered long enough. 12 If you aren't Jewish, I hope you'll find what I have to say or aspects of my faith relevant to your own. As I mentioned, before I mentioned lovely Melissa, my wife converted to Judaism eight years ago. a large part of my extended family is not Jewish, and you should know I have great respect and love for my family and their faith. So here we 2. I've been an actor for about 15 years now, and a Jew for a little over 39. In reverse order, to be sure, a Jew is who I am. That's the cornerstone of my identity, ultimately where my real self lies. An actor is what I do. It's just that, a job, a 13 fun job, rewarding job, but ultimately, it's just a job. For me, the two or separate. As things have started to go better for me in my career which sadly is recently, people have started to solicit my opinions, that's solicit. Cross out elicit. Solicit my opinion as a Jew, thoughts and opinions as a Jew because I'm an actor, which is a very weird thing, sort of touchy area. And not something I really courted or was prepared for, so I tried to improvise as I go along. I grew up in New Rochelle, New York, suburbs of man tat tan. 14 In first grade, my parents decided to send me to a Jewish day school, half English, half Hebrew and Jewish studies. It was an orthodox school. my family's level of observance was more in keeping with conservative Judaism but it was the only game in town. Looking back, sending me there was one of the great gifts my parent have given me. The day school provided me with what I consider to be the tools to live a meaningful Jewish life. I learned to read and write and speak Hebrew. I stud kid there prayers and learned about the holidays. I have Jewish now and we 15 attend synagogue, go to school once or twice a year for high holidays and some of those on occasions find it to be a cold or alien place. For them, it's a bunch of people singing in a language they don't understand. It's hard, I think, to feel included. because of my days at the school I can go to schools or synagogues I have never been before and instantly feel part of the warm embracing community which is nice. How I feel today. I understand the prayers and know the tunes and I can go up if I'm asked to do it. That esa wonderful feeling 16 and a great gift I was given as a young kid, to be given what I need to know in order to share that kind of communal experience. For those of you in the audience and don't speak much Hebrew, I encourage to you learn. You can learn enough to go and take part. It is a great experience. in addition to providing me with these skills. I think my days at school is more important which is a Jewish spirit. That's the more important thing. In any religion. More important than anything else is getting it, getting the spirit. And what the values are. My school days did that 17 very well for me As early as I remember, even back in first grade, ethical issues were part of everyday classroom. Every Friday, Mrs. Rosen blat would have us come in with a little bit of money, give Sadat a little bit of charity every Friday and you line up single file and put the money in the box and say an important commandment. Very important. Nicely taught at an early age. I like to think if she were around today she'd be proud of me. But celebrity poker showdown, I don't know. Did it for her. I can also tell you that I have been blessed to pass 18 on some of my lessons to my own kids. I have a reason to fail on my own now My daughter's embraced all things Jewish but has a particular love of the exodus story. It is that time of year now. Passover around the corner and ard dent pretender. Every year as Passover nears she wants to re enact the exodus story and obsessed with Egypt. The casting tends to go, she play S PhARoAh and I play all the others. I go around the houseworking and cleaning up and she whips me with a belt. I'm not kidding either. This is nothing new. 19 The cuter actors have always gotten the better roles. My daughter, I'm proud to say takes pride in her charity box. It curbs out her charitable nature extend to the homefront. Recently I was talking to my wife, for those that watch the west wing, I used to work for the president, now I work for the vice president, a lateral career move if I've ever heard on one on a show that's about the president. Whether or not I will be on the show next year after every season is a matter of no small angst sigh tin my household. I try to keep it from my kids but my daughter heard 20 me discussion whether I will be in the show next year. She said, daddy, if you're out of work, I'll give you some money. then she paused and added, the paper kind. Big money. Money that folds. That's a good daughter. Look who's -- my wife I mentioned earlier, converted to Judaism. One of the great wonders of my life, this woman I always felt was my fated wife, I was meant to be with her, to actually see her become a Jew, we went to the university of Judaism lings, had a six month course together and she decided she wanted to convert and I will never 21 forget seeing her submerge in the ritual bath. I remember she went down for a really long time and wondered if she was changing her mind. When you come up, you're Jew. Honey! But it was special day. We had two big issues. The two big issues before she converted were two big B's, bacon and BRiSt. BRiSt is circumcision. Basically we had to have a compromise, if you need to eat the occasional club sandwich, go for it, because if we have a boy on day eight, snip. That's the compromise we made. That's some of my Jewish ground. 22 On to the acting. I graduated, as mentioned, from Yale university, back in the '80s. I didn't attend the drama school, very prestigious, a lot of major actors. I was undergraduate in theater studies major, for what that was worth, which at the time, probably now it's a great program. At the time I was an undergraduate theater major, fledging program just starting, just starting to make up a core curriculum that was difficult. One of the things you could do to study for a the theater major, you could take a foreign language in which you studied the work of someone who had written 23 plays, even if you didn't read their actual plays, that's how much they were hurting for courses. I being not a particularly ambition student took introductory Hebrew. I studied Hebrew for eight years, very ambitious. I knew as a kid, part of the reason why I majored in theater studies, is that I knew as a kid I would pursue acting. So my decision to do so is less free of the angst that normally accompanies a decision to pursue a career in the arts. I knew I would either succeed in or die trying. You know, when I was in school plays as a kid, I had that epiphany, you go, this is what I do. 24 It was a blessing. When I graduated in '88, I moved to New York with no particular game plan. My first job was as a production assistant on the movie "flesch lives." Chevy chase sequels. my dad was like I now you want to be an actor and I know Chevy chase's lawyer and I can get you a job as production assistant. It was actually a good experience. I learned who works the hardest on the movie set, that is the production assistant, or everyone other than the actors was working hard. I would start my day by picking up the assistant director at his house in my car at 5:00 in the morning. 25 I recall at the time, I was undergoing my latest heartbreak. Just absolutely laid out by a break-up with my girlfriend at the time. I was literally sitting on the hood of my car crying, not a pretty sight. And he shows up, I'm -- just the wind. Then I drive to the set and spend the rest of the day getting coffee, making copies, telling people Shhh. Mainly what you're doing on a movie or TV set, Shhhh. Great. Be quiet Then, when the day was over, 14 or 16 hours later, I would be the one, they would give me the day's film and have to drive to 26 the airport to send it to lings to be pro-sends a sent back to look at the dailies by the director. They would spend the entire day shooting the moving why while I was Shhhing people and they would trust me with 100, 000 dollars of film, some smock they sent to the airport. Luckily I never lost it. My career at the airport was never done and my mother I considered to be the DuCutto CopY of Jewish mothers in a good way. She suggested I call Aaron Sorkin, a classic Jewish mother logic, something like this, he's Jewish, you're Jewish, you should call him. Sort of a momma's boy, okay. 27 So I did call im. it turned out to be one of the best career moves I've ever made. We instantly bonded over weekly or sometimes twice weekly poker games. I've been a poker head many years. I was in one of these games and he mentioned he had written a play. I don't think I even knew he was a writer at that point. I knew he was Jewish. He mentioned he had written this play, "a few good men" do you want to audition. >> sure. >> What are you doing it >> Broadway. >> I went to audition and he really pushed for no be cast. 28 At age 23, one of my life-long dreams to appear on Broadway was realized. Very magical time for me, one I'll never forget. Quick story about that time, there is something called the Broadway bowling league as lame as that sounds, the casts of all the Broadway shows get together once a week and go bowling after the show. I guess I they compete or whatever. We would go to port authority and go bowling in this dinghy bowling alley. Aaron always came to bowl with us and he's a very generous guy. He bought this giant tray of hamburgers, and presented it to everybody. And he took a hamburger and 29 took a gigantic bite out of it just to make us laugh, put it down, got up to bowl. Then, basically proceeded to choke. 73. It is funny in retrospect because he's alive. Otherwise, not a funny story. For white a while we thought he was trying to make us laugh and we stood there, until like his eyes clearly were starting to come out of his head and in the only example of my acting with any sort of calm or hum in a situation like that, I Heinriched him as he fell to the floor, I picked him up, I had no idea how to do a Heinrich, I had a vague idea. 30 I literally cracked three of his ribs, I broke three but eventually this gigantic and grotesque hockey puck of meat flew across the alley, and he lived. In a perhaps not unrelated note, I have gone on to act in everything Aaron's written. I always like to say it's unclear whether he's a big fan of my acting or he just likes to have me around when he's eating pn Either way, I'm comfortable as long as it gets me the job. Then he leaves me with very little to offer aspiring actors. Are there any aspiring actors in the crowd? >> Oh. One? 31 Yes, really? Fantastic. I do get asked a lot by inspiring actors with advice I can offer them. It's not really that inspiring or impractical, Heinrich somebody more talented than you are. It worked for me. By the way, the many actors that appeared in "a few good men" also appeared in later Sorkin's works. Aaron is one of those guy whose created his own mighty Sorkin players. He likes to have the same people perform. Bradley Whitford, who plays Josh line man on the show. Everybody loves him. Don't hold back. He's an old old friend of mine. 32 He played the prosecuting attorney in a few good men. Duffy plays Larry or is it Ed? I don't know. if you can tell the difference between Ed and Larry, you're a better person than I, a little bit like Bert and Ernie at west end. Clark Redd plays FBI special agent Michael Casper. Timothy BuSkill who plays Danny Buchanan, yeah, it should be noted that we are now brothers in law. He starred in a few good men on Broadway, he actually replaced Tom HAllS of AmADiS fame. I got to be good friends with he and his wife, Jenny. 33 Jenny said if you ever meet my sister, you're going to marry her. I had a girlfriend at the time, whatever two years later I met her and four years later I married her. Now we're brothers in law, a nice thing. My career had begun with "a few good men on Broadway." I was appalled to find out one Broadway show does not a career make and that's when I spent the next nine months trying to get a job unsuccessfully I headed to Hollywood. They were calling and saying, this where is all the work is, move here. So I did. >> Before, being a Jew, has 34 never entered too much into being an actor. couple Jew and Hollywood stories. So, really, still in New York, desperate to get a job, probably before "a few good men." essentially you need and agent to get auditions, you need a job to get an agent. a catch-22, how do you find your way into the circle. I would go to any audition considered and open call. It's a an audition where anybody can show up and everybody does. So, I went to a pizza commercial audition. By the time I got there, the line was out the door. I stood there in line. I can't remember what kind of pizza it was. 35 I waited about two hours. By the time I got to the front of the line, I was appalled to discover there were boxes and boxes of pizza, you were supposed to take a piece and bring it with you and eat it on camera and express how delicious it was. This was a problem because it was Passover no leaven bread, pizza, big no, no. Get to the lineup, funny story, I'm Jewish and it's Passover and I can't eat the pizza. They're like, thank you, but we can't audition you for the commercial. I was like, wait a minute. I can pretend to eat the pizza, I just can't actually eat it 36 >> no. if you can't eat the pizza, you can't audition. I'm like, air pizza. Oh, that's good! That's the best. But anyway, that was it. I was not allowed to audition. Very disappointing. you can't really label it anti-semitism because they were probably Jew. Another I did anybody seen in the line of fire? Clint Eastwood movie. I'm in that movie playing agent Chavez. I'm an actor. When I auditioned for the movie, I had to audition on videotape. There was a lot of running around with an air gun 37 they didn't mind the air gun. A lot of that. I was very supervised to find I got a callback. the director wants to meet you, Wolfgang Peterson. I put two and two together, frequently my name is misspelled as it is in say the paper, and people think I'm Latino. Which is great if you're auditioning for a role called agent Chavez. The only thing I just don't have that like fakeout, I don't have that thing where I can't lie. I'm not a good liar. My agents are like, they probably do think you're Latino and probably want to hire someone Latino. Just say you're Latin nope 38 I'm like, you know what, I cannot do it. I can't pull it off, I hope it won't come up On top of that, the director's German. I sit down, meet Wolfgang Peterson. the first thing he says, what's your ethnicity. I'm Jewish, Jewish, the polish is Jewish. and he looked at me like oo I was a little bit crazy, a little bit overreaction. Ultimately they give me the role and I discovered they had wanted to hire somebody Latino at a time various ethnic groups had been complaining not having enough representation as actors. Luckily I lucked into that job even though I almost 39 talked my way out of it. "a few good men was big break number one, big break number two, "sports night" created by Alan Sorkin. A drama goings on behind the scenes at sports show I played Jeremy good win hired in the pilot episode to be the associate producer in the show within the show. He was classic Sorkin character. ry ridiculously smart. Reporters asked me how much of me was in Jeremy. I always gave the same answer, like every other role Aaron's ever written for me, Jeremy is kinder and smarter than I am, but I'm trying. Jeremy was also Jewish. There was an ongoing plot 40 line about his romantic relationship with Natalie, a co-worker who is not Jewish. Just the fact I had a romantic plot line illustrated by the fact it was written by a friend of mine. When I got married to my wife, I hope you won't do a lot of kissing. Honey, look at me. Do you think I'll do a lot of kissing on TV. But Aaron wrote me this story. It was a nice opportunity for me to do a little acting that had to do with substantive Jewish subject matter. It was also a really nice episode called April is the cruellest month in which 41 Jeremy organizes a Passover for all his colleagues, a nice opportunity to do something Jewish, one of my favorite episodes of the show and rare example of acting anything with Jewish substance. Sports night was cancelled after two brief seasons on ABC. And sports night ended in 2000. My current gig is on the west wing. I play a character named will Bailey. And created by Aaron Sorkin. Are you starting to see pattern here? I read one morning in "variety" the trade publication that rob Lowe was considering leaving the 42 show I quickly fired off an e-mail. This is true. Oh, Aaron, I'm just pitching here, what would be more cutting edge than replacing rob Lowe with a much lower profile, far less good looking actor, who would take a lot less money? I'm just saying keep me in mind. That's the e-mail I sent. This was at a time when my last major job was on a sitcom I co-star with Hank AZARiA, a poker friend of mine called "imagine that." I could do it where nobody's seen it or heard of it. It was a writer sketch comedy show and ran a 43 whopping two episodes on NBC. Then, it was cancelled, called "imagine that." of course, the cancellation led to a lot of comments for my friends like, you're out of work, imagine that! You're in horrible debt, imagine that! You may lose your house, imagine that. I have very good friends. I actually lost that job as a matter of fact, on the day that I moved into the first house I ever bought. I was 35 and I was having this moment of, I did it, I finally did it, I bought a house and ring, hello. Don't come to work tomorrow. Show's over. Click. 44 Which is why I honestly some day plan to write a book called "quit now and other pastoral advice to be a an aspiring actor." except it's horrible business except for you who want to go into it, it's great. Anyway, after sending that e-mail to my shock and delight, Aaron quickly wrote back to me whether it's true or not I don't know, he wrote back he and Tommy SlommY, a Jew in Texas with a rhyming name. He and Tommy had been talking about me and we should get together soon. I remember getting e-mail pretty soon after I sent mine, calling my wife over and reading it over and over, can this be? 45 Can it possibly be happening. >> I got together with Aaron after that and the four seasons. He laid it out for me. He basically said, you're going to do six episodes, if rob leaves and everything is working out with you, you're going to take over. I was floored. Once again my roller coaster career was at one of these points, screaming downwards. My friend, Aaron, rushed in to save the day. I was pretty much flat out given what was, for my money, the best television job available to an actor in that particular season. It was also a very funny 46 moment after Aaron told me this great thing, and he gave me a little bit of ground about my character, who was named Benjamin BAtEY at that point. It turns out Warren Beatty has a son named Benjamin and I obviously, not a big fan of mine or maybe he's got a little bit of YiDDiSh cup, and Jews, you don't name them after someone still alive. He refused to have the name. I was excited and all pumped up and Aaron got all serious and quiet and started speaking very slow. Said, I do have to tell you something. will is not going to be Jewish. >> Who cares? 47 ! I'm like, oh, my God, you got me worried. I thought you were going to say, we're not going to pay you. Aaron, you thought it would be a deal breaker, I will not do it He explained to me because Toby and Josh line man are explicitly Jewish there wasn't room. I said, Aaron, you can make him wicked, I don't care, just give me the job. So did join the cast. Hold for water. I joined the cast which couldn't have been more welcoming warmer and nice to me. It really is, sounds like a bunch of BS but it is the nicest group of people, 48 including rob Lowe, who couldn't have been nicer about passing on the baton to me The show runs Ike like a well oiled machine. It was the first time I was asked to be on a hit show. Somebody asked me which was more fun, sports night or west wing. They're both fantastic. Sports night every time the show was on the air, the next night we were wildly checking the ratings to see if we were going to be on the following week. West wing has been blessedly free of that, a hit show, won four Emmys. We work very hard, 14, 16, sometimes 17 and 18 hour days. Richard shifted the math 49 and said he believe he's spends more time with the cast of we's wing than his family. It's important we all get along and we do. We also have a lot of fun. I'm a huge fan of practical jokes. I didn't wait very long before I started incorporating them. My taste and those of my friends on west wing runs to the shockingly unsophisticated. I like to do a lot of things like I like Bacitracin, anti-infection ointment, you mix that with sunscreen and coat the inside of the trailer doors or car handles on people's cars, fantastic! In a similar vain, there 50 was one episode, I can't remember if it was last season or the season before that takes place almost entirely on Air Force one and Alison and Jeremy had a big scene to do where they use the phone. I coated the phone with an assortment of things and it got stuck to her head. That was kind of embarrassing because production went to a halt for 45 minutes. I don't know who did that. Uncool, dude! Hilarity ensued. DulAY hill, his favorite thing to do is enter -- you should have seen the nine, ten, 11 times each camera set, shoot again and again. he likes to suddenly appear in something he wasn't 51 wearing earlier, like a big hat or dread locks, the master of the wig. One of our director, Alex Graves, it was the day he was filming this episode where I sort of cocked everything up with the phone trick, he has a weird thing, where he can't respond in kind, like, all right, a little vaseline trick. he went into my trailer and crazy glued everything. Ruined all my stuff was ruined. I was like, dude, that's vandalism. that's not a practical joke. he was obsessed with his iPod. So I went and erased the 4, 000 songs and then I reset 52 the settings to mandarin Chinese. Very, very difficult to set your iPod back to English when everything's in mandarin Chinese. It turns out there's a website that can talk you through it. And my most recent prank, one of which I'm very, very proud, Jimmie Smith's going to join the cast this past season was great guy but you got to get him right away, got to hit him with a prank. So I had -- every now and then I will go into Brad's trailer when he's not at work and see what I can find. I started a thing, he reads a lot on the set, I would rip out the last page of 53 the book. I'm not proud, but passes the time. I was in his trailer and found his personalized Bradley wined for station ary I stole a few pieces thinking some day this will come in handy. And Jimmie joins the cast and Janelle comes up with an idea, on Valentine's Day we sent a 200 dollars bouquet, fantastic bouquet of garnet roses to Jimmie Smith from Brad. And on his personalized stationary, I wrote, Jimmie, you are a delight. I enjoyed every moment wave had together, be my valentine. Brad. We were so excited we 54 ordered them two weeks in advance, Ooh, when's Valentine's Day I wasn't there at work and got a pounding the next day. Brad said I had an interesting thing happen yesterday. I'm at work and Jimmie Smith walks up to me and starts kissing me on the neck. He says to me, oh, man, they're more beautiful than what I sent my girl? Brad was like what the [ Bleep ]? So interestingly, Jimmie Smith now knows that I -- Janelle and I were behind it and never said a word. There's something chilling about that. 55 The next time I saw him I thought we were going to laugh and he's like hey -- I'm sure something horrible will happen. Somebody told me that Brad was planning to like go pick up my daughter at school and take her. Like, Brad, there's this and then there's this. I sent some flowers to your co-star, don't take my child. That's not funny. I'm sure something clearly something horrible will happen soon. I'm a little scared. So one interesting-getting back, one interesting result of working on west wing is that people, journalists now will frequently inquire about my 56 political opinions. The theory being since we play politicals and policy WAnS, people may be interested in hearing our actual political opinions. I've always wondered why anybody should care about any actor's political opinion. I have great respect for people like Martin Sheen and others who have the courage to put their political opinion out there but don't understand why anybody listens or cares. I have been of the opinion people would be as interested in the political opinions in a member of the cast of the west wing as they are interested in having their appendectomy performed by a member of 57 the cast of ER, which is to say not interested at all. But it turns out I'm wrong. For better or worse, that's not reality. People are interested. So I started hesitantly to get a little bit involved. I'll tell you that story. That story started really a few years ago, 2001. The Jewish federation of lings organized a rally in support of Israel. Very simple, nothing about endorsing the Sharon government or settlements, or this policy or that policy, literally the mission statement of this rally was Israel has a right to exist. From my . of view, not a difficult concept to get behind. 58 Israel has a right to exist. So I was asked to be -- hello. Samantha. I met her on the plane. Sorry. So -- no, I embarrassed her. I was asked to be on any day as a celebrity. This was before -- after sports night but before west wing. I was no celebrity. I don't know that I am one now but I certainly wasn't then. This was brought to crystal clear focus when I approached the celebrity sign-in desk and they asked me who I was, right? An object lesson, a general note, you're not a 59 celebrity, if the celebrity sign-in desk asks you to spell your name slowly. Fine wt me. not trying to knock myself, trying to give you an idea of what the situation was. In toto, the celebrity turnout was the mayor, James Hahn, a fantastic musician, Peter HimmElmAn, I don't know if you know who he was, a great musician, and myself. not exactly Oscar night. So I was perplexed. I asked the woman who organized the celebrity involvement for the rally. Where is everyone? You can't swing a cat without hitting a famous Jew in Los Angeles. She said if it has to do with Israel, nobody will 60 come. I was aghast. That's depressing. I don't have to name people's names. You can think of 30 people off the top of your head, famous Jews who might have come to a rally on Israel has a right to exist. So, flash forward a little bit. I was interviewed by the Jewish journal, just a local L.A. publication. And at this point, I was on the west wing and that's why they're interviewing me. I told them the story I just told you about this rally I said the following. Here's the quote. 61 I said, I was appalled that bigger stars hadn't turned out to support Israel. It just drives me nuts that there are so many high profile Jews in Hollywood yet we can't get anybody say, yes, I defend Israel? it's not that I expect people to sign off on everything the Israel government does, I just don't think it should be considered a radical thing for celebrities to say that the Jewish state has a right to exist in peace but I think the general feeling is God forbid I associate myself with such a political firepower, unquote. That was it. One statement in a local Jewish publication. 62 Well, let me tell you, as a result of that article, I heard from ApAC, American Israel political action committee. Hillahs across the country were calling to come talk to the students. e-mails a mess, Jewish websites wanted an interview. The Israel consul general's office from southern California called, I should organize a trip to Israel. On and on. All of it, of course, confirming my theory no actual celebrity was willing to say these kinds of things. I have no delusions about my status in the industry. I have a great job, very happy to have a job, doing 63 fine. The truth is people are still more likely to stop me on the street and -- we went to high school, right? I used to go, no, I'm an actor. They go, no. No, I am an actor. And you start listing sports -- never saw it. No, no. Now, I'm just like, yes, we went to high school. , I remember SkoGiE, Illinois. good to see you again. In any event, nights famous nor expert in Middle East affairs, I'm hardly the spokesperson for Israel. I started to get involved a little bit. I also think it's important to add my support of Israel 64 isn't blind or monolithic. These are purely my opinions but I do support a two-state solution. I think there are certainly things the Sharon government could have done in the past a little bit differently to help reach that end. That being said, the recent past we've seen a lot of hope, a lot of cause for hope. even when the road is very, very difficult, the tiniest spark of hope in that region is something to hold on to and to work with. My own personal feeling, I don't subscribe to the concept of greater Israel, the idea everything between Mediterranean and Jordan river and all historical 65 Judea and Samaria, the modern west bank and Gaza strip biblically belongs to Israel. s for me, that's fundamentalist view. In any situation, the fundamentalist of every group, I think tend to make things difficult for people trying to work towards a solution only my opinion. I believe Palestinians have legitimate aspirations to state hood and believe viable peace can only be achieved by acknowledging their chief also needs to be territory. Let me add, I think there are aspects of Israel society, like aspects of every society that cry out for improvement 66 Israel is a significant gap between the rich and poor. There are issues of second class status for Israel's Arab citizenry. Issues of religious pluralism. As I mentioned earlier, my wife, Melissa converted to Judaism under conservative Judaism. I would like it to be a place she's considered Jewish. And I am involved in things like the Israel fund working on things like women's rights and Arab rights within Israel and civil rights, a terrific organization. Can you see the in considerable work they do if you go to Nif.org. All that being said, Israel 67 today and many years has fought a battle of bullets and of soundbytes for its very existence. While we in the industry may have -- if there are 200 of us, we may have 200 different opinions about all the issues I just mentioned, I would hope we can all agree that suicide bombings and military maneuvers of the Israel defense forces don't equate. They don't equate morally. That Mosques and Islamic jihad are not freedom fighters, they are terrorists. Terrorists whose activities have to be curtailed if there's ever going to be any hope pore peace in that region. 68 Israel exists as the Jewish homeland. It has for over 50 years. It has a right to continue to do so. I believe to do so in peace. Getting back to west wing for a moment. The beginning of this past season dealt with the situation in the Middle East. Some of the issues I just touched on. Word has it that in writing those episodes, John wells, on the staff on the west wing, the writers never had big bigger, louder, more horrible fights. There's a lot of this that goes on you can see in the final product this is good as long as there's a little 69 bit of this as well. The biggest, loudest worst fights they ever had was writing these episodes. I have also heard there were people who discouraged John wells from even going there. I heard there was an NBC give, happened to be Jewish, basically said, when John wells pitched him, this is issue, he said, please, don't do it. Not because it was so foreign, the give said no one cares. So kudos to John wells for going there anyway and getting into and issue that is murky and difficult. I applaud him for having stuck with it. I think he chose a hard path for the show at that 70 point. Middle East peace was never going to be solved on a TV show in a couple of episodes. But it was exciting to be part of exploring those issues in a respectful and substantive way. That's ultimately what I urge everyone here to engage in, to everyone who cares about Israel, to everyone tonight who cares about the Palestinians, to the majority of us that I hope care about both, I urge you to get in formed, to get involved, and to engage in meaningful dialogue. If it's argument, let it be substantive argument and debate. So many issues in the 71 Middle East are presented as black-and-white, we're right they're wrong, no, we're right, they're wrong. The truth is there is a lot of gray. my feeling, it's the gray area that has to be explored there's ever going to be any hope for piece. That's my message. I will close now before I take Q&A. The sign-off I usually go with, with all Jewish crowd, it's appropriate here nonetheless. It's customary at synagogue upon completion of one of the books of the Torah, to shout out HAZA, HAZA, the translation, be strong, be strong and let us strengthen one another. 72 Thank you very much. [ Applause ] Sorry if I got a little heavy at the end. want to talk about poker now or west wing pranks, I'm happy to do it. If you have any questions on any topic I'll do my best to answer it >> we have to get home to watch the west wing? >> Are you kidding? I'm upset I missed survivor, not west wing. Who's getting voted off. Over here. >> I know you said that-- >> I know you. >> yes, you know me You said your daughter is proud of her Jewish heritage. Do your kids go to private 73 school? >> 64, 000 dollars question. I was hoping no one would ask. my kids do not go to YEShiVA. The only issue there, I've been Jewish 31 years longer than my wife. So I came to a sort of we're comfortable with the idea of sending her to a day school or YEShiVA. My wife, her feeling was it's too sheltering just to be with the same, all these people, your kind of people. my response is always, I went to YEShiVA, do I seem sheltered? She goes, yeah. you're the reason I don't want to send them. 74 it's going to be Hebrew school for says bell. She really has a YiDiSh -- Jewish head. we wake up every morning and sing a Hebrew prayer you're supposed to say upon arising. We see each other, it's very, very early in the morning, usually 6:00 in the morning. we run together and hug and sing the song. Sing it, you know. (singing glad we're alive for another day) She gets it. I hope she'll continue to go. Yes. >> I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about the thing with the legal defense fund that I 75 see in the program that your interested in? >> it is a pro-bone no law firm, a law firm made of volunteers, fantastic lawyers in Los Angeles who volunteer to help the elderly and poor in Los Angeles regardless of their -- it's non-secttarian. You don't have to be Jewish to get their help. It's justice, justice, you shall pursue, I think is the translation. So, it's a wonderful organization. I actually played on celebrity jeopardy for them. I won them 50, 000 dollars, beating the pants off Jeff crooks of survivor. I saw some other people 76 earlier who asked me if I would appear on celebrity jeopardy. You're guaranteed 20 grand to charity. It's moral imperative. You can't say no if someone says, I'll give 20, 000 dollars if you lose to anywhere you want. I said no, and had a constant sweat for two weeks. Why do I want to go on the show and show everybody I'm an idiot luckily I discovered they dumped down the questions so much, even when you win you look like an idiot unless you get every single question right. Excepted one which the answer was Moses. I didn't budge in, 77 something about dying in Deuteronomy. Then, it went off. Oh, my God, my parents will kill me. I'm on celebrity jeopardy, the answer is Moses and I didn't buzz. A great great shame to live down. Hat that's an organization I like, one organization I try to support. >> I'm an inspiring television writer. For sports night-- >> you got to be out of your mind. You will get a job very soon. I'm sorry. >> keep interrupting me. It's fine. It's probably the greatest 78 television show ever made. I was heartbroken it was cancelled My friends I made them watch the entire DVD set over and over again. They hate me, lock med out of my room. why do you feel a smart show like that couldn't survive after two years? >> that's a good question. One of the problems is that was a smart show. I don't think that's the first thing. Honestly NBC -- not NBC I don't think any television give starts by saying, we have to get chart. Whatever we're doing, it has to be smart. Unfortunately, there's no audience for smart programming, that's not the 79 easy audience. The fact it had the word sports in the title, as silly as that sounds, I think that hurt it. I think a lot of people thought it was about sports who weren't into sports. I think ABC never quite figured out just how to market it. I also think one of the big problems, sorry, water burping. I think one of the big problems was that it was much more expensive than most sitcoms to make. So, it had to do incredibly well. It had to be a, you know, top ten. it really had to do so well that it almost -- it was almost self-defeating 80 because of the way it was shot, like a movie. It looks a lot better than most sitcoms and that cost money and that may be part of the problem, too. Thanks for the kind word. >> I'd like to thank you for coming. You were really refreshing and funny and really glad accent brought you >> Thank you for having me >> My question is, how long did Aaron Sorkin left the show I have to Zimbabwe you don't have to tell us the answer but do you know who's going to win the presidential election? >> I will answer that question obviously. I do not know. I am 99.9% certain my 81 theory is correct but in truth, we haven't been told this is what is going to happen. we haven't seen the next episode. There are some things I won't tell you that happened in the finale that Don't give away who's going to win but made things a little clearer But it's an interesting phenomenon. I was telling some people earlier, I literally, no joking, during the season, will go a website, on which somebody from the production office or writing staff or somebody on the inside, there's a mole. Somebody posts what's going to happen in the next 82 episode with remarkable detail. That's where I go to find out what happens to my character. That's up on the website before get the script. I'll be anxiously looking for episode number one. >> we need the website. >> What's the site? >> you will also find there, I shouldn't say it, you will find a remarkable amount of hatred towards my character and me as an actor. Some sort of weird self-loathing I'm drawn there. , yep, they still hate me. Called television without pity. Do you know the website? it's incredibly funny. 83 Fantastic website because they're fan Nat call. they are the real deal fan Nat call fans but they're mean and funny. They hate me. Aaron, I was incredibly bummed I didn't see it coming at all. We were actually shooting a scene and they stopped us in the middle. Could you all come to the Roosevelt room one of the parts we shoot all these big conferences on and Tommy ShlommY and Aaron were there. They said, you know what, you will hear this on access Hollywood tonight, we're going to tell you first, we're both leaving. It was like a, you know, 84 hush. It was unbelievable. That was followed by a meeting a day later. People were crying and sad, don't go. I think it was the right decision for him and I think he did a super human thing, writing 89 of the first 99 episodes. It was the right time for him. I do feel, having saved his life, I will work with him again. I am very hopeful I will continue to work for him. Thick truly, he's one of those people who likes to have his friends and have fun at work and be with the same people again and again. I'm hopeful I will continue 85 to work with him. >> first of all, thanks for coming. it was really entertaining. I really enjoyed your speech. One question, besides the pizza story, what do you think, a Jewish person's biggest obstacle or difficulty you face in your career? >> Being Jewish not a big obstacle in Hollywood. I remember when Brad gar ret won an Emmy and basically said thanks for helping me prove even a Jew can make it in Hollywood. So, I don't really honestly -- I never encountered anything I would say ever held me back because I was Jewish. I had awkward moments where 86 I've been asked to work on days, you call the Sandy Kofax syndrome, I'm not going to pitch on yon kipper. There's a show called Tracy takes on the Tracey Ullman show. she had a recurring thing, I played a small part as her assistant in this recurring room sketch she would do. One day, working on the day of -- night of which was called the big very important service. I'm not going to work then. I can be there that day but an hour before sundown, I'm out of there. No problem, no problem. >> You don't understand wherever we are, whatever . we're at, I'm leaving at 87 that . If you say that's okay, I'll be there. >> That's okay >> TV and film production always takes nine times longer than you think it will take. it was getting later in the day, and I'm yelling wrap the Jew, wrap the Jew, I'm leaving. Just in time they let me go. When I got west wing, horrible, the biggest job of my career, you need to be there September 17. I look at my calendar, the second day of a holiday. I had to call and say, first day of work, I can't be there. They were incredibly nice about it 88 The truth is Aaron's Jewish, Tommy's Jewish, it was more carelessness or nothing really nothing negative towards my being Jewish, nobody had bothered to look at a calendar. There's a second day? >> Hello Hi. I was wondering what faith your wife came from and what it was like For her to leave that behind to convert to Judaism. >> that's a great question. She was technically Presbyterian. She grew up -- the truth was she didn't have a strong denominational feeling. Which is why I think I ever even raised the issue. It wasn't one of these big 89 pressure things, it was just sort of, we dated for a long time. in the back of my mind, I knew I wanted a Jewish family, but the idea of asking somebody to convert it didn't sit well with me, if she had asked me, no, being Jewish is so e important to me. To me, at least, this is surely for myself, I wanted the mother of my kids to be -- first of all MAtRiARCAl. So we would be on the same page about our kids. All said was, would you read a book? Take a class, not saying, if you ever feel. One day she came to me and said, I'm willing to look into this. 90 We took a six month course at the university of Judaism. I always felt -- I talked about the Jewish RuiCh. She always had that to me. I always felt she always got it She wasn't particularly religious but she had to me sort of Jewish feeling of common values. And pretty quickly, after that course, she was like, you know, I think I about actually want to do this. It was beautiful and surprisingly angst free event because her family was also so supportive. I don't think that's always the case when somebody make that major decision in their lives. >> hi. 91 >> Hello. >>My question is kind of related to what someone asked earlier about Aaron leaving the show After he left was there any concern as to where the writing was going with your character? >> me personal. >> written off or -- >> Absolutely Oh, yes. >> Are you worried about having a job next season? >> yeah, uh-huh. I was very concerned when Aaron left because, you know, I got the job because I'm his friend. I feel like I deserve it but I know I got the job because I'm Aaron's friend and he liked me. So I didn't know whether 92 that would be under John Well's skin and the first thing he was going to do, now that I'm in charge, get rid of Aaron's people. I'm thankful, very happy he didn't do that It became clear pretty quickly, I'm sort of very straight forward, I can't live with the anxiety, what will happen. I'm more like, John, what's going to happen? I asked him, I have kids, do I have a job. he was like, relax, we'll keep you on the show. he told me about the vice-presidential sort of thing, and he thought that was a way to keep me on the show. He felt Aaron had really covered the whole let's see 93 the White House through a new guy's eyes. He had done that. He felt between Toby and Sam and will, he had done enough episode house hard it is to run for the president. He said, I think we have a way to keep you on the show, move you to the vice president's office and that will be an issue about your former allegiances. That being said, whoever wins next year, there will be a new administration. I don't think you can creditably keep the entire -- you see what happens in the real administration, people burn out in 18 months. We're already stretching the things that some of 94 these people have been there for eight years, it doesn't really happen. It really doesn't happen and they stay on with whoever the new president is. Obviously, they'll stretch credibility a little bit. will be some continuity in the cast. I do think some of us are going to leave. I fear I might be one of them but I honestly don't know. >> Thank you >> sure. >> On a totally different topic, I'd like your advice on how to play pocket tens. >> Pocket 10s. Pocket 10s are one of the great great trouble hands in poker 95 Pocket 10's of course you hold them starting with your own two cards. Jacks are even worse, Jacks will really get you in trouble. It depends what what position you're in. I like to play them steady strong. I don't know how many poker players there are tonight. I could go on for a long time or stop here. It's a very good hand to play. Clearly a poker player. >> I'm a big fan of the show. If you were going to pick one of the candidates to support as being united campaign, who would you support? >> on the show? 96 Russell! No. Who would I really pick? That's a great question. Difficult to answer. I like Vic a lot. I think Alan all da in the role, he would make a great president. my natural inclination, I tend to be Democrat but he is a Republican I could actually get behind. That being said, Jimmie Smith's Santos is young and hot, and he is, he's cute. I sent him flowers. And is such an idealist, such -- the idea of there being a young Latino president who cares that much and is willing to go his own way, I think that's probably ultimately would 97 go with Santos. >> Thank you. >> I was wondering the whole calling up Aaron's number works? >> we could talk. I tend to be blunt. I was very lucky. I actually knew him as a kid a little bit. I blew up in New Rochelle, New York, he grew up in score borrow, New York, suburbs of New York. He went to high school with my cousins and very active in the drama club together. I saw him in his high school production of "Godspell." I knew him a little bit, had that little bit of entree I needed. I basically cold called him. 98 Hi, my mother told no call you Okay, come on over. We started playing cards. It really is -- somebody once gave me a good piece of advice when I was asking him for help, much older than I. He basically said, you ask for help from your contemporaries, meet as many people as you can, cast a big wide network, make friends, do everything ever offered you at the Gwyneth thing of your career. Rare you can say no every now and then. Do plays for free and every student thing offered you. I don't know you're an aspiring actor, in all fiend of work it is 99 actually good advice, spread the tendrils out, meet as many people and do what it is you want to do even if you're not doing it on the level you ultimately hope to do it on. I reached out to Aaron. Come on down! >> if your worst fear is that coming to pass and you aren't on the show next season, do you have any sense where you might go next in your career? >> that's a good question. One I ponder nightly, what am I going to do? I suspect the most likely thing is to try and get another TV series. I'd love to do movies. I'm not at a . I can -- I can't make the kind of 100 living I can make on a TV show in the movies right now. I do a movie occasionally now and then, I get a part and do something. I think probably what I would do is pursue another TV series. I really sort of love to do a sitcom again. From my . of view, it's sort of surprising where I wound up, in my mind, I'm really a comic actor and what I'm most comfortable doing, I love the idea of doing a straight comic. >> how about this side of the room? Nothing. >> Is anybody else a little bit mad Aaron's working for Tim landing ham in this 101 season? >> I believe the actor that plays Mrs. Landing ham is still angry. >> It's actually an interesting thing. You get a beloved character, it's very dramatic. There's nothing more dramatic than killing off somebody you didn't really expect to grow and grown to care about. I think people think that way about mark Harmon who played a secret service agent, had a romance with C-J and he died in the finale of season three, I think. Fans were PiSSED. And I think people felt that way about Mrs. Landingham, too. 102 I don't think anybody holds Alan personally responsible and understand dramatically why he made that decision. >> is C-J ever going to find love? >> Not only because he's my brother-in-law, I thought C-J and Daniel were a fantastic couple. I thought they were so good together. I don't know. I'll have her if she'll have me. I'll wear heels. >> Josh, I want to thank you again for everything you've said tonight. You've really, I think, touched a lot of people in the room. >> Not in a bad way. >> In a good way, in a good 103 way. You mentioned a few Jewish values Is there a particular Jewish value that guides you in your life that you'd like to share with us? If you had to choose? >> I mean, it's sort of broad but the idea of the real, quint essence of Judaism, the reparation of the world, is that it's not only our privilege to engage in it, everyone's responsibility to leave the world a little bit better and richer than we found it. Simple I'm not going to say simplistic. Simple but the simple things are the most meaningful. That's how my parents 104 raised me. I'm not trying to make myself out to be some sort of righteous person. my parents passed that on, one of the essence of Judaism, you must find ways to help people and to help the world be a better place. If there's one sort of feeling or one sense or one value of Judaism I can pass ton my kids, it's that whatever else they do in their lives, that acts of kindness are a responsibility. Hello. >> I used to hate your character. >> you don't anymore? >> no. >> That's suburb surprising. 105 >> I think your character is awesome now. >> Fantastic snoop you do a fabulous job. I'm glad I'm here and sorry I missed seeing it tonight. >> well, sorry. >> My name is Laurel, I live here in Gainesville, I'm Jewish but my husband's not. I have three beautiful children, Madison and Rowan, my daughters are 7 and 9 and I have a son, ADEn, 2 1/2, their Buddy is right here. >> Beautiful. My husband is from London. He's not Jewish. >> even the Jews aren't. I don't know what that means. >> I was wondering for the holidays, how you 106 incorporate your obviously mother-in-law holidays and Christmas with now being Jewish. Being in James, most of the children in my daughter's classrooms are not Jewish, so they're surrounded by all faiths which is wonderful because I want them to be students of world religion but know where their roots are. I got a little upset when my daughter says we're Christmas juice because we kind of do it both. So I was wondering how you do it. >> it's a difficult thing. Literal on, those are great deep issues and questions I'll try to address. I have similar issues, even with my wife converting, I 107 was much more than I should have been, concerned that my children understand that when we go up to Tim and Jenny's house and we're celebrating their holiday with them, we don't celebrate Christmas, we celebrate Hanukkah, this, that, the truth is kids are more sophisticated than we give them credit for, my kids get it So what I try to stress is again, you know, to -- for everybody to get along, we do have to understand each other's rituals and holidays and find where the common values are. And so they see that when we go over, they come over to our house on Hanukkah, and they see us light the pinoras. 108 At this point, they know -- they think, pretty good Hebrew for non-jews. And they get what the essence of our holiday is. They learn the story and understand the values. We go there, we see a family loving each other and being together, and they get it's okay to be part of that. I understand it's more complicated than your own household. I'm not in a position to advise you, help you, I think if it's important for your kids to know their roots, do some of the rituals. I think kids get rituals. >> they love the holidays like Passover, my daughter would say, with the wine 109 and the finger and the goats. >> That's beautiful. That's beautiful. You can explain that's our story. That's your story, too. That in part why the Jewish people are still around because we've been taken care of through history, if you want to tell them that happened, if you want to say it represents the struggle we have had, know we've had through mellenia. I think there's a way for the kids to get the gist. >> it's nice and refreshing to know they go to school they're very proud of Judaism, they're usually the only Jewish child in the classroom and very proud. 110 >> there's no more difficult situation than someone to be proud in than to know they're the only one so you're doing something right. I commend you as well. That's beautiful. [ Applause ]