From ‘The West Wing’ to ‘Veep’: chiefs of staff, imagined and real
In any White House, few roles are more powerful, or more prone to controversy, than the chief of staff. Drama is baked into the job, and tenures often end in intrigue. Rein ce Prie bus survived just 188 days. Now all of Washington is fixated on his successor, John Kelly, a retired general who is attempting to in still order in the West Wing— he was central to ousting Stephen Ban non—and re focus President Donald Trump on policy, like the Afghanistan strategy speech on Monday night.
No wonder, then, that TV shows and movies about the presidency usually feature the chief of staff as a key character. The two of us—a former political reporter-turnedculture write randa reporter in The New York Times’ Washington bureau—looked at pop culture’ s portrayals of chiefs of staff and how these characters square with the likes of Kelly and Prie bus.
SOPAN DEB: Thedefining performance for me for a chief of staff — and I’m fairly certain this is not controversial at all—is John Spencer as Leo M cG arr yin “The West Wing .” Aside from his charismatic grizzle, the role was educational. I had no idea what a chief of staff did before watching“The West Wing ,” and Aaron S or kin helped explain that, in Washington, perhaps the most powerful person is the guy behind the guy.
KATIEROGERS: Tome,it’s the C. J. Cr egg character on“The West Wing” who stands out even to people who don’ t follow the show, both because Allison Jan ney is so talented, and because it’ s kind of rare to see a character with such heartandrapid-firehumorona show about politics. I wonder how C. J. would fare in the Trump White House. DEB: It depends which C. J. we are getting. When she was press secretary, Jan ney played a much lighter version of her. As chief of staff—which happened in Season 6— C. J. became darker and more brooding. Do you have a favorite C.J.scene?
ROGERS: Probablywhen she falls into a swimming pool before accepting the job as press secretary. These days, that would count as foreshadowing .... I also think there’ s something to be said for C.J. not being an absolutely creepy chief of staff. Don’ t you think they’ re generally portrayed as creepy? I’ m thinking of the character Michael Kelly plays on “HouseofCards.”
DEB: Doug Stamper.ROGERS: Yes. There’ s nothing charming abouthim.And hespenttime diggingaliteral ditch .I guess that technically means the actor did a terrific job portraying Stamper as a torturedsoul.
DEB: Tortured soul is right. And it’ s a very different portrayal of a chief of staff than LeoMcGarryorC.J. Cregg. Whereas thosetwoplayed very likable characters just trying to do right by America, Stamp er is wholeheartedly trying to do right by Frank Under wood. Stamp er is the most cynical view of a person in power, whereas Leo wasaspirational. ROGERS: The dark portrayal of Doug Stamp er kind of reminds me of Cyrus Bee ne, the chief of staff on“Scandal ,” another high-drama show. It’slike a less subtle version of“House of Cards .” The people are still evil but they are romantics. Credit that to S honda R him es’ fl air for creating a dramatic workplace romance. Cyrus is played by Jeff Perry, and the character demonstrates a Stamp er-like ability to just murder people who get in his way. He also not-so-secretly feels that he should be president, I think.
DEB: That’ s a key difference. Stamp er has no interest in being ‘the’ guy. Also, don’ t forget Olivia Pope is now chief of staff!
As for the most unlikely chief of staffportrayal—andlet’snot spend too much time on this: WaynePalmer,“24.” DEB: Just to recap: Wayne Palmer, who was played by D. B. Wood side,served as chief of staff to his brother, President David Palmer. Wayne became president himself in a later season of “24.” He didn’ t exhibit the toughness of Leo, the heart of C. J. or the strangeness of Doug. He didn’ t exhibit much of anythingatall. ROGERS: OK, can we talk about“Veep” now? I want to talk about“Veep”now.
DEB: Thank you for indulging
me.
ROGERS: I saw a tweet recently that said the current White House is like“House of Cards” acted out by the characters on “Veep .” I’ ll just leave that there. But there’ s something that feels very modern about how media-obsessed the“Veep”-ers are. I love the episode where they’ re all watching the bear-attack footage but in that scene, Ben Ca ff er ty is just as funny and, well, crude as everyone else. DEB: KevinDunn’s portrayal is the perfect mix of Fatigued By WashingtonCan’ t Stay Away. Hejustlooks exhausted allthetime. ROGERS:For thatreasonalone, maybethat’swhy hisportrayal actuallyseemsso true-tolife!Tolive in Washington is to beexhaustedand captivated by all of it. Especially now. DEB:Asforfilms, themostmemorable chief of staff isShe en, who played A. J. Mac In er ne yin“The American President ,” Aaron S or kin’ s precursor to“The West Wing .” Every time I watch that movie, I can’ t shake watching Jed Bartlett as a chief of staff. ROGERS: His character is the gold standard for fiction al chiefs of staff. It was predictive of what Leo’ s character would be. Supportive, deferential and someone who wasn’ t afraid to try and keep the president in check. And he’ s ultimately a friend to a person who is in a powerful but isolating office.
DEB: Therewasalsothe brilliant Frank Lang ella as Bob Alexander in“Dave ,” which is the rare chief of staff that is actually villainous.
ROGERS: Thank fully,in the movies, the good guys prevail in theend.
So, shifting into the world I cover now: Do you think the story arc of any of these characters is anywhere close to the six months Prie bus spent in the White House? Watching fictionalized portrayals of the job just makes me realize how remarkable the actual, real lifeadministration is. There’ s not even fiction al precedent for a president like Trump, who is known to make his staff openly compete against each other and basically keepsanopen-doorpolicyinthe OvalOffice—so how can a chief of staffmanagethis?
DEB: Asa general, he is a rarity as the gate keeper to the president. I’ m curious what fiction al chief of staff you think he most resembles. The closest for me, I suppose, is Leo, but that’ s a stretch. Leo was a Vietnam veteran on“The West Wing .” What makes Kelly unique is that he seems less interested in being close friends with Trump and most concerned with bringing order to the White House. That’ s not typically how the chief of staff role is portrayed in film and TV. There really is no pop culture equivalent to Kelly’ s model of a chief of staff that I can think of.
ROGERS: I think Kelly is concerned with quieting the chaos associated with the Trump White House, which seems to have the( unintended, I hope) effect of making the place look like the latest season of“Survivor .”
DEB: We don’ t know how this is going togo. Kelly appears to be a disciplined,no-nonsensemanwho commands respect from everyone on both sides of the a isle, including Trump. But it’ s hard to think of Kelly in a pop culture context until we see more of him publicly.
ROGERS: Well,ifweknow anything about this president, it’ s that he likely wants us to sit back andwatchtheshow.
DICK Gregory’s big break almost didn’t happen.
The national press was buzzing over his killer 1961 performance at Chicago’s Playboy Club, where as a last-minute substitute he played before an audience filled with white Southern food executives. Gregory handled the heckling with ease, told political jokes and even won the crowd over.
Afterward, as Gregory recalled decades later, he expected a call from “Tonight Starring Jack Paar,” a show he had watched without fail for five years. But when a friend pointed out that Paar had never invited a black comic to join him on his couch after a set — the pinnacle achievement for a stand-up comic — Gregory was devastated.
“Next thing I know, I’m walking home ... crying,” Gregory said in 2016. “I get home and (my wife) says, ‘Are you OK?’ And I say, ‘Yeah, I’m OK.’ I was embarrassed to tell her. I just knew I would never work that show.”
So when Paar’s producers asked Gregory to come on, the comic said no and hung up on them. Then Paar himself called and asked why Gregory didn’t want to perform on his show. Gregory told Paar: “Because the Negro has never been able to finish his act and walk to the couch.” Paar then insisted that Gregory would sit down on the couch.
It was the turning point not just for Gregory’s career, but for stand-up.
“He broke the color barrier in comedy,” said Kliph Nesteroff, author of “The Comedians,” a history of American comedy.
Gregory, who died Saturday at 84, was both the first black comic on Paar’s couch and the first to play in white comedy clubs.
“Prior to Dick Gregory, stand-up comedy was segregated,” Nesteroff added. “There was a separate circuit for black comedians and a separate circuit for white comedians.”
Gregory’s big break led to other “mainstream,” or white, clubs booking him — and it became “almost a trend to book a black comic in a white nightclub,” Nesteroff continued. Older comics who had been around long before Gregory were, for the first time in their careers, starting to play white nightclubs. And Gregory inspired a new crop of comics, such as Bill Cosby, Godfrey Cambridge and Richard Pryor, who were then able to get work on mainstream television.
The response to Gregory’s first time on Paar’s show was overwhelming. NBC was flooded with calls from viewers who loved his appearance, and the comic returned 22 more times, Gregory said in a 2014 interview.
“Thousands of letters came in saying, ‘We didn’t know black children and white children were the same,’” Gregory would later recall. “My momma wasn’t going to discuss her children around white folks, so where else would a white person hear someone like you talking about other than on TV?”
Gregory followed in the tradition of a wave of comics — Lenny Bruce, Mort Sahl — who talked about hot-button social issues and politics on stage. But white audiences hadn’t heard such takes from a black man’s perspective.
“Never before had white America let a black person stand flat-footed and talk to white folks,” Gregory said in 2006. “You could dance, and you could stop in between the dance — Pearl Bailey could talk about her tired feet or Sammy (Davis Jr.) could tell a joke — but you could not walk out and talk with white America.”
His approach wasn’t without blowback. Count Basie fired him from a gig because he didn’t like Gregory’s act.
Other black entertainers balked, too.
“They felt politics didn’t belong on the stage, that you could reach some semblance of acceptance or racial equality simply by doing quality work on stage, and white people would appreciate you that way,” Nesteroff said.
Gregory would go on to be something other than just a pure comedian. As an activist, he marched in Selma, was shot in the leg in Watts, jailed in Birmingham. He ran for mayor of Chicago, then president. Some criticized that he was taking himself too seriously and endangering his comedy career.
“Well, these critics who feel I’m destroying myself as an entertainer, all they know is show business,” Gregory told Playboy in 1964. “They’re concerned nightclub-wise, not news-wise. A political reporter would never say I’m taking myself too seriously. You see, there comes a time when you got to decide what you are and what you want. Way I see it now, I’m an individual first, an American second and a Negro third. But I’m a Negro before I’m an entertainer.”
Gregory’s activism meant he’d have to cancel gigs at the last minute because he was in jail. He was also spending hundreds of thousands on causes connected to the civil rights movement. Playboy asked him, “Can you afford to keep up this kind of outlay on the income from your irregular nightclub appearances?”
“Can’t afford not to,” Gregory responded in 1964. “If I’m willing to pay the price of dying for the cause, what I care about a few bucks more or less?”
How Dick Gregory, the Jackie Robinson of comedy, changed stand-up forever