White House Plumbers
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 E. Howard Hunt, played by Woody Harrelson and G. Gordon Liddy, played by Justin Theroux. The duo \u2014\xa0along with some helpers \u2014\xa0use any means necessary to secure the 1972 re-election of Richard Nixon, including breaking into the Democratic National Committee's headquarters at the Watergate Office Building.\xa0\nOf course instead of saving Nixon, Liddy and Hunt end up destroying his presidency.\nThe 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.\nDavid 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\xa0 one of the funniest and most accurate shows ever made about Washington \u2014 for its final three seasons.\nOn 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\xa0 and how a certain president elected in between these two shows changed everything about what makes politics funny.\nRyan Lizza is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO.David Mandel is the director of White House Plumbers.\xa0Afra Abdullah is an associate producer for POLITICO audio.Kara Tabor is a producer for POLITICO audio.\xa0Alex Keeney is a senior producer for POLITICO audio.Jenny Ament is the executive producer for POLITICO audio.\n\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices