| 1 | ''In keeping with the Administrivia/SpoilersOff policy, this page will have unmarked spoilers.'' |
| 2 | |
| 3 | Funny moments in ''Series/TheWestWing''. |
| 4 | |
| 5 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 6 | |
| 7 | [[folder:Season 1]] |
| 8 | * The run of [[EstablishingCharacterMoment Establishing Character Moments]] in ''Pilot'' are pretty good, if only for the variety of forms of comedy involved: |
| 9 | ** Toby's grumpy reaction to a flight attendant telling him to turn off his laptop and his pager. |
| 10 | ** CJ trying to hit on a guy at the gym at 5 in the morning… [[PratFall only to trip and fall off of her treadmill]], looking like a complete buffoon. |
| 11 | ** Sam [[ItMakesSenseInContext accidentally sleeps with a prostitute]] and proceeds to have a really bad day. |
| 12 | ** Josh is introduced asleep on his desk despite a janitor loudly vacuuming his office, but instantly wakes up when he hears his beeper going off. |
| 13 | ** The first time we hear of the President of the United States, the most powerful man in the free world and someone who is generally presented as a dignified and controlled individual, is that he crashed his bicycle into a tree. Though it becomes HarsherInHindsight when we realize the reason ''why'' he crashed his bike in the first place: He couldn't concentrate because he was so pissed off over the fact that his 12-year old granddaughter got a death threat from a fundamentalist Christian group. |
| 14 | ** Leo's exasperation of having to spin the news that the President rode his bicycle into a tree. |
| 15 | ---> '''C.J. Cregg:''' Is there anything I can say other than the President rode his bicycle into a tree?\ |
| 16 | '''Leo:''' [[MathematiciansAnswer He hopes never to do it again.]]\ |
| 17 | '''C.J. Cregg:''' Seriously, they're laughing pretty hard.\ |
| 18 | '''Leo:''' He rode his bicycle into a tree, C.J.! What do you want me- [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness "The President while riding his bicycle on his vacation in Jackson Hole came to a sudden arboreal stop"]]. What do you want from me? |
| 19 | ** Donna brings Josh coffee to cheer him up after his gaffe at Capital Beat. [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness She has never brought him coffee]] in her year and a half of working for him. And then we get this gem as she leaves. |
| 20 | ---> '''Josh:''' Thanks for the coffee.\ |
| 21 | '''Donna:''' You're welcome.\ |
| 22 | '''Toby:''' Donna brought you coffee?\ |
| 23 | '''Donna:''' Shut up! |
| 24 | ** The DynamicEntry of the President. |
| 25 | ---> '''Christian minister:''' Then what's the First Commandment?\ |
| 26 | '''Bartlet:''' ''I am the Lord your God. Thou shalt worship no other gods before me…'' Boy, those were the days. |
| 27 | *** It's the shit-eating grin on Martin Sheen's face as he says it that makes it funny. |
| 28 | * Toby's reaction to Sam's confession that he accidentally slept with a prostitute in ''Pilot'': |
| 29 | -->'''Toby''': Accidentally? \ |
| 30 | '''Sam''': Yes.\ |
| 31 | '''Toby''': I don't understand, did you trip over something? |
| 32 | * When Sam and Mallory, the elementary school teacher, first meet ''Pilot'': |
| 33 | -->'''Sam:''' Ms. O'Brien, I understand your feelings, but please believe me when I tell you that I'm a nice guy having a bad day. I just found out the Times is publishing a poll that says a considerable portion of Americans feel the White House has lost energy and focus. A perception that's not likely to be altered by the video footage of the President riding his bicycle into a tree. As we speak, the Coast Guard is fishing Cubans out of the Atlantic Ocean while the Governor of Florida wants to blockade the Port of Miami. A good friend of mine's about to get fired for going on television and making sense, and it turns out I accidentally slept with a prostitute last night. Now would you please, in the name of compassion, tell me which one of those kids is my boss's daughter?\ |
| 34 | '''Mallory:''' That would be me.\ |
| 35 | '''Sam:''' You.\ |
| 36 | '''Mallory:''' Yes.\ |
| 37 | '''Sam:''' [[AmbiguousSyntax Leo's daughter's fourth-grade class.]]\ |
| 38 | '''Mallory:''' Yes.\ |
| 39 | '''Sam:''' Well, this is bad on so many levels. |
| 40 | * Leo's recurring frustration over a certain misprint he believes is in the ''New York Times'' crossword puzzle: |
| 41 | -->'''Leo:''' Margaret, will you please get in touch with the ''New York Times'' crossword editor and tell them that seventeen across is wrong, and that "Gaddafi" is spelt with an 'H' and two 'D's and isn't a seven-letter word for anything?\ |
| 42 | '''Margaret:''' Is this for real, or is this just funny?\ |
| 43 | '''Leo:''' Apparently, it's neither.\ |
| 44 | ''[Later]''\ |
| 45 | '''Leo:''' ''[On the phone]'' Yes, seventeen across is wrong. You're spelling his name wrong. ''[Leo gets increasingly irate]'' What's my name? My name doesn't matter. I'm just an ordinary citizen who relies on the ''Times'' crossword for stimulation. And I'm telling you, I've met the man twice, and I've recommended a preemptive Exocet missile strike against his air force, so I think I know how to -- !\ |
| 46 | '''CJ:''' Leo.\ |
| 47 | '''Leo:''' They hung up on me. Every time!\ |
| 48 | '''CJ:''' That's almost hard to believe. |
| 49 | ** This bit is even funnier [[GeniusBonus if you know]] that ''nobody'' can agree on [[http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/02/23/how-do-you-spell-gaddafi-the-linguistics-behind-libyas-leader/ how to spell Gadhafi's name in English]], due to things like differing dialects in Arabic and a general lack of standardized romanization of Arabic names. Even Khadafy himself (May His Spellings Be Many) never did much to clarify things before his death. |
| 50 | * At the beginning of ''Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc'', Mandy laments that the staff of the West Wing will be gloating at the fact that they have prevented Senator Lloyd Russell from being any sort of threat to Bartlet for the Presidential nomination. |
| 51 | -->'''Russell:''' There are very serious men and women in the White House. A blow was struck for party unity this morning. There's no cause to gloat.\ |
| 52 | ''([[DescriptionCut Cut to Josh bursting out of his office]])''\ |
| 53 | '''Josh:''' Victory is mine, victory is mine, great day in the morning, people, victory is mine!\ |
| 54 | '''Donna:''' Good morning, Josh.\ |
| 55 | '''Josh:''' I drink from the keg of glory, Donna. Bring me the finest muffins and bagels in all the land.\ |
| 56 | '''Donna:''' ''(hanging up her coat [[FunnyBackgroundEvent as Josh does a dance of victory and bows to the rest of his staff behind her]])'' It's going to be an unbearable day. |
| 57 | * President Bartlet mock-arguing with his personal physician over being given an injection. |
| 58 | -->'''Bartlet:''' What's that?\ |
| 59 | '''Captain Tolliver:''' It's a flu shot.\ |
| 60 | '''Bartlet:''' I don't need a flu shot.\ |
| 61 | '''Captain Tolliver:''' You ''do'' need a flu shot.\ |
| 62 | '''Bartlet:''' How do I know this isn't the start of a military coup? I want the Secret Service in here right away.\ |
| 63 | '''Captain Tolliver:''' In the event of a military coup, sir, what makes you think the Secret Service is gonna be on your side?\ |
| 64 | '''Bartlet:''' ...Now ''that's'' a thought that's gonna fester. |
| 65 | * In "Five Votes Down", Bartlet alters one of Toby's speeches: |
| 66 | -->'''Bartlet''': I did a little polish right up there on my feet.\ |
| 67 | '''Toby''': Yes indeed.\ |
| 68 | '''Bartlet''': Right in front of everybody. I looked to the side at one point, you know. I half expected to see you coming at me with a salad fork.\ |
| 69 | '''Toby''': Well, but for the secret service agents restraining me, sir. |
| 70 | * Jed Bartlet + Percocet + Vicodin = hysterical viewers (seen in its full glory [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMymwBvyIeg here]].) (From Season 1's ''Five Votes Down'') |
| 71 | -->''You mean I wasn't supposed to take them both?'' |
| 72 | ** ''I'm seriously thinking about getting a dog.'' |
| 73 | ** When they're discussing the mess that Toby has gotten himself into and, while listing options, Mandy brings up 'resignation'. |
| 74 | --->'''Bartlet:''' Hot damn! ''Now'' you're talkin'!\ |
| 75 | '''Toby:''' I think she meant ''me'', Mr. President. |
| 76 | ** The President hugging Toby is the [[http://i.imgur.com/c6brouL.gif most hilarious moment of visual comedy ever.]] |
| 77 | * From ''These Crackpots and These Women'', President Bartlet's basketball game with his staff: |
| 78 | -->'''Toby:''' It's not so much that you cheat sir, it's how brazenly bad you are it.\ |
| 79 | '''Bartlet:''' Give me an example.\ |
| 80 | '''Toby:''' In Florida, playing mixed doubles with me and C.J., you tried to tell us your partner worked at the American Consulate in Vienna.\ |
| 81 | '''Bartlet:''' She did.\ |
| 82 | '''Toby:''' It was Steffi Graf, sir!\ |
| 83 | '''Bartlet:''' [[ImplausibleDeniability I'll admit the woman bore a striking resemblance to her.]]\ |
| 84 | '''Toby:''' You crazy lunatic, you think I'm not going to recognize Steffi Graf when she's serving a tennis ball ''at'' me?\ |
| 85 | '''Josh:''' Steffi Graf's won quite a few championships, sir, we've had plenty of opportunities to see photographs. |
| 86 | * The reaction to the news that Bartlet is going to be cooking chili in "The Crackpots and These Women": |
| 87 | -->'''Bartlet:''' Hey, everybody, listen up - Zoe's down from Hanover and I'm making chili for everyone tonight!\ |
| 88 | [''Horrified silence from the senior staff'']\ |
| 89 | '''Josh:''' Oh God...\ |
| 90 | '''Various:''' ''[With a distinct lack of enthusiasm]'' Great! That's... great.\ |
| 91 | '''Bartlet:''' [''after staring at them for a moment; patiently''] Okay, you know what? Let's do this. Everybody look down at the big seal in the middle of my carpet. [''Everyone looks down at the Presidential seal''] Now look back up at me. --Zoe's down from Hanover and I'm making chili for everyone tonight!\ |
| 92 | '''Everyone:''' [''with forced enthusiasm''] That's great! I love chili! Terrific!\ |
| 93 | '''Bartlet:''' [''beaming''] There! You see how benevolent I can be when everybody just does what I tell them to do? |
| 94 | * In "The Crackpots and These Women", Toby and the President have been having some tension recently. While they're getting into a heated discussion in the Press Room, C.J. encounters Mrs. Landingham just outside: |
| 95 | -->'''C.J.''' Good morning, Mrs. Landingham. Where are we today on the saga of Toby and the President?\ |
| 96 | '''Mrs. Landingham:''' They seem to be having a... disagreement.\ |
| 97 | '''C.J.:''' A disagreement or a fight?\ |
| 98 | '''Mrs. Landingham:''' It certainly has the potential to--\ |
| 99 | '''Bartlet:''' ''[From the other room]'' ''OH FOR GOD'S '''SAKES''', TOBY!!!''\ |
| 100 | '''Mrs. Landingham:''' There we go. |
| 101 | * At the beginning of "Mr Willis of Ohio", Toby needs a copy of Article 1 Section 2 of the US Constitution[[note]]FWIW, the section which establishes the House of Representatives and the processes by which it is formed and representation assigned; it's relevant to the US Census, which is the central issue being addressed in the episode[[/note]]. His request reveals a rather troubling hole in the Communication Department's resources: |
| 102 | -->'''Cathy:''' Is that something I'm supposed to have at my desk?\ |
| 103 | '''Toby:''' Does anyone have a copy of the Constitution? ''[he is met with blank stares and awkward silence]'' This is ''discouraging''.\ |
| 104 | '''Cathy:''' Bonnie, would you get Toby a copy of the Constitution?\ |
| 105 | '''Bonnie:''' Is it still in print?\ |
| 106 | '''Toby:''' Oh, for crying out loud! Try Amazon.com! If they don't have it, then just bust into the glass display case at the National Archives!\ |
| 107 | ''[Bonnie scurries out; C.J. has appeared behind Toby during this rant.]''\ |
| 108 | '''C.J.:''' You shouldn't yell.\ |
| 109 | '''Toby:''' "Is it still in print?" is what my staff would like to know. |
| 110 | * In "Enemies", Sam's whole struggle with WritersBlock when trying to write a birthday card ("Birthday ''[[InsistentTerminology message]]''."). Especially when Toby eventually joins in: |
| 111 | -->''[Sam is at his desk typing the message. Though we don't initially see him, Toby is standing behind him looking over his shoulder in a kind of looming way that any writer will tell you is absolutely infuriating even when you're not struggling to get it right]''\ |
| 112 | '''Toby:''' ''[In an annoyingly non-judgementally judgemental way]'' Hmm. ''[Sam ignores him and continues writing]'' Hmm. ''[Sam keeps writing]'' Hmm.\ |
| 113 | '''Sam:''' ''[Finally snaps and spins around in his chair]'' You know, Toby, I gotta tell ya!\ |
| 114 | '''Toby:''' Am I bothering you?\ |
| 115 | '''Sam:''' I'm not feeling relaxed!\ |
| 116 | '''Toby:''' Well, then, maybe you need a glass of wine.\ |
| 117 | '''Sam:''' Maybe ''you'' need to stop standing over my shoulder.\ |
| 118 | '''Toby:''' ''[Reaching for the laptop]'' Why don't you let me try this?\ |
| 119 | '''Sam:''' ''[Fending him off]'' I'm gonna nail it this time! |
| 120 | * From the episode (Season 1's ''The Short List'') when Congressman Lillianfield is trying to convince the American people that one in three White House staffers use drugs: |
| 121 | -->'''Josh:'''Okay, five White House staffers in the room. I'd like to say to the one point six of you who are stoned right now, it's time to share. |
| 122 | * ''The Short List'': |
| 123 | ** Sam arguing with a potential Supreme Court nominee about the limits of the Constitution: |
| 124 | --->'''Sam''':"In 1787 there was a sizable bloc of delegates who were initially opposed to the bill of rights. This is what a member of the Georgia delegation had to say by way of opposition: 'If we list a set of rights, some fools in the future are going to claim the people are entitled only to those rights enumerated and no others'."\ |
| 125 | '''Judge''': "Son, were you just calling me a fool then?"\ |
| 126 | '''Sam''': "I wasn't calling you a fool, sir. The brand new state of Georgia was." |
| 127 | ** Danny giving CJ a pet fish as a gift, because one of her coworkers told him she liked goldfish. |
| 128 | ---> '''CJ''': The ''crackers'', Danny! The kind you have at a party? \ |
| 129 | '''Danny''': You know, I don't think I was supposed to know that. |
| 130 | * The entire "Josh digs himself into a hole with the press" subplot from ''Celestial Navigation''. |
| 131 | -->'''President Bartlet''': You told the press I have a secret plan to fight inflation?\ |
| 132 | '''Josh''': No, I did not. Let me be absolutely clear, I did not do that. [[ByNoIMeanYes Except, yes, I did that]]. |
| 133 | ** Followed by... |
| 134 | --->'''Josh''': I denied it for half an hour, they wouldn't take no for an answer!\ |
| 135 | '''President Bartlet''': You were clear?\ |
| 136 | '''Josh''': I was crystal clear! They said, "Do you think that, if the President has a plan to fight inflation, it's right that he keep it a secret?" I said, of course not!\ |
| 137 | '''President Bartlet''': [[DiggingYourselfDeeper Are you telling me that not only did you invent a secret plan to fight inflation, but now you don't support it?]] |
| 138 | * Also from ''Celestial Navigation'': |
| 139 | -->'''CJ''': I had woot canaw.\ |
| 140 | '''CJ''': Be wary cawfuwl not to deswoy us. |
| 141 | ** Toby has little patience with CJ's dental problems: |
| 142 | --->'''Toby''': CJ, if you say 'bweifing' or 'Pwesident' one more time, I swear to God... |
| 143 | ** Bartlet trumps them with his summing-up of Josh's entire briefing room experience: |
| 144 | --->'''Bartlet''': OK, first of all-- CJ, if blood is gushing from the head wound you just received from a herd of stampeding bison, ''you'll'' do the press briefing. |
| 145 | ** Bartlet's entire mood during that scene wins the episode. |
| 146 | --->'''Bartlet''': Day after tomorrow?" "Yes, sir." "Is he coming in from Neptune?" |
| 147 | ** The scene where Charlie has to go and wake the president up. |
| 148 | --->[''Charlie starts to poke the president; Bartlet grabs his hand'']\ |
| 149 | '''Bartlet''': Charlie, are you aware you're committing a federal crime?\ |
| 150 | '''Charlie:''' I'll take my chances with the Feds, Mister President.\ |
| 151 | '''Bartlet:''' How did you know the First Lady wasn't going to be naked when you came in here? (''looks around at the empty half of the bed'') Come to think of it, where the hell ''is'' my wife? |
| 152 | *** There's also an attempt to wake up the president just by talking. |
| 153 | --->'''Charlie''': Sir, I need you to dig in now. It wasn't a nightmare, you really are the President.\ |
| 154 | '''Bartlet''': ''Who is this?'' |
| 155 | ** Sam getting lost when he and Toby go to see Mendoza: |
| 156 | --->'''Sam:''' Let me tell you something. If we'd stayed on the Merritt Parkway instead of getting off at Exit 29 and going east to Greenwich, I don't think we'd have wound up in Bridgeport so many times.\ |
| 157 | '''Toby:''' Shut up. |
| 158 | ** There's a few layers to this one. Firstly, there's the MoodWhiplash of Sam pointing this out immediately after dressing down a couple of cops who've arrested the nominee for the next Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. Secondly, Sam delivers this statement to Toby in the ''exact same tone'' he used on the cops. And finally, ''Sam was the one driving the car in the first place''. |
| 159 | ** Or Sam being geeky in general about road travel: |
| 160 | --->'''Leo:''' (Mendoza's) driving from Nova Scotia to Washington.\ |
| 161 | '''Sam:''' Yeah.\ |
| 162 | '''Leo:''' How's a person do that?\ |
| 163 | '''Sam:''' My guess is, he'll take the Trans-Canada Highway to New Brunswick, then maybe catch the 1 and take the scenic route along the coast of Maine, 95 through New Hampshire to the Mass Pike, and then cut over to the Merritt Parkway around Milford.\ |
| 164 | [''the other staffers all look at Sam like he's crazy'']\ |
| 165 | '''Toby:''' There's something really kinda freakish about you, you know that? |
| 166 | ** Sam at the police station: |
| 167 | --->'''Cop:''' So. Can I ask? Guy in your job... do you know missile codes and that sort of thing?\ |
| 168 | ''[Long pause]''\ |
| 169 | '''Sam:''' [''Casually''] [[BlatantLies Yeah.]]\ |
| 170 | '''Cop:''' [''Impressed''] Outstanding! |
| 171 | * After Mendoza has been let out of jail and the cops have apologised to him, his good humour returns, but Toby's doesn't: |
| 172 | -->'''Mendoza''': You know what, Toby. If there's no reason for you guys to go back to Washington, you should spend the night here.\ |
| 173 | '''Toby''': [''opens car door''] What's up here?\ |
| 174 | '''Mendoza''': Great antiquing. [''enters car'']\ |
| 175 | '''Toby''': Killing me, Judge. You're absolutely killing me. |
| 176 | * Josh's first meeting with Joey Lucas in ''Take This Sabbath Day'': |
| 177 | -->''[Josh is sleeping face-down on his desk when Joey and Kenny storm in without knocking, Joey signing furiously and Kenny translating loudly; Josh startles awake]''\ |
| 178 | '''Kenny:''' Are you the unmitigated jackass who has the DNC choking off funding for the O'Dwyer campaign in the California 46th?!\ |
| 179 | '''Josh:''' What in God's name is happening right now?\ |
| 180 | '''Kenny:''' I'm Joey Lucas.\ |
| 181 | '''Josh:''' ''[To Kenny]'' You're Joey Lucas?\ |
| 182 | '''Kenny:''' No, [[WhosOnFirst I'm Joey Lucas!]]\ |
| 183 | '''Josh:''' ''[Confused and pathetic]'' ... help me, because I-I don't...\ |
| 184 | ''[Kenny makes a gesture to Joey which clearly reads "This guy doesn't even know what day it is."]''\ |
| 185 | '''Joey:''' You ''idiot''! ''I'm Joey Lucas''! |
| 186 | ** From the same episode, Joey's delayed reaction to Josh calling her "lunatic lady," due to it having to be interpreted by Kenny, is utterly priceless. |
| 187 | ** And this little moment: |
| 188 | --->'''Josh:''' Trust me when I say there's absolutely no way you're gonna see the President!\ |
| 189 | '''Bartlet:''' [''Nonchalantly walking up behind Josh''] Hey, Josh.\ |
| 190 | '''Josh:''' ... Hello, Mr. President. |
| 191 | ** Joey sticking her tongue out at Josh. |
| 192 | ** And this one, where Donna is attempting to help Josh recover from his wild night out and get him into shape for his Joey Lucas meeting: |
| 193 | ---> '''Donna''': [''putting a cup on Josh's desk''] Drink this.\ |
| 194 | '''Josh:''' Coffee?\ |
| 195 | '''Donna:''' It's strong, drink it all.\ |
| 196 | ''[Josh takes a drink, then listlessly allows the coffee to fall out of his mouth, making a "bleggh" sound]''\ |
| 197 | '''Donna:''' It's from yesterday, so it might not be hot anymore. |
| 198 | * Josh combines this with a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome in Season 1's ''Mandatory Minimums''; Bartlet is about to announce a new policy initiative in a speech. Prominent Republicans have promised that, if he does, they'll force through a legislative agenda that will make him cry. As Bartlet makes the speech, everyone counsels Josh - who is about to be bombarded with threats and attacks - not to panic. On cue, as Bartlet makes the announcement, a Republican Senator irately calls Josh, who answers his phone and before the Senator can even speak: |
| 199 | -->'''Josh''': Hey Senator? Why don't you take your legislative agenda and shove it up your ass. ''[Hangs up]'' Turns out I was fine. |
| 200 | ** Made even better by the audience bursting into wild applause at that moment (OK, it was for the President's speech, but the timing was perfect). |
| 201 | * The ColdOpen of ''Let Bartlet Be Bartlet''. Toby and Sam are arguing over a speech, which opens with "As I look out over this magnificent vista." Toby is worried about what happens in the event of sudden rain - if the speech will be moved inside, do they change it immediately or trust Bartlet to improvise his own opening? [[TemptingFate Sam assures him that rain isn't going to happen]] - he has a report from the National Weather Service. "They use satellites. They use technology." Cue a thunderclap and a downpour. [[DeadpanSnarker Toby]] notes that "This is the same satellite technology we use to detect intercontinental ballistic missiles." They get interrupted by the plot for several minutes. Finally, as they stand watching the speech, Sam has an OhCrap reaction, telling Leo "I forgot to do something." |
| 202 | -->'''Bartlet''': "[[BrickJoke As I look over this magnificent vista...]]"\ |
| 203 | ''Cue credits'' |
| 204 | ** Throughout the discussion above, Sam confidently insists that it's not going to rain because the woman he spoke to a the Bureau of Meterology is an expert and informed him that it wasn't going to rain. It takes Sam rather longer than it should have to realise that the woman [[SarcasmBlind was probably being sarcastic when she said it wasn't going to rain, given the blindingly obvious clues that rain was on the way.]] |
| 205 | * In ''Lord John Marbury'' which is a funny episode just because of the titular character (and Leo's hatred of him) There's a fun subplot for Zoey and Charlie too. First is Zoey asking the oblivious Charlie out (crossover with Heartwarming) and second is Bartlet's reaction to Charlie asking him if he can go out with Zoey. When Bartlet tells Leo this, Leo just grins until Bartlet tells him to shut up. |
| 206 | * There's a subplot from ''What Kind of Day Has It Been'' where Josh's desk chair has been removed for repairs, a fact that he keeps forgetting, and another where Charlie is arguing with Zoey about giving some advice to the President. It leads to this ''beautiful'' sight gag. |
| 207 | --> '''Charlie''': Zoe, I work in a building with the smartest people in the world--\ |
| 208 | [''[[InstantlyProvenWrong Josh attempts to sit in the missing chair and falls on his ass with a *WHAM*]]'']\ |
| 209 | '''Josh:''' DONNA!!! |
| 210 | ** Also includes a FunnyBackgroundEvent as Gina, Zoe's bodyguard quickly pops her head in at the sound of the crash quickly sees Zoe is in no danger and goes back to minding her own business without saying a word. |
| 211 | * Another subplot regards the staff worrying about Toby's astronaut brother making it back to Earth aboard the Space Shuttle. Sam decides they should keep each other posted on the shuttle's status using an arm gesture mimicking the shuttle launching off the ground as if it were a plane, signifying a "safe departure." During the president's speech at Rosalyn, Toby signals to Josh who signals to Leo, who reveals he had the meanings of the "take-off" signal and the "crashing down" gesture backwards, since the shuttle is attempting to land safely, not launch safely. Even better, this happens before the episode cuts back in time 12 hours, and thanks to ''The West Wing's'' consistent aversion of AsYouKnow, the viewer has no idea what "this thing" and "the other thing" are. |
| 212 | * In "Six Meetings Before Lunch", Toby is in an uncharacteristically good mood, having secured a Supreme Court nomination: |
| 213 | -->'''Margaret''': Hey, Toby.\ |
| 214 | '''Toby''': Hey there, Margaret.\ |
| 215 | '''Margaret''': Are you okay?\ |
| 216 | '''Toby''': Yeah. Why wouldn't I be okay?\ |
| 217 | '''Margaret''': You don't usually say, "Hey there, Margaret."\ |
| 218 | '''Toby''': [''chuckles''] What do I usually say?\ |
| 219 | '''Margaret''': You usually growl something inaudible.\ |
| 220 | '''Toby''': Not today.\ |
| 221 | '''Margaret''': I see.\ |
| 222 | '''Toby''': You, on the other hand, should turn that frown upside down.\ |
| 223 | '''Margaret''': I'm sorry?\ |
| 224 | '''Toby''': Let your smile be your umbrella, Margaret.\ |
| 225 | '''Margaret''': Okay, now you're scaring the crap out of me, Toby. |
| 226 | ** Sure enough: |
| 227 | --->'''Mandy''': Toby.\ |
| 228 | '''Toby''': Mandy.\ |
| 229 | '''Mandy''': You got two seconds?\ |
| 230 | '''Toby''': Madeline, you are charming and you are brilliant and for you, I have all the time in the world.\ |
| 231 | '''Mandy''': [''to staffers''] What's with him?\ |
| 232 | '''Ginger''': It's the day after his Day of Jubilee.\ |
| 233 | '''Bonnie''': We've never seen him sustain a good mood this long.\ |
| 234 | '''Toby''': Bonnie, you are dedicated and you are beautiful. And Ginger, you are other nice things.\ |
| 235 | '''Mandy''': Can I see you inside?\ |
| 236 | '''Toby''': You bet.\ |
| 237 | [''They go into Toby's office. Toby sets his stuff down on the desk.'']\ |
| 238 | '''Toby''': Mandy, I feel like I've lost a hundred and eighty pounds. I'm smiling. I'm laughing. I'm enjoying the people I work with. I gotta snap out of this. What's on your mind?\ |
| 239 | '''Mandy''': I want you to help me get the Chinese to give us a new panda bear to replace Lum-Lum.\ |
| 240 | '''Toby''': [''long pause''] Well, that did the trick. |
| 241 | * In "The White House Pro-Am", a leak from a "source" close to the First Lady has announced Abby's support for a potential Federal Reserve Chairman whom Bartlet is dithering over nominating, which has resulted in some embarrassment. Soon after, Danny Concannon finds himself invited to the Oval Office for a private conversation with Bartlet, to find Bartlet with a fixed, awkward grin on his face and Leo also sitting there looking resigned. Things... don't go so well: |
| 242 | ** Leo doesn't exactly set an optimistic tone for what's about to follow: |
| 243 | --->'''Leo:''' I'd just like to say right off the bat that I strongly urged the president not to have this conversation, so I'm just a guy sitting here.\ |
| 244 | '''Bartlet:''' We'll [[SarcasmMode note with surprise]] your lack of conviction, Leo.\ |
| 245 | '''Leo:''' ''[grimly]'' Note it well, sir. |
| 246 | ** Then, after an awkward moment, Bartlet fondly begins to reminisce over the late-night talks he and Danny shared during the campaign... leading to a less-than-graceful detour into the matter of the First Lady: |
| 247 | --->'''Bartlet:''' Out there in the campaign trail.... Ames, Iowa...Tulsa... Skokie, Center City, Tallahassee, Albany...San Antonio, Jasper, Wyoming. We grew very close.\ |
| 248 | '''Danny:''' I'm flattered by that, sir.\ |
| 249 | '''Bartlet:''' You covered the First Lady, as well.\ |
| 250 | '''Danny:''' ''[Beginning to smell a rat]'' ... yes, sir.\ |
| 251 | '''Bartlet:''' You literally wrote the book on my wife.\ |
| 252 | '''Danny:''' ''[The smell of the rat is now overpowering]'' Yes, sir.\ |
| 253 | '''Bartlet:''' Once again, I want to emphasise the strong personal bond we built on the campaign--\ |
| 254 | '''Leo:''' Oh, for God's sake!\ |
| 255 | '''Danny:''' Mr. President, did you call me in to ask me if I knew who the sources are close to the First Lady?\ |
| 256 | '''Bartlet:''' ''[Uncomfortable]'' Well, I was... going to... in a proper... gentlemanly--\ |
| 257 | '''Leo:''' Even byzantine.\ |
| 258 | '''Bartlet:''' ''[DeathGlare at Leo]'' --way. |
| 259 | ** Then, when Danny point-blank refuses, the panic that Bartlet's been trying to conceal breaks through: |
| 260 | --->'''Bartlet:''' ''[Desperate]'' Danny, you must... save me from having this conversation with my wife.\ |
| 261 | '''Danny:''' Mr. President...\ |
| 262 | '''Bartlet:''' Or at least see to it that I'm better equipped when I inevitably ''do''.\ |
| 263 | '''Danny:''' I'm sorry, Mr. President. I'd be revealing someone else's source.\ |
| 264 | '''Bartlet:''' We're off the record!\ |
| 265 | '''Danny:''' Also, I'd get in trouble with the First Lady.\ |
| 266 | '''Bartlet:''' Welcome to the club, Danny! We had some jackets made! |
| 267 | ** When it becomes clear Danny's not going to budge, Leo advises the President to just let him go: |
| 268 | --->'''Bartlet:''' ''[Slightly bitter]'' ... Albany. Tulsa. Wichita. I'm not getting a personal bond here, Danny.\ |
| 269 | '''Danny:''' Sir, if it makes you feel any better, I just gave some very sage dating advice to Charlie Young.\ |
| 270 | '''Bartlet:''' ... You're coaching my personal aide on how best to score with my daughter? [[SarcasmMode Why yes, Danny, that does make me feel better.]]\ |
| 271 | '''Danny:''' Well... anything I can do to help, sir. |
| 272 | * ''Let Bartlet Be Bartlet'' is a mostly solemn and somewhat melancholy episode until the end, as it revolves around the characters feeling frustrated, stalled, depressed and resigned to inevitable defeat. And then every so often Margaret pops up fretting about an email about the calorie count in raisin muffins she sent which has somehow collapsed the White House email network: |
| 273 | -->'''Leo:''' Margaret! I can't email.\ |
| 274 | '''Margaret:''' They're working on the problem.\ |
| 275 | '''Leo:''' What's the problem?\ |
| 276 | '''Margaret:''' My friend Linette, from the President's Council on Physical Fitness. Remember her?\ |
| 277 | '''Leo:''' ''[Beginning to busy himself with other tasks instead]'' No.\ |
| 278 | '''Margaret:''' She's the one where you say [[ShapedLikeItself "Who is that?" and I say "That's my friend Linette, from the President's Council on Physical Fitness."]] ''[Josh has wandered in to meet with Leo by this point]'' Anyway, she sent me an email about the actual calorie count of the raisin muffins they're serving in the mess. I forwarded the email to several hundred secretaries and assistants at [=OEOB=] and the west wing, and that was ''fine''. But Jolene Millman, who works in Political Liaison, ''then'' hit reply. Which ''apparently''--\ |
| 279 | '''Leo:''' Oh, Margaret, Margaret! I'm sorry, I'm gonna have... I hung in there as long as I could, but you long since passed the point when I stopped caring. If you're curious, it was right around 'raisin muffin'. |
| 280 | * ''Mandatory Minimums'' |
| 281 | ** Donna teasing Josh about his "Joey Lucas suit." |
| 282 | ** Joey casually announcing to Josh, in the middle of a crowded hallway, that she's not sleeping with Al Keifer anymore. |
| 283 | *** Made funnier by the fact that she says it through Kenny. Of all of the things it would have been better for her to say out loud... |
| 284 | *** Josh reacts by trying to lecture her about professionalism and how they're in "a place where solemn work is done," but he's so caught off guard that he just ends up blustering incoherently. |
| 285 | *** And Joey just stands there with a cute little smile, totally unfazed. |
| 286 | ** Josh awkwardly presenting Joey with a White House coffee mug as a gesture of affection, and Kenny's unbridled amusement while interpreting the exchange. |
| 287 | [[/folder]] |
| 288 | |
| 289 | [[folder:Season 2]] |
| 290 | * Bartlet manages to pull one off ''in the middle of a scene where he's being wheeled into surgery after being shot'' (''In the Shadow of Two Gunmen: Part I''): |
| 291 | -->'''Nurse:''' I need to ask you a couple of questions, sir. Do you have any medical conditions?\ |
| 292 | '''Bartlet:''' Well... I've been shot![[note]]This also has further significance in that Bartlet has not yet publicly disclosed his MS diagnosis.[[/note]] |
| 293 | * There's also this gem, as he and the Secret Service enter the hospital: |
| 294 | -->'''Bartlet:''' This guy (Agent Butterfield) has about 20 broken bones in his hand, in case someone wants to get him an aspirin or something. |
| 295 | * From a flashback in "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen": |
| 296 | -->'''Josh:''' What're you doing?\ |
| 297 | '''Sam:''' Protecting oil companies from litigation. They're our client. They don't lose legal protection just because they make a lot of money.\ |
| 298 | '''Josh:''' Can't believe no one ever wrote a folk song about that. |
| 299 | * From ''In This White House,'' when Bartlet decides to hire [[BlondeRepublicanSexKitten Ainsley Hayes]] (who is herself a source of several Crowning Moments of Funny) and Leo is trying to talk him out of it. |
| 300 | -->'''Bartlet''': Charlie, there's a woman whose voice I think would fit in very nicely around here. She's a conservative Republican. Should I hire her?\ |
| 301 | '''Charlie''': Absolutely, Mr. President, because I'm told theirs is the party of inclusion.\ |
| 302 | '''Leo''': See? Charlie just made a joke to you in the Oval Office. That's how bad an idea this is. |
| 303 | ** Then, a few moments later: |
| 304 | --->'''Bartlet''': Charlie, when they close the book on me and you, they will note that in this moment you were not there for me, and for that, obviously, there'll be some kind of punishment.\ |
| 305 | '''Charlie''': Well, you could always sing Puccini for me again, sir. We'll call it even. |
| 306 | *** You can hear President Bartlet give a barely audible grunt at the end of this scene, as if to say "Dammit the kid got me again." |
| 307 | ** C.J.'s reaction is also pretty funny: (Leo has taken her into the hall because "I wanted to tell you this out where there were people so you wouldn't scream about it.") |
| 308 | --->'''C.J.:''' Are you kidding?\ |
| 309 | '''Leo:''' No.\ |
| 310 | '''C.J.:''' Are you kidding?\ |
| 311 | '''Leo:''' No.\ |
| 312 | '''C.J.:''' ''[[RuleOfThree Are you kidding]]''?\ |
| 313 | '''Leo:''' No.\ |
| 314 | '''C.J.:''' WELL, WHAT THE HELL MADE YOU THINK I WOULDN'T SCREAM WHERE THERE ARE PEOPLE?\ |
| 315 | '''Leo:''' I took a shot. |
| 316 | * A hilarious moment while Sam is being pummeled by [[BlondeRepublicanSexKitten Ainsley Hayes]] on television to kick off ''In This White House'': |
| 317 | -->'''Sam''': (''at the TV studio'') [[GenreSavvy Please, oh please,]] [[ThisIsGonnaSuck let them not be watching.]]\ |
| 318 | '''Josh''': (''GilliganCut to the White House'') Toby, come quick! Sam's getting his ass kicked by a girl!\ |
| 319 | '''Toby''': Ginger, [[PassThePopcorn get the popcorn]]! |
| 320 | ** The visual image of [[TheComicallySerious Toby]] jogging after Josh, and not even stopping as he tells Ginger to get the popcorn, is pure comedy gold. |
| 321 | ** Later in the episode Ainsley meets with Leo convinced she's going to be reprimanded for the beating she put on Sam, but she's actually being offered a job in the White House. After he says it she continues ripping into him about how it's wrong for Leo to reprimand her for about 40 seconds before she actually gets what's happening. |
| 322 | ** In a later conversation between Sam and Ainsley, concerning her alma mater Smith College, an extremely liberal women's university: |
| 323 | --->'''Ainsley''': Sam, I'm a straight Republican from North Carolina, you don't think they hated me the first time around? |
| 324 | * Another Ainsley one, the scene where Leo hires her. |
| 325 | -->'''Leo:''' [[TalkativeLoon You have a very unusual conversational style, you know that?]]\ |
| 326 | '''Ainsley:''' It's a nervous... condition.\ |
| 327 | '''Leo:''' I used to have one of those.\ |
| 328 | '''Ainsley:''' How did yours manifest itself?\ |
| 329 | '''Leo:''' I drank a lot of scotch.\ |
| 330 | '''Ainsley:''' I get sick when I drink too much.\ |
| 331 | '''Leo:''' I get drunk when I drink too much. |
| 332 | :: A bit later[=:=] |
| 333 | -->'''Ainsley:''' A job [[TitleDrop in THIS White House]]?\ |
| 334 | '''Leo:''' You want a glass of scotch?\ |
| 335 | '''Ainsley:''' Yes, please. |
| 336 | ::And later still[=:=] |
| 337 | -->'''Ainsley:''' You have my FBI file? |
| 338 | -->'''Leo:''' Yes. |
| 339 | -->'''Ainsley:''' I can't believe this! You have my FBI file? |
| 340 | -->'''Leo:''' Yes. |
| 341 | -->'''Ainsley:''' I ''have'' an FBI file? |
| 342 | * Then there's [[BunnyEarsLawyer Lionel Tribbey]], a walking SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}}, from (Season 2's ''And It's Surely to Their Credit'') when Ainsley is afraid of her new boss shouting and being angry. |
| 343 | -->'''Leo [=McGarry=]:''' Well, that's TV. He's making a full-throated defense of the President. That's what we do. Believe me, in real life, when the cameras are off...\ |
| 344 | '''Lionel Tribbey:''' ''[a loud bang is heard]'' '''''LEO!''''' ''[he stalks into the room brandishing a bat]'' [[IncomingHam I WILL kill people today, Leo.]] I will kill people with ''this'' cricket bat - which was given to me by Her Royal Majesty Elizabeth Windsor - and then I will kill them again ''with my own hands''! |
| 345 | ** And when Ainsley goes to him for advice: |
| 346 | --->'''Ainsley:''' Mr. Tribbey? I'd like to do well on this, my first assignment. Any advice you could give me that might point me the way of success would be, by me, appreciated.\ |
| 347 | '''Tribbey:''' ''({{Beat}})'' Well, not speaking in iambic pentameter might be a step in the right direction. |
| 348 | ** Of course, the when he interrupts the President's radio address (another Funny Moment itself): |
| 349 | --->'''President Bartlet:''' Well, obviously, Lionel Tribbey is a brilliant lawyer whom we cannot live without, or there would be very little reason not to put him in prison. |
| 350 | ** After C.J. and Toby are discussing Ainsley's appointment, C.J. condemns the negative reaction Ainsley is getting from everyone, pointing out that she is being perfectly accepting of having her around. Toby in turn notes that [[SelfServingMemory her recollection of events]] seems to be [[{{Hypocrite}} somewhat selective]]: |
| 351 | --->'''Toby:''' You heard the news and you slammed a door so hard it broke, okay. You heard the news and you broke the White House. |
| 352 | ** Honorable mention goes to Bartlet finding out he's medically cleared to have sex with Abbey after 14 weeks. |
| 353 | * Donna spends most of the ''The Lame-Duck Congress'' trying to get the Senior Staff to take new OSHA recommendations seriously, which leads to this glorious moment between Leo and Margaret. |
| 354 | -->'''Leo:''' What the hell are you doing?\ |
| 355 | '''Margaret:''' Why, I'm typing, Leo. (''one finger at a time'')\ |
| 356 | '''Leo:''' Margaret?!?\ |
| 357 | '''Margaret:''' [[BrickJoke Apparently, your response to Donna's perfectly legitimate concern about the White House not supporting OSHA's recommendation regarding repetitive stress injuries was to 'type slower.']] Donna has organized most of the assistants in the West Wing to do just that.\ |
| 358 | '''Leo:''' ({{beat}}) Margaret?\ |
| 359 | '''Margaret:''' Yeah?\ |
| 360 | '''Leo:''' Look at my face, right now.\ |
| 361 | (''Margaret takes one look at Leo's DeathGlare and starts typing normally.'') |
| 362 | ** Josh walks in a few seconds later, and this happens: |
| 363 | --->'''Leo:''' Can you keep your people in line?\ |
| 364 | '''Josh:''' Well, there's been no evidence of it so far. |
| 365 | * From ''Shibboleth'', The Thanksgiving where [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZNCSyWy_0s President Bartlet pardons a second turkey]]. |
| 366 | --> '''Bartlet''': Aren't I going to get a reputation for being soft on turkeys? |
| 367 | ** C.J. explains why she wants him to pardon both turkeys: "The winner gets life at a petting zoo, the runner-up gets ''eaten''." Bartlet: "If the Oscars were like that, I'd watch." |
| 368 | ** When the turkey delivery boy falls for the second pardon Bartlet loses it, goes on a rant about educational standards and then tells him that the President can't just pardon random turkeys and he should take it away. CJ then gives Bartlet a hurt look, causing him to give in and announce that he's drafting the turkey into federal service instead. |
| 369 | --->'''Bartlet:''' By the power vested in me as President of the United States I hereby pardon you.\ |
| 370 | '''Morton:''' Okay!\ |
| 371 | '''Bartlet:''' No! It's not okay! Morton, I can't pardon a turkey; if you think I can pardon a turkey then you have got to go back to your school and ''insist'' that you be better prepared to go out in the world.\ |
| 372 | '''Donna:''' You can't pardon a turkey? |
| 373 | ** Perhaps the greatest part of this subplot is when Bartlet resolves the dispute by ''drafting the turkey into military service''. |
| 374 | ** Toby, Josh and Sam simultaneously coming to the decision that they should land the turkeys with CJ in the first place: |
| 375 | --->'''Morton:''' Where should I put them?\ |
| 376 | ''({{beat}})''\ |
| 377 | '''Josh:''' CJ's office.\ |
| 378 | '''Sam:''' CJ.\ |
| 379 | '''Josh:''' I'd definitely put them in CJ's office.\ |
| 380 | '''Toby:''' Good idea.\ |
| 381 | '''Sam:''' It's right there.\ |
| 382 | '''Josh:''' CJ handles all the—\ |
| 383 | '''Toby:''' Donna will show you.\ |
| 384 | '''Josh:''' —birds.\ |
| 385 | '''Toby:''' And Morton, Ms. Cregg is gone for the night and her office is secure, so you should feel free to let the turkeys out of the cage and allow them to, you know, roam freely as they were meant to do. |
| 386 | ** And then there's the first draft of the Thanksgiving speech: |
| 387 | --->'''Sam''': Over three and a half centuries ago, linked by faith and bound by a common desire for liberty, a small band of pilgrims sought out a place in the New World where they could worship according to their own beliefs... and solve crimes.\ |
| 388 | '''Toby''': Sam...\ |
| 389 | '''Sam''': It'd be good. By day, they churn butter and worship according to their own beliefs, and by night they solve crimes.\ |
| 390 | '''Toby''': Read the thing.\ |
| 391 | '''Sam''': Pilgrim detectives.\ |
| 392 | '''Toby''': Do you see me laughing?\ |
| 393 | '''Sam''': I think you're laughing on the inside.\ |
| 394 | '''Toby''': Okay.\ |
| 395 | '''Sam''': With the big hats.\ |
| 396 | '''Toby''': Give me the speech. |
| 397 | ** Every single interaction between C.J., Eric and Troy. Eric and Troy being the turkeys at the centre of all this fuss. |
| 398 | --->'''C.J.:''' ''[After performing a camera flash test]'' Troy, I want to you to know it was neck-and-neck, but I'm giving it to Eric. You were in it right until the end, but it's the flapping thing you've got going on. I'll tell you what's of some concern to me, that I've been talking out aloud this whole time, that's very unsettling. |
| 399 | ** Their first meeting. C.J. somehow manages to go pottering around her rather small office for about half a minute without noticing the two large turkeys standing around nonchalantly, including one of them having perched himself very comfortably on her desk. When she ''does'' finally spot them, Donna comes scurrying in to offer an explanation: |
| 400 | --->'''Donna:''' I didn't think you were here yet.\ |
| 401 | '''C.J.:''' I am.\ |
| 402 | '''Donna:''' The turkeys came.\ |
| 403 | '''C.J.:''' So Carol said.\ |
| 404 | '''Carol:''' Excuse me. ''[Scurries off]''\ |
| 405 | '''Donna:''' Josh and Toby and Sam said they should go in your office.\ |
| 406 | '''C.J.:''' Yes.\ |
| 407 | '''Donna:''' These are the ''turkeys''.\ |
| 408 | '''C.J.:''' ''[Getting a little sharp]'' Turkeys for ''what''?\ |
| 409 | '''Donna:''' ''[Something dawns]'' You weren't here last year.\ |
| 410 | '''C.J.:''' When?!\ |
| 411 | '''Donna:''' Over Thanksgiving. You were sick.\ |
| 412 | '''C.J.:''' Yes!\ |
| 413 | '''Donna:''' Every year on Thanksgiving the President pardons a turkey.\ |
| 414 | '''C.J.:''' He pardons a turkey.\ |
| 415 | '''Donna:''' Yeah, and it's an event, so...\ |
| 416 | '''C.J.:''' Why are there two?\ |
| 417 | '''Donna:''' I'm sorry?\ |
| 418 | '''C.J.:''' ''[Her patience isn't going to last much longer]'' Why are there ''two turkeys''?!\ |
| 419 | '''Donna:''' Customarily... the press secretary decides...\ |
| 420 | '''C.J.:''' ''No.''\ |
| 421 | '''Donna:''' ... which of the two finalists is more photogenic.\ |
| 422 | ''[Beat. C.J. looks pissed]''\ |
| 423 | '''Donna:''' Their names are--\ |
| 424 | '''C.J.:''' ''[Snapping]'' I '''''don't'''''... ''[composes herself]'' want to know their names.\ |
| 425 | ''[Another awkward pause]''\ |
| 426 | '''Donna:''' ''[Let's just rip the band-aid off; pointing]'' This one's Eric, and this one's Troy.\ |
| 427 | '''C.J.''' Eric and Troy.\ |
| 428 | '''Donna:''' Yeah.\ |
| 429 | ''[Behind her, in a masterful bit of timing, Troy shakes his wattle as if saying "Hello!"]''\ |
| 430 | '''C.J.:''' And I'm to choose the more photogenic of the two to receive a presidential pardon.\ |
| 431 | '''Donna:''' Yeah.\ |
| 432 | '''C.J.:''' ''[With pompous, self-righteous indignation]'' Okay, I have ''actually'' a Masters degree from the University of California Berkeley!\ |
| 433 | '''Donna:''' That's a good school.\ |
| 434 | '''C.J.:''' Yeah!\ |
| 435 | ''[Another awkward pause, including some eye-contact between Donna and Eric]''\ |
| 436 | '''Donna:''' They eat... grain. Or, really, whatever's lying around. And... Troy doesn't like to be touched.\ |
| 437 | ''[C.J. glares at Troy -- who, in another masterful bit of bird-acting, actually scoots a few steps away from her, as if saying "Yeah, keep your hands to yourself, lady." Yet another awkward pause ensues.]''\ |
| 438 | '''C.J.:''' ''[Defeated]'' Okay, I'd like to be alone now.\ |
| 439 | '''Donna:''' I understand. ''[leaves]'' |
| 440 | ** Josh and Sam have a meeting with the same religious figures from the pilot to discuss the Chinese refugees claiming to be persecuted Christians. It quickly becomes apparent that Mary Marsh remains as charming as ever: |
| 441 | --->'''Josh:''' Good morning, Mary.\ |
| 442 | '''Mary:''' ''[Obnoxiously]'' Josh, the White House will face considerable embarrassment if the President continues to maintain his stranglehold on indifference when it comes to persecuted Christians around the world.\ |
| 443 | '''Josh:''' ... Okay, we're done with good morning. |
| 444 | * "The Portland Trip": [[http://youtu.be/Wbc2DLPI7OI The reason why C.J is unexpectedly going on the trip to Portland.]] |
| 445 | -->'''C.J:''' Also on this evening's trip are Deputy Communications Director Sam Seaborn and, well, me.\ |
| 446 | '''Danny:''' I thought you weren't going on the trip.\ |
| 447 | '''C.J:''' I am now going on the trip.\ |
| 448 | '''Danny:''' Are you being punished?\ |
| 449 | '''C.J:''' I'm not being punished, I'm going on the trip.\ |
| 450 | '''Danny:''' If the whole bus goes off the record, will you tell us ''why'' you're going on the trip?\ |
| 451 | '''C.J:''' ''[Reluctantly]'' ... I made fun of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_Fighting_Irish_football Notre Dame]].\ |
| 452 | ''[The reporters on the bus [[SeriousBusiness react with shock and disapproval]].]''\ |
| 453 | '''C.J:''' I usually get away with it!\ |
| 454 | '''Reporter:''' They're playing ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Wolverines_football Michigan]]'' tomorrow.\ |
| 455 | '''C.J:''' I know that ''now''.\ |
| 456 | '''Danny:''' [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan%E2%80%93Notre_Dame_football_rivalry You can't bring that stuff when they're playing Michigan]].\ |
| 457 | '''C.J:''' Well, I'll have a lot of time to think about that on the midnight flight to Portland, Danny. |
| 458 | ** It appears that Bartlet and Leo fall on opposite sides of this particular rivalry: |
| 459 | --->'''Leo:''' ''[Meeting Bartlet before he boards Air Force One]'' I just got off with Bruno and Hess.\ |
| 460 | '''Bartlet:''' I'm sorry?\ |
| 461 | '''Leo:''' I said just got off with Bruno and Hess.\ |
| 462 | '''Bartlet:''' You didn't say "Michigan sucks"?\ |
| 463 | '''Leo:''' No, sir.\ |
| 464 | '''Bartlet:''' I thought you said "Michigan sucks."\ |
| 465 | '''Leo:''' No sir. You're standing pretty close to the engines, so it may have sounded like I said "Notre Dame is going to get the ass-kicking they so richly deserve." |
| 466 | * In "Galileo," Sam is forced to be at the same event as Mallory, not having talked to her since the whole photographed-with-a-prostitute incident. |
| 467 | -->'''Sam:''' What's his name?\ |
| 468 | '''Mallory:''' His name is Richard Andrewchuk.\ |
| 469 | '''Sam:''' There's a hockey player named Richard Andrewchuk.\ |
| 470 | '''Mallory:''' Well, unless there are two of them.\ |
| 471 | '''Sam:''' You're dating Richard Andrewchuk?\ |
| 472 | '''Mallory:''' Yes, and we're having quite a lot of sex.\ |
| 473 | '''Sam:''' I'd almost think you'd have to.\ |
| 474 | '''Mallory:''' What does that mean?\ |
| 475 | '''Sam:''' What the hell do you and Richard ''Andrewchuk'' talk about?\ |
| 476 | '''Mallory:''' He happens to be a terribly bright guy.\ |
| 477 | '''Sam:''' Well, good, because he's a really bad hockey player.\ |
| 478 | '''Mallory:''' He's had injury problems this season.\ |
| 479 | '''Sam:''' From falling down. |
| 480 | * Leo is giving Toby a job he really doesn't want in Season 2's ''Galileo'': |
| 481 | -->'''Leo:''' Make a recommendation by the end of the day.\ |
| 482 | '''Toby:''' Yeah.\ |
| 483 | '''Leo:''' (''turning to Josh'') What are you smiling at?\ |
| 484 | '''Josh:''' Nothing, I just... (''grinning'') Toby got the stamp assignment.\ |
| 485 | '''Toby:''' Leo, I might need some help.\ |
| 486 | '''Leo:''' Take Josh.\ |
| 487 | '''Toby:''' Thanks. (''turning to Josh'') Congratulations, you're choosing the next stamp.\ |
| 488 | '''Josh:''' (''to himself'') Wow, that happened fast. |
| 489 | * When Josh emerges from his session with Stanley Keyworth in ''Noel.'' One of the few really funny moments in a (great, but) mostly serious episode. |
| 490 | -->'''Leo:''' How'd it go?\ |
| 491 | '''Josh:''' He thinks I might have an eating disorder.\ |
| 492 | '''Leo:''' Josh.\ |
| 493 | '''Josh:''' And a fear of rectangles. That's not weird, is it? |
| 494 | * The entire cold open of ''The Leadership Breakfast''. C.J. and some aides have spent seven and a half hours trying to complete a seating plan for the titular breakfast, only for Toby to come in and point out that they completely left out the President. They don't get far, since Josh and Sam decided to start a fire in one of the fireplaces (bantering the whole time) and only after it's lit do they discover that its flue had been welded shut, billowing smoke everywhere and setting off the smoke alarms. |
| 495 | -->'''Charlie''': ''(waking up Bartlet)'' You know you told me not to wake you up unless the building was on fire? |
| 496 | * The former page quote for IHaveThisFriend. |
| 497 | -->I've gotta tell him I lost a submarine. Can I make something up, like "say a friend of mine hypothetically..." |
| 498 | * When Leo admits he's not that familiar with ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'', and Bartlet asks him if he was [[ElderlyImmortal born at the age of fifty-five]]. (From Season 2's ''The Drop-In'') |
| 499 | ** "If you call any of the Joint Chiefs 'Lucy', you're on your own." |
| 500 | ** And then when Leo's told they missed the target for the new missile defense system by [[EpicFail 137 miles]]: |
| 501 | --->'''Bartlet''': The words you're looking for are "Oh, good grief." /''cut to credits'' |
| 502 | ** In the same episode: |
| 503 | --->'''Leo''': The missile achieved nine out of ten of its design goals!\ |
| 504 | '''Bartlet''': And the tenth one was?\ |
| 505 | '''Leo''': (''mutters'') ...hitting the target. |
| 506 | * ''Bartlet's Third State of the Union'' |
| 507 | ** Ainsley has been terrified all episode of meeting the President for the first time. When she finally does, she's got her back to the door, is [[ItMakesSenseInContext dancing and singing, holding a drink, and wearing a bathrobe]]. When she turns around and realizes the President has walked into the room, she screams at the top of her lungs and throws the drink over her shoulder. |
| 508 | *** The next time she meets him, she has her skirt on backwards and is so nervous that when she has to pee, she walks into Leo's closet thinking that it's the bathroom. The ''very second'' she enters, before Leo and Sam can set her straight, Bartlet walks into the room: |
| 509 | ---->'''Bartlet:''' Alright, where is she?\ |
| 510 | '''Sam:''' She's in the closet, sir.\ |
| 511 | ''[Confused, Bartlet turns to look at the closet door before turning back to Sam and Leo]''\ |
| 512 | '''Bartlet:''' Why is she in the closet?\ |
| 513 | '''Sam:''' [[ItMakesSenseInContext She thought it was a bathroom]].\ |
| 514 | ''[No less confused, Bartlet turns to look back at the closet door again before turning to Sam and Leo again]''\ |
| 515 | '''Bartlet:''' Why is she ''still'' in there?\ |
| 516 | '''Sam:''' That's kind of hard to say, sir. |
| 517 | *** When the confusion is cleared up and Ainsley slinks out, once again mortified: |
| 518 | ---->'''Bartlet:''' They won't let me smoke inside but you can pee in Leo's closet. |
| 519 | ** Joey proves once again that she knows how to make a hell of an entrance, and Josh proves that he's gotten used to her quirkiness and can give as good as he gets. |
| 520 | --->'''Joey (through Kenny):''' Joshua Lyman, you have the cutest little butt in professional politics.\ |
| 521 | '''Josh (without missing a beat):''' Kenny, really, that better have been her talking. |
| 522 | ** Josh's almost childish lack of patience while he's waiting for the polling results. Made funnier when contrasted against Joey's totally blase attitude. |
| 523 | --->'''Josh:''' Where are the first numbers?\ |
| 524 | '''Joey:''' Soon.\ |
| 525 | '''Josh:''' How soon?\ |
| 526 | '''Joey:''' Five minutes.\ |
| 527 | '''Josh:''' You said "five minutes" fifteen minutes ago.\ |
| 528 | '''Joey:''' The response rate slowed down.\ |
| 529 | '''Josh:''' Why?\ |
| 530 | '''Joey:''' People are going to bed.\ |
| 531 | '''Josh:''' Yeah, but, the response rate didn't ''stop,'' right? Everybody didn't go to bed. If they did, that would be phenomenal. It would be a phenomenon.\ |
| 532 | '''Joey:''' The response rate slowed down, and you need to have some juice and crackers.\ |
| 533 | '''Josh:''' America is talking, and I'm trying to hear what they're saying.\ |
| 534 | '''Joey:''' They're saying that you're an egomaniac who needs to know that the public loves you, and that you'll have the numbers in five minutes.\ |
| 535 | '''Josh:''' Well I don't think that ''is'' what they're saying, but absent any other information--\ |
| 536 | '''Joey: (out loud)''' Josh...\ |
| 537 | '''Josh:''' Joey, it's the State of the Union. We worked on the speech for ''three months.''\ |
| 538 | '''Joey:''' You will hear America speak.\ |
| 539 | '''Josh:''' In five minutes?\ |
| 540 | '''Joey:''' In ''five minutes.''\ |
| 541 | ''[Loud bang, lights go out]''\ |
| 542 | '''Joey:''' ''({{beat}})'' May take a little longer now. |
| 543 | ** Everyone else being mostly okay with waiting for the power to come back on, while Josh grows more and more impatient. |
| 544 | --->'''Josh:''' I want the [[SuddenlyShouting NUMBERS!]]\ |
| 545 | '''Donna:''' Y'know, Josh, everybody else is having fun with this.\ |
| 546 | '''Josh:''' You're the ''only'' one who's having fun with this. Nobody else else is having fun with this.\ |
| 547 | ''[Joey sneaks up behind Josh and nudges him]''\ |
| 548 | '''Joey: (out loud)''' Boo! How you doing?\ |
| 549 | '''Josh:''' Are those numbers safe?\ |
| 550 | '''Joey:''' Yes.\ |
| 551 | '''Josh:''' Are we gonna be able to make the West Coast calls?\ |
| 552 | '''Joey:''' It depends on when the power goes on.\ |
| 553 | '''Josh:''' When's that gonna be?\ |
| 554 | '''Joey:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Do I look like Electricity Girl?]] |
| 555 | ** Joey passing time during the power outage by playing with a [[http://nostalgiacentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/wheelo9.jpg Whee-lo]]. |
| 556 | * In ''Ellie'', a pot joke which is also HilariousInHindsight: |
| 557 | -->'''Josh:''' Did you know that sixty-nine percent of Americans oppose legalization [of marijuana]? Only twenty-three percent support it. |
| 558 | -->'''Dr. Griffith:''' The number gets a lot higher than that if you ask people under thirty. |
| 559 | -->'''Josh:''' Well that's a shock. Did you know that the number gets even higher than that if you limit the polling sample to Bob Marley and the Wailers? |
| 560 | ** Later on in the episode, discussing a schlocky movie that is causing the White House grief: |
| 561 | -->'''Mrs. Landingham:''' Charlie, please don't say the word "erotic" in the Oval Office. |
| 562 | -->'''Charlie:''' I'd be perfectly happy never to say any of those words anywhere ever again. |
| 563 | * CJ and Toby in ''Someone's Going to Emergency...'': |
| 564 | -->'''CJ''': You want to make out with me now, don't you? |
| 565 | -->'''Toby''': Well, when don't I? |
| 566 | * Charlie informs Bartlet that his first choice of site for his presidential library is protected under a New Hampshire law about historic ranch preservation. |
| 567 | -->'''Bartlet''': What plaid flannel-wearing cheese-eating yahoo of a milkman governor signed that idiot bill into state law? |
| 568 | -->''(long pause)'' |
| 569 | -->'''Bartlet''': ...It was me, wasn't it? |
| 570 | -->'''Charlie''': Yes, sir. |
| 571 | * In ''The Stackhouse Filibuster'', Bartlet and Abbey are planning on a romantic dinner in the residence cooked by a visiting chef, which Abbey cancels at the last minute. He asks Leo to join him instead. |
| 572 | -->'''Bartlet''': We'll just, you know, pretend there's no candlelight. |
| 573 | -->'''Leo''' : And that we're not paranoid homophobes in any way. |
| 574 | ** The whole scene has them (especially Bartlet) start acting LikeAnOldMarriedCouple, with the President complaining "We never talk anymore." |
| 575 | * During the same episode, several members of the cast are writing letters to their parents. When Josh goes to the Hill to talk to Senator Stackhouse, you hear the voiceover, "Thanks for the new shoes, Mom" at the same time as said shoes slide out from under him and land him flat on his ass in the middle of a hallway. |
| 576 | * In ''Bad Moon Rising'', chronically bad-tempered White House Counsel Oliver Babish is packing for a trip, in which his assistants mock both for his large gavel and his claim that his dictaphone is broken. ("It won't stop recording things, so it's just what you want lying around the White House Counsel's Office [[SarcasmMode because there's never been a problem with that before]].") Five minutes later, Bartlet comes in and asks his opinion on an over-the-top legal problem: |
| 577 | -->'''Bartlet:''' Oliver, I'm going to tell you a story, and then I'd like you to tell me if I've involved sixteen people in a massive criminal conspiracy to defraud the public and win a presidential election.\ |
| 578 | ''[Babish blinks at them for a second, then ensures that the dictaphone will not record this or any other conversation ever again by bashing it repeatedly with said enormous gavel until it's in several pieces]''\ |
| 579 | '''Babish:''' ''[turning back to Bartlet and Leo, completely nonchalant:]'' Okay. |
| 580 | ** From the same episode; Toby, for his own reasons, wants C.J. to interrogate everyone who might have leaked a story to a reporter. This, of course, is a thankless job, especially when: |
| 581 | --->'''Donna:''' Let me get this off my chest. It was me. I called Terry Cashin [the reporter].\ |
| 582 | '''C.J.:''' Why?\ |
| 583 | '''Donna:''' I don't know. Why does anybody do anything?\ |
| 584 | '''C.J.:''' What are you talking about?\ |
| 585 | '''Donna:''' I'm a madwoman, C.J., and it doesn't stop with the leak.\ |
| 586 | '''C.J.:''' What do you mean?\ |
| 587 | '''Donna:''' Call the authorities. Send them to my parent's house in Madison.\ |
| 588 | '''C.J.:''' Why?\ |
| 589 | '''Donna:''' They'll find the Lindbergh baby in the basement.\ |
| 590 | '''C.J.:''' (''finally gets it'') Okay.\ |
| 591 | '''Donna:''' Also some Post-Its reminding me where I put Jimmy Hoffa.\ |
| 592 | '''C.J.:''' Get out!\ |
| 593 | '''Donna:''' [[Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit I framed Roger Rabbit]].\ |
| 594 | '''C.J.:''' Get out!\ |
| 595 | (...)\ |
| 596 | '''Josh:''' Did you confess?\ |
| 597 | '''Donna:''' She didn't let me get to [[RedScare Whitaker Chambers]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alger_Hiss and the secret pumpkin]]. |
| 598 | ** And then a little later: |
| 599 | --->'''Zach:''' You shouldn't feel bad about this.\ |
| 600 | '''C.J.:''' Everyone hates me.\ |
| 601 | '''Zach:''' Nah, they'll get over it.\ |
| 602 | '''C.J.:''' You think?\ |
| 603 | '''Zach:''' Sure. You're just doing your job.\ |
| 604 | '''C.J.:''' That's exactly right.\ |
| 605 | '''Zach:''' And this is really important.\ |
| 606 | '''C.J.:''' You're the first one who's understood that.\ |
| 607 | '''Zach:''' You mind if I give you a suggestion that may make this go faster?\ |
| 608 | '''C.J.:''' Sure.\ |
| 609 | '''Zach:''' If you dunk the suspect in a deep well of water, and they drown, it means they're not a witch.\ |
| 610 | '''C.J.:''' All right, that's it! (''starts to leave her office'')\ |
| 611 | '''Zach:''' (''throws his hands in the air'') [[Theatre/TheCrucible I saw Lizzie Proctor speaking with the devil]]!\ |
| 612 | '''C.J.:''' Shut up. |
| 613 | * Every scene involving Bernard Thatch, the [[GentlemanSnarker snobbish Visitors' Office staffer]] from "Noël" |
| 614 | -->'''Bernard:''' C.J., your necklace is a monument to bourgeois taste.\ |
| 615 | '''C.J.:''' Thank you.\ |
| 616 | '''Bernard:''' You're welcome.\ |
| 617 | '''C.J.:''' Bernard. Listen, who is Gustave Cailloux and how long has his painting been here?\ |
| 618 | '''Bernard:''' He was a contemporary of Courbet, who was considerably more gifted. This is a painting of the cliffs at Étretat, cleverly titled "[[ShapedLikeItself The Cliffs at Étretat]]". It is a minor work.\ |
| 619 | '''C,J,:''' What's it doing here?\ |
| 620 | '''Bernard:''' It was on loan from the Musee d'Orsay to the National Gallery. The President, on a visit to the National Gallery and possessing less taste in fine art than you have in accessories, announced that he liked the painting. The French government offered it as a gift to the White House, I suppose as retribution for Euro Disney. So here it hangs, like a gym sock on a shower rod.\ |
| 621 | '''C.J.:''' You're a snob.\ |
| 622 | '''Bernard:''' [[BluntYes Yes.]] |
| 623 | ** Much later in the episode, Bernard has a memorable PetTheDog moment after he helps C.J. return "The Cliffs of Étretat" to the family that the Nazis originally stole it from. Cue the following exchange. |
| 624 | --->'''C.J.:''' See, you try very hard to be mean, but then you see that being nice is better.\ |
| 625 | '''Bernard:''' You're a freakishly tall woman.\ |
| 626 | '''C.J.:''' So that moment's over?\ |
| 627 | '''Bernard:''' [[BluntYes Yes.]] |
| 628 | [[/folder]] |
| 629 | [[folder:Season 3]] |
| 630 | * The beginning of Jed's talk with Abbey in the limo in ''Manchester'': |
| 631 | -->'''Jed''': I'm just saying, it could've been worse, I could've been an astronaut.\ |
| 632 | '''Abbey''': You could ''not'' have been an astronaut.\ |
| 633 | '''Jed''': I would've been a ''great'' astronaut.\ |
| 634 | '''Abbey''': You're afraid of heights, speed, fire, and small spaces.\ |
| 635 | '''Jed''': Yeah, but I would've overcome it to go to the moon.\ |
| 636 | '''Abbey'''' [long pause] [[Heartwarming/TheWestWing Yeah, you would've.]] |
| 637 | * Doug, the campaign strategist who doesn't understand Bartlet the way the staffers do. |
| 638 | -->'''Doug''': Listen, it's a simple equation. Bartlet rules America. America rocks, therefore, Bartlet rocks.\ |
| 639 | '''Sam''': America "rocks?"\ |
| 640 | '''Toby''': Bartlet... "rocks?"\ |
| 641 | '''Doug''': Yes.\ |
| 642 | '''Josh''': ...He really, doesn't. That much. |
| 643 | * Bruno Gianelli negotiating with Leo, and then President Bartlet. It doesn't go as well as he'd hoped. |
| 644 | -->'''Leo''': What do you want?\ |
| 645 | '''Bruno''': 15 percent of the ad buys. You're gonna say, 10, so why don't we just say, 13?\ |
| 646 | '''Leo''': Why don't we say 12?\ |
| 647 | '''Bruno''': Why don't we say 13? I want hiring and firing prerogatives in my department and for starters, I'm bringing in Doug Wegland and Connie Tate.\ |
| 648 | '''Leo''': Fine.\ |
| 649 | '''Bruno''': A room at the Hay-Adams and a car and a driver.\ |
| 650 | '''Leo''': Fine.\ |
| 651 | '''Bruno''': And I want unfettered access to the President.\ |
| 652 | '''Leo''': No.\ |
| 653 | '''Bruno''': I need it.\ |
| 654 | '''Leo''': Can't have it.\ |
| 655 | '''Bruno''': Leo, the only races I've ever lost are ones where the candidate didn't listen, or the advice didn't get through. That isn't gonna happen this time.\ |
| 656 | '''Leo''': Can't do it.\ |
| 657 | '''Bruno''': This is ego, and you know it as well as I do. I take this request to the President, tell him it's a deal breaker, he's going to say yes.\ |
| 658 | '''Leo''': Knock yourself out. --Margaret!\ |
| 659 | '''Margaret''': [''comes in''] Yes, sir.\ |
| 660 | '''Leo''': Would you take Mr. Gianelli into the Oval Office please?\ |
| 661 | '''Margaret''': Sure.\ |
| 662 | '''Bruno''': [''smelling a rat for the first time; to Leo''] ...Are you playing with me?\ |
| 663 | [''Leo smiles'']\ |
| 664 | '''Margaret''': Mr. Gianelli, would you follow me, please?\ |
| 665 | '''Bruno''': Sure.\ |
| 666 | [''In the Oval Office, Bartlet is reading. Bruno comes in.'']\ |
| 667 | '''Bartlet''': [''standing up; friendly''] Bruno!\ |
| 668 | '''Bruno''': Good morning, Mr. President. [''They shake hands''.]\ |
| 669 | '''Bartlet''': I understand you're going to be working with us.\ |
| 670 | '''Bruno''': ... Well, sir, obviously I'm pleased to be approached. I believe there's a great deal I can do for you.\ |
| 671 | '''Bartlet''': You have one or two demands.\ |
| 672 | '''Bruno:''' Yes, sir. [''They sit in the opposing chairs''.]\ |
| 673 | '''Bartlet''': You want 12 percent of the ad buys.\ |
| 674 | '''Bruno''': [''Beat''] [[SureLetsGoWithThat Okay]]. Twelve, and...\ |
| 675 | '''Bartlet''': A room, a car, and a driver, that's no problem.\ |
| 676 | '''Bruno''': Well, thank you, sir. I'll also need unfettered access to--\ |
| 677 | '''Bartlet''': [''immediately''] No.\ |
| 678 | '''Bruno''': Sir, I--\ |
| 679 | '''Bartlet''': [''pleasant but firm''] I'm sorry, Bruno. Leo runs the show.\ |
| 680 | '''Bruno''': Respectfully, sir--\ |
| 681 | '''Bartlet''': It's a deal breaker.\ |
| 682 | '''Bruno''': [''Beat''] Okay. Anyone else I have to field things through? [''Bartlet smiles but doesn't reply.''] I was sorry to hear about Dolores Landingham.\ |
| 683 | '''Bartlet''': Can you help us out?\ |
| 684 | '''Bruno''': Yes, sir.\ |
| 685 | [''They stand and shake hands again. After Bruno has returned to Leo's office:'']\ |
| 686 | '''Leo''': How'd it go?\ |
| 687 | '''Bruno''': ...Shut up. |
| 688 | ** Quoting it doesn't really do it justice; the performances sell it as well. At the beginning of his conversation with Leo, Ron Silver as Bruno is all impressive, quiet confidence because he is ''absolutely'' sure that he will get what he wants. By the time he returns to Leo's office he's a a defeated grump. John Spencer's and Martin Sheen's unflappable calm have a lot to do with it. In particular, Bartlet is never less than friendly and affable, with no indication that he's playing any kind of power games (not that he ''has'' to, of course) or even that he's in any way aware that he's completely overruling all of Bruno's demands. |
| 689 | * Bruno (who else?!) has this absolute gem when his speech writing staff are clashing with the West Wing staff at Bartlett's farm in New Hampshire. |
| 690 | -->I've been thinking. It might not be such a bad idea to lock you all in here and set the place on fire. We have forty-eight hours before we kick off this campaign. We will work hard, we will work well, and we will work together, or, so help me Mother of God, I will stick a pitchfork so far up your asses, you will quite simply be dead. |
| 691 | ** From the same scene: |
| 692 | --->'''Bartlet''': [[SarcasmMode Does somebody here have MS and they haven't said anything?]] |
| 693 | ** Not to mention C.J. and Josh getting progressively more nervous [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes about a snake in the barn]]. |
| 694 | --->'''C.J.''': The snake is ''looking at me'' now... |
| 695 | --->'''Josh''': Okay, I see the snake now, too. |
| 696 | * Also in ''Manchester''. While discussing the possibility of Bartlett making a public apology, Doug claims that people from Oregon like to see a man apologize for his action. He asks Toby "Where are you from?", and the show's resident New Yorker gives a [[BrooklynRage very New York answer]]. |
| 697 | -->'''Toby''': Me? I'm from the United States of [[CurseCutShort Suck My]]--\ |
| 698 | '''Josh''': Alright! |
| 699 | * The whole state-dinner background event in "On the Day Before," where C.J. is worried about whether she'll be able to talk to the Nobel Prize-winning chemist she's been seated next to. I particularly like when she recites what she knows about him to Toby and he says, "Well, as long as all he wants to talk about is where he's from, where he went to school and what his name is, you'll be fine." |
| 700 | * On Thanksgiving (''The Indians in the Lobby''), President Bartlet calls the [[EnforcedPlug Butterball]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQsvcs9IB8A Hotline]] for help with making stuffing, and they ask for his name and address. He claims to be [[ThemeInitials Joe Bethersonton]] of Fargo, North Dakota. When he realizes that he needs the ZIP code, Toby calls Charlie for Fargo's ZIP code with all the gravitas and urgency of a man demanding nuclear launch codes, and Bartlet is forced to stall by making up a ridiculously long street address until Charlie comes in in with the ZIP code. The operator comments that he has a familiar voice, and he claims that he does radio commercials ("for... products"). He then argues with her about the minutiae of turkey stuffing for several minutes while Toby patiently waits for him to finish. |
| 701 | --> '''Bartlet:''' If I cook my stuffing ''inside'' the turkey, is there a chance I might kill my guests? I'm not saying that's necessarily a deal-breaker. |
| 702 | ** The best part is Bartlet's line at the end: |
| 703 | --->'''Bartlet:''' That was excellent! We should do that once a week. |
| 704 | ** There's also the part earlier where Bartlet finds out that his idea for a turkey hotline is something that exists: |
| 705 | --->'''Bartlet:''' [look of awe] God, I'm sorry. I ''love'' my country! |
| 706 | ** In a callback to Season 1's "Enemies", Bartlet has C.J. as a captive audience while he both lectures about the proper way of preparing Thanksgiving dinner and kvetches about Abbey making him spend Thanksgiving at Camp David, which he's not fond of, rather than his farm in New Hampshire. It leads to this little moment where the floodgates of frustration finally open for C.J.: |
| 707 | --->'''Bartlet:''' Were we talking about something?\ |
| 708 | '''C.J.:''' [[BrutalHonesty I dunno, sir, when I came in here -- back in the late fifties -- there was a purpose to it but then one thing led to another and I blacked out. I mean, I can hang in there with the best of them, sir, but somewhere in the discussion of anise and coriander and the other fifteen spices you like to use to baste a turkey I simply lost consciousness.]]\ |
| 709 | ''[Bartlet gives her a DeathGlare; C.J. realizes what she's done]''\ |
| 710 | '''Bartlet:''' ...You know that line you're not supposed to cross with the President?\ |
| 711 | '''C.J.:''' ''[Hopefully]'' I'm coming up on it?\ |
| 712 | '''Bartlet:''' No no -- look behind you.\ |
| 713 | '''C.J.:''' Yes, sir.\ |
| 714 | '''Bartlet:''' Would you like to leave?\ |
| 715 | '''C.J.:''' With your permission.\ |
| 716 | '''Bartlet:''' Damn right with my permission. |
| 717 | ** Later on, Toby tries some preemptive ReversePsychology: |
| 718 | --->'''Toby:''' Good morning, sir. Before anything else, I was hoping I could impose on you for as much information as you could spare about making a turkey.\ |
| 719 | '''Bartlet:''' This is some preemptive psychological thing?\ |
| 720 | '''Toby:''' Yeah.\ |
| 721 | '''Bartlet:''' That's ''not'' going to work.\ |
| 722 | '''Toby:''' ... Yeah. |
| 723 | ** Later, Bartlet learns that Abbey arranged their celebration at Camp David after consulting pollsters behind his back, and he stages a confrontation wherein he gets her to unwittingly admit that she knew about the polling. When she does, he slams the book he's pretending to read shut and yells "''J'accuse!''" like they're in a French melodrama. |
| 724 | --->'''Bartlet:''' ''[[GratuitousFrench J'accuse, mon petite frommage!]]''\ |
| 725 | '''Abbey:''' You speak four languages. How come none of them's French?\ |
| 726 | '''Bartlet:''' There's nothing wrong with my French.\ |
| 727 | '''Abbey:''' [[MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels You just called me your "little cheese".]]\ |
| 728 | '''Bartlet:''' ... [[IMeantToDoThat That's right!]] |
| 729 | * In "H-Con 172", Sam is obsessed with vetting a "tell-all" expose on the White House that is riddled with outright fabrications about the President and the senior staff. As C.J reveals to the President, some of these fabrications take on a rather personal note, which leads to this exchange between Bartlet and Sam: |
| 730 | -->'''Sam:''' There's going to be a book coming out in about three weeks...\ |
| 731 | '''Bartlet:''' I heard. [[ItMakesSenseInContext Look, I'm really not going to talk to you about my underwear.]]\ |
| 732 | '''Sam:''' That's... disappointing, Mr. President. |
| 733 | ** In the same episode, the running gag of President Bartlet being told by everyone who works for him not to display an antique map of the Holy Land circa 1790 in the West Wing because "it doesn't recognise Israel", despite having been drawn centuries before Israel even existed. Finally, Bartlet in frustration turns to someone who he believes will back him up: |
| 734 | --->'''Bartlet:''' Let me ask you something; you might be the last sane voice around here...\ |
| 735 | '''Leo:''' Hang on, before I forget; that map Charlie gave you? Make sure you don't put it where people can see it.\ |
| 736 | '''Bartlet:''' ... I don't believe this.\ |
| 737 | '''Leo:''' Recognising Israel's a pretty hot button, wouldn't you say?\ |
| 738 | '''Bartlet:''' In ''Lebanon'', not here! It's not like I'm thinking "God, I was ''gonna'' recognise Israel, but now that I've seen this map..." |
| 739 | * Charlie's views on gender relations lighten up what could otherwise have been a somewhat [[{{Anvilicious}} clunky]] scene in "Night Five." |
| 740 | -->'''Sam''': If your sister was getting ready for a night out, and I said, 'Deanna, [[FeeFiFauxPas you're enough to make a good dog break his leash!]]' would you think I was a cad?\ |
| 741 | '''Charlie''': I'd think you were a hick!\ |
| 742 | '''Sam''': Because of the sentiment or the expression?\ |
| 743 | '''Charlie''': It's my sister?[[note]]His younger sister, who plays "varsity" basketball; considering how young Charlie is, this probably means she's still in high school.[[/note]]\ |
| 744 | '''Sam''': Yeah.\ |
| 745 | '''Charlie''': [[MySisterIsOffLimits I'd beat you up.]]\ |
| 746 | '''Sam''': You and how many Girl Scouts?\ |
| 747 | '''Charlie''': [[AmusingInjuries If I could stand up-]]\ |
| 748 | ''[Ainsley manages to get Sam's attention and drag it back to something policy-related, until [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom Celia]] walks back in]''\ |
| 749 | '''Sam''': I asked Ainsley and she said she didn't mind at all. Plus, Charlie said he's fine with it.\ |
| 750 | '''Celia''': Charlie's a man.\ |
| 751 | '''Charlie''': Damn right.\ |
| 752 | '''Ainsley''': Sam. We need to be clear we're not going to take a bath when other countries can afford to take on more. This is important.\ |
| 753 | '''Sam''': I also think it's important to make clear that I'm not a sexist.\ |
| 754 | '''Charlie''': And that I'm all man.\ |
| 755 | '''Ainsley''': ''[to Celia]'' I like it when the guys tease me--it's an inadvertent show of respect [and that] I'm on the team, and I don't mind it when it gets sexual. And you know why? I like sex!\ |
| 756 | '''Charlie''': Hello!\ |
| 757 | '''Celia''': And what kind of feminism do you call that?\ |
| 758 | '''Ainsley''': My kind.\ |
| 759 | '''Ginger''': It's called "lipstick feminism." I call it "stiletto feminism."\ |
| 760 | '''Sam''': Stilettos?\ |
| 761 | '''Ainsley''': [[StrawmanHasAPoint You're not in enough trouble already?]] |
| 762 | * ''Dead Irish Writers'', practically all of it. |
| 763 | -->'''Josh:''' [[MixedMetaphor You went over my head and you did it behind my back!]] |
| 764 | -->'''Amy:''' Quite the contortionist am I. |
| 765 | ** The girls drinking: |
| 766 | --->'''Abbey''': Claudia Jean, let's get drunk!\ |
| 767 | '''CJ''': Okay.\ |
| 768 | '''Josh''': Hey, where're you going?\ |
| 769 | '''Amy''': The First Lady just asked me to get boozy with her. You think I'm not gonna write a book someday? |
| 770 | ** And then there's Bartlet's response to coming back into the ballroom to find the Canadian flag has been raised and everyone singing the Canadian national anthem. |
| 771 | --->'''President Bartlet''': What the hell is going on? I was gone for forty five minutes, they were all Americans when I left! |
| 772 | * CJ's response to learning that Josh has been sparring with the members of a website devoted to him - actually the entire Lemon-Lymon subplot of that episode, including CJ's analogy of a website to ''Film/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest''. |
| 773 | -->'''CJ''': I'm going to assign an intern from the press office, they're gonna check it every night before they go home. If I find out you've been there, I'm gonna shove a motherboard so far up your ass- (Josh laughs) WHAT?\ |
| 774 | '''Josh''': Uh, technically, I outrank you.\ |
| 775 | '''CJ''': SO FAR UP YOUR ASS! |
| 776 | * The running joke of Toby summoning Sam to his office by throwing a rubber ball at the window they share. |
| 777 | * At the beginning of "The Two Bartlets", Amy Gardner swings by Josh's apartment early one morning, where the two have a rather flirtatious conversation about, among other things, how many times Amy has visited or stayed over at Josh's apartment, and whether Amy is going to be calling Josh immediately after she leaves. Immediately as she leaves, Josh picks up the phone, assuming it to be Amy: |
| 778 | --> '''Josh:''' Time number one was on the steps of my apartment when you kissed me. It was snowing. Time number two was when you came over after the State of the Union. Time number three was at your house when you put on your bootleg tape of the [[Music/TheRollingStonesBand Stones]] at Wembley Stadium and put on your feather boa and sang "Honky-Tonk Woman".\ |
| 779 | ''[Cut to Leo's office, where Leo is listening to all of this impassively while writing something]''\ |
| 780 | '''Josh:''' Time number four [[NoodleImplement involved a variety of hosiery]]--\ |
| 781 | '''Leo:''' Josh, I'm gonna stop you right here, okay?\ |
| 782 | '''Josh:''' ... Leo.\ |
| 783 | '''Leo:''' Yep.\ |
| 784 | '''Josh:''' Anybody else in the office?\ |
| 785 | ''[Cut to a wider shot revealing Margaret standing next to Leo's desk]''\ |
| 786 | '''Margaret:''' [''deadpan''] Hey Josh.\ |
| 787 | '''Josh:''' Hey... Margaret. |
| 788 | * Leo, a recovering alcoholic, and VP Hoynes are meeting with the President. |
| 789 | -->'''Hoynes:''' Mr. President, I'm a recovering alcoholic.\ |
| 790 | '''Bartlet:''' Really?\ |
| 791 | '''Hoynes:''' Yes, sir.\ |
| 792 | [beat]\ |
| 793 | '''Bartlet:''' Is there anybody left who's not?! |
| 794 | * In "Enemies Foreign and Domestic", Bartlet tries to show how down-to-earth he is to Admiral Fitzwallace: |
| 795 | -->'''Bartlet:''' Fitz, you old polecat, you old so-and-so!\ |
| 796 | '''Fitzwallace:''' ''[Amiably]'' Trying to be one of the fellas, sir?\ |
| 797 | '''Bartlet:''' Yeah.\ |
| 798 | '''Fitzwallace:''' Well, well done, sir. |
| 799 | ** In a subplot, Sam is meeting with two Russian officials over minor details regarding Bartlet's meeting with the Russian President in a summit. The Russians are willing to acquiesce to several of Sam's requests over the location, but have a request of their own: |
| 800 | --->'''Russian Official:''' On his arrival and during outdoor photograph opportunity, President Bartlet must wear overcoat.\ |
| 801 | '''Sam:''' A coat?\ |
| 802 | '''Russian Official:''' He must wear coat. He must wear gloves. Scarves and earmuffs permissible but optional.\ |
| 803 | '''Sam:''' Hang on, yes, 'cause -- 'Cause [the Russian president] wants to wear a coat and doesn't want to look like a wimp...\ |
| 804 | '''Russian Official:''' ''[Mild exasperation]'' Sam, it is freezing-too-cold in Reykjavik. It is freezing-too-cold in Helsinki. It is freezing-too-cold in Gstaad. Why must every American president bound out of an automobile like as at a yacht club while in com-- ''[stutters over word and briefly confers with his colleague]'' --in comparison our leader looks like... I don't even know what word is.\ |
| 805 | '''Sam:''' 'Frumpy'?\ |
| 806 | '''Russian Official:''' ... I don't know what 'frumpy' is, but onomatopoetically sounds right.\ |
| 807 | '''Sam:''' ''[Amused]'' It's hard not to like a guy who doesn't know 'frumpy' but knows 'onomatopoeia'. |
| 808 | ** Made even funnier when the Russian Official is Creator/IanMcShane. |
| 809 | ** And made more funny when, after Sam leaves the room, it's revealed that this unexpected knowledge is not universally shared among the Russians: |
| 810 | --->'''Second Russian Official:''' ''[Confused]'' What is ono...\ |
| 811 | '''Russian Official:''' ''[Impatient]'' Sounds like, sounds like. |
| 812 | ** Sam works out that the paragraph the officials gave him was actually written by President Chigorin who's trying to send a message to the USA that he's open to negotiations. When Sam presents the message to the Oval Office Admiral Fitzwallace responds with this gem: |
| 813 | --->'''Fitz:''' You're telling that foreign policy of this magnitude is conducted through ''Sam'' and I'm still alive? |
| 814 | * The whole subplot in "Stirred" about Bartlet helping Charlie file his taxes. (Made even more amazing when you consider that Charlie got the friggin' POTUS, who has a ''Nobel Prize in Economics'', to do his taxes. |
| 815 | -->'''Bartlet''': I love doing this.\ |
| 816 | '''Charlie''': Really? Filing tax returns?\ |
| 817 | '''Bartlet''': Yeah.\ |
| 818 | '''Charlie''': Ok.\ |
| 819 | '''Bartlet''': What?\ |
| 820 | '''Charlie''': I was just thinking about the plurality of Americans who made the decision to pull a lever with your name next to it.\ |
| 821 | '''Bartlet''': Suckers. |
| 822 | ** Also from "Stirred," Hoynes explains why he prefers baseball to hockey. |
| 823 | --->'''Hoynes''': Scoring in hockey seems to come out of nowhere. The play-by-play guy is always shocked. "[=LePetier=] passes to Huckenchuck, who skates past the blue line. Huckenchuck, of course, was traded from Winnipeg for a case of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labatt_Brewing_Company Labatt's]] after sitting out last season with OH MY GOD, HE SCORES!" |
| 824 | * In "We Killed Yamamoto" CJ meets up with Agent Donovan at the Secret Service firing range and asks if she can try firing his gun. He offers to hold her shoulders and she brushes him off. Cue an aversion of the LawOfInverseRecoil with CJ being knocked flat on her ass. CJ asks Donovan how good his marksmanship is causing him to snark that at least ''he'' can shoot without falling down. |
| 825 | [[/folder]] |
| 826 | [[folder:Season 4]] |
| 827 | * Josh, Toby and Donna get left behind on the campaign trail during the two-part episode "20 Hours in America" and spend the titular time getting back to DC. Their journey gets repeatedly derailed by SugarWiki/FunnyMoments. |
| 828 | -->'''President Bartlet''': Three hundred IQ points between them, they can't find their way home. I swear to God, if [[OnlySaneMan Donna]] wasn't there, they'd have to buy a house. |
| 829 | ** In this episode, Josh, Toby and Donna board a train. Josh asks the campaign volunteer who drove them to the station to assure him that everything is going to be okay. The campaign volunteer points and assures Josh on the life of his girlfriend that his problems will end 'two hundred miles down the track'. The train then starts moving. In exactly the opposite direction. |
| 830 | ** Same episode: Toby and Josh are throwing rocks at a trashcan, and wager that whoever misses first has to add "I work at the White House" every time they introduce themselves, while traveling through rural Indiana. Toby is forced to say this every time they meet someone in the episode, [[HilarityEnsues drawing the ire of the cavalcade of conservative hicks they encounter.]] The phrase gets an IronicEcho at the end, when Toby uses it sincerely. |
| 831 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J1NHzQ1sgc&feature=PlayList&p=7B5F278A6FE75BB9&index=0&playnext=1 The scene with the time zones]]. |
| 832 | --->'''Tyler''': It's a common mistake.\ |
| 833 | '''Josh''': NOT FOR THE US GOVERNMENT! |
| 834 | ** The scene is capped off brilliantly by [[OnlySaneMan Donna]] trying to solve their problems with the help of Tyler the campaign volunteer, while Josh and Toby [[FunnyBackgroundEvent freak out in the background]], in full view of three teenage Ritchie supporters. |
| 835 | --->'''Donna''': Okay. This is a whole new thing now. My guys are going to have to walk things off a little bit before they can regroup. Tyler, you and I are going to work out a plan to get us to a commercial airport.\ |
| 836 | '''Tyler''': Okay. How long are they gonna be?\ |
| 837 | [They both look back. Josh is pacing around furiously, ranting at the heavens while Toby hits a guardrail with a large tree branch]\ |
| 838 | '''[[OnlySaneMan Donna]]''': Couple more minutes. |
| 839 | ** Sam finally goes home to sleep for a few hours after basically working for a week straight, which is right when Josh calls to tell him that he'll have to cover on an urgent issue: |
| 840 | --->'''Sam's Answering Machine''': Hi, it's Sam. I'm sleeping for a few hours right now so you can leave a message, or if you really need me you can shout into the machine, and I'll wake up.\ |
| 841 | '''Josh''': '''''SAM!'''''\ |
| 842 | '''Sam''': ''(starts awake, flails right out of bed onto the floor)'' |
| 843 | ** The President has a photo-op with a man who's met every POTUS since 1929. This includes meeting with President Hoover on the day before the start of the Great Depression. And Bartlet is facing a sudden drop in the stock markets. |
| 844 | --->'''Charlie:''' We're gonna have to reschedule this for tomorrow.\ |
| 845 | '''Mr. Keith:''' Oh... why?\ |
| 846 | '''Bartlet:''' Just scheduling.\ |
| 847 | '''Charlie:''' ''(simultaneously with Bartlet'') You're spooking the hell out of the President. |
| 848 | ** Charlie and Bartlet discuss superstitions. |
| 849 | --->'''Charlie:''' The tribesmen of South America don't think a photograph's a good idea to begin with. You ever see any pictures on my desk?\ |
| 850 | '''Bartlet:''' ...No.\ |
| 851 | '''Charlie:''' Ever wonder ''why''?\ |
| 852 | '''Bartlet:''' Charlie, just out of curiosity; in your mind, how much time do I spend thinking about your desk?\ |
| 853 | '''Charlie:''' Fair point, sir. |
| 854 | * ''Red Mass'': Sam and Leo are discussing terrorism, which leads to a conversation about Abdul Shariff, the Qumari foreign minister and terrorist mastermind who the President ordered assassinated in the previous season: |
| 855 | -->'''Sam:''' Shariff was a bad guy. It feels like he had money in the Ba'hi cell.\ |
| 856 | '''Leo:''' He did. He was also behind a plot to blow up the Golden Gate Bridge.\ |
| 857 | '''Sam:''' Bridges and tunnels. That's my nightmare. What's yours?\ |
| 858 | '''Leo:''' ''(exasperated)'' ... [[FridgeHorror Well]] ''[[FridgeHorror now]]'' [[FridgeHorror it's bridges and tunnels, Sam.]]\ |
| 859 | '''Sam:''' Then my work here is done. |
| 860 | ** Earlier in the episode, Leo is receiving an award from the Foreign Minister of Israel. |
| 861 | --->'''Foreign Minister''': ...and in addition to being a good friend to Israel, Leo [=McGarry=], of course, is the most Jewish man most of us have ever met. For that, he gets...this yarmulke, which has been crumpled up in my coat pocket since a wedding in 1962. For everything else: the Medal of David.\ |
| 862 | '''Leo''': Thank you very much, Mr. Foreign Minister. A thousand dead relatives in Scotland just started crying. |
| 863 | * In the cold open for ''Game On'', Leo tells Toby that Bartlett might be having "a crisis of confidence" while preparing for the upcoming debate, just as they head into a pre-debate drill. In the drill, Toby asks a question and Bartlett has trouble responding, leading to Toby snapping a him... which makes everyone start giggling as they hand Bartlett their ten-dollar bills. He bet everyone that Toby would do that if he gave him a bad answer. |
| 864 | ** In the following episode's cold open, on election day, Josh votes, only to find people telling him they voted for Bartlett in ways that would render their votes invalid. After Josh gets exasperated at them, one of them admits that they were actors sent there by Toby to rile him up as well. The punchline comes when, to be a good sport, one of the actors offers to vote for Bartlett properly: "Do you happen to know if I need to be, I don't know, preregistered, or something?" After a long pause, Josh screams back "YES!" |
| 865 | * ''Election Night'': Toby's insistance on not TemptingFate rears its head again when the Senior Staff are discussing plans for after the results. Sam carelessly comments that "we won" before the results come in and immediately draws Toby's ire. |
| 866 | -->'''Toby:''' Please don't say that. I'm not kidding.\ |
| 867 | '''CJ:''' What are you babbling about?\ |
| 868 | '''Toby:''' We haven't won anything yet.\ |
| 869 | '''CJ:''' The speech is done.\ |
| 870 | '''Toby:''' [[CrazyPrepared Two speeches are done.]]\ |
| 871 | '''CJ:''' What's the second?\ |
| 872 | '''Toby:''' I've got a speech if he wins and a speech if he doesn't.\ |
| 873 | '''Sam:''' You wrote a concession?\ |
| 874 | '''Toby:''' Of course I wrote a concession. [[MemeticMutation You want to tempt the wrath of the whatever from high atop the thing?]]\ |
| 875 | '''Sam:''' No.\ |
| 876 | '''Toby:''' Then go outside, turn around three times and spit! What the hell's the matter with you?\ |
| 877 | '''Sam:''' It's like 25 degrees outside.\ |
| 878 | '''Toby:''' Go! |
| 879 | ** Things then get worse for Sam when Josh shows up and agrees with Toby. |
| 880 | --->'''Sam:''' He wrote a concession speech.\ |
| 881 | '''Josh:''' Of course he wrote a concession speech. Why wouldn't he? What possible reason would he have for not writing a concession speech?\ |
| 882 | '''Sam:''' (''skeptically'') The wrath from high atop the thing?\ |
| 883 | '''Toby:''' He upped and said we were gonna...\ |
| 884 | '''Josh:''' No, you gotta go outside, turn around three times and curse!\ |
| 885 | '''Toby:''' Spit.\ |
| 886 | '''Josh:''' Spit ''and'' curse!\ |
| 887 | '''Toby:''' Do everything, go!\ |
| 888 | '''Josh and Toby:''' (''in unison'') GO! GO!\ |
| 889 | (''Sam hurries out of the room'')\ |
| 890 | '''Josh:''' (''to Toby'') These things have a half-life. You can't just... |
| 891 | ** And later, when CJ sees Sam returning. |
| 892 | --->'''CJ:''' Did you--\ |
| 893 | '''Sam:''' I turned, I cursed, I spat, it froze.\ |
| 894 | '''CJ:''' You can't be too careful.\ |
| 895 | '''Sam:''' I think you can. |
| 896 | ** Much later in the episode Josh is trying to talk to Toby about the election but Toby is distracted by the ultrasound picture of his twins. |
| 897 | --->'''Josh:''' Okay, I'm concerned you've turned completely into another person.\ |
| 898 | ''(a staffer walks past with some balloons in hand)''\ |
| 899 | '''Toby:''' Hey! I see one victory balloon before this thing is called and...(''staffer speeds up'') yeah, you better run! (''turns to Josh'') Hmm?\ |
| 900 | '''Josh:''' Nothing. |
| 901 | * Jed and Abbey's repeated attempts at victory sex during Election Night/Process Stories keep getting [[MomentKiller interrupted]] by staff members coming to talk about their own issues- when each of them steps into their bedroom, they take one look at the caviar, champagne, and what the President and First Lady are wearing, their realization of what they've stepped into is hilarious. |
| 902 | -->'''Toby''': Good evening, Mrs. Bartlet, that's a lovely housecoat you're wearing. |
| 903 | ** Sam's reaction to Abbey's appearance is particularly hilarious. |
| 904 | --->'''Bartlet''': Eyes front, mister. |
| 905 | * In the cold open of "Swiss Diplomacy", Bartlet is in a more than usually confident mood after being re-elected in spite of the revelations about his MS. C.J. is coaching him about the upcoming press conference: |
| 906 | -->'''C.J.''': Mr. President, how do you interpret the margin of victory?\ |
| 907 | '''Bartlet''': Well, the votes have been counted and the people have spoken, and it's clear that their will is for me to be able to do and have anything I want.\ |
| 908 | '''C.J.''': Mr. President, Arnold White, Associated Press: What's the first legislative priority for your second term?\ |
| 909 | '''Bartlet''': There's a new guy from AP?\ |
| 910 | '''C.J.''': Yeah, what's your legislative priority?\ |
| 911 | '''Bartlet''': Well the President of Turkmenistan just officially extended the date of adolescence to twenty-five. So, things like that.\ |
| 912 | '''Leo''': [[TruthInTelevision I think he also renamed the month of January after himself.]]\ |
| 913 | '''Bartlet''': That's just greedy. Real power is knowing when to leave a little something on the table. |
| 914 | ** Moments later, the Swiss ambassador has asked Leo to intercede for the son of the Ayatollah in Iran, who needs a heart/lung transplant. Leo promises to talk to "him". |
| 915 | --->'''Von Rutte''': The President?\ |
| 916 | [''Leo looks at Bartlet on TV, basking in the attention of the press corps'']\ |
| 917 | '''Bartlet''': [''on TV''] Don't get me wrong, Mark. I think January's a good month...\ |
| 918 | '''Leo''': Yeah, the President, Generalissimo, whatever he comes back as. |
| 919 | ** Later still, as Leo and Bartlet go to the Situation Room to discuss what to do about the boy: |
| 920 | --->'''Bartlet''': We had a couple of cats when the kids were kids named Mr. Finch and Ms. Wilberforce or something--I can't remember--but...\ |
| 921 | '''Leo''': You know, I've never really liked human names for animals.\ |
| 922 | '''Bartlet''': Really?\ |
| 923 | '''Leo''': Yeah.\ |
| 924 | '''Bartlet''': Okay, well, I can't believe my kids didn't think to ask you what to name the cats. But they used to bring mice into the house and show 'em to me.\ |
| 925 | '''Leo''': Yeah?\ |
| 926 | '''Bartlet''': This is how I'm starting to feel about the Swiss. |
| 927 | ** At the end of the scene, as they're walking away, he declares, "Mr. Finch and Mrs. Wilberforce. There's nothing wrong with my memory. Though those are stupid names, and there's something wrong with my kids." |
| 928 | ** The possible alternate Funny Moment is later on, when the President is relating the story to his wife and she points out he's confused one of the cats with their ''maid.'' |
| 929 | * The scene where Will meets Toby for the first time to talk about helping him write Bartlet's second inaugural address. Before he came in, Toby had thrown away a page of writing he wasn't happy with, but not before [[KillItWithFire setting it on fire]], leading the trash can to start smoldering while Will's in there. He points this out and Toby, still talking, gets up and gets a seltzer bottle and puts out the fire, as if it happens all the time... oh, words don't do it justice at all, but Richard Schiff totally sells it. |
| 930 | ** The truly amazing part about this scene is that Toby, from writing his speech to setting it on fire to putting the fire out, [[TranquilFury has the same, dour expression on his face the entire time]]. |
| 931 | * Will's excuse for planning to take a vacation after the events of season four's election arc: "This was a pretty tough campaign, okay? A guy died from it. This campaign had fatalities." |
| 932 | * Josh, discussing a female fighter pilot who might be dishonorably discharged for refusing an order to end her relationship with a (married) junior officer, consults Fitzwallace on whether or not the White House should intercede and compares her to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Robinson Jackie Robinson]]. Fitzwallace (who is black) asks "Could you tell me more about Jackie Robinson and breaking barriers?" |
| 933 | * Will sticks it to a pompous State Dept. official in ''Inauguration'' (Part 1): |
| 934 | -->'''Bryce:''' Are you rewriting the section?\ |
| 935 | '''Will:''' Yes, sir.\ |
| 936 | '''Bryce:''' Dramatically?\ |
| 937 | '''Will:''' I like to think I have a certain flair. |
| 938 | ** Then, when Bryce leaves, Will starts mimicking him like a kid mocking the teacher who just gave him detention. |
| 939 | --->'''Bryce:''' ''[Pompously]'' Apparently, I'm not done with the Baileys. ''[Gets up and leaves]''\ |
| 940 | '''Will:''' ''[To himself]'' Apparently not, you effete... |
| 941 | * In ''Inauguration: Over There'' (Part 2), Charlie does this and a SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}} at the same time: |
| 942 | -->'''Josh''': Good cop, bad cop. I'm the good cop. The four of you are the bad cops. Will, what are you?\ |
| 943 | '''Will''': Bad cop.\ |
| 944 | '''Josh''': Danny, what are you?\ |
| 945 | '''Danny''': Bad cop.\ |
| 946 | '''Josh''': Charlie, what are you?\ |
| 947 | '''Charlie''': I love Zoey and I must have her back.\ |
| 948 | '''Will''': That's great news about Zoey, I didn't meet her but I bet she's nice.\ |
| 949 | '''Charlie''': Not really, but my love for her knows no bounds.\ |
| 950 | '''Danny''': Charlie, aren't you cold without a coat?\ |
| 951 | '''Charlie''': I took off my coat to show my love for Zoey.\ |
| 952 | '''Danny''': Wow.\ |
| 953 | '''Charlie''': I'd take off my shirt too, but it's inappropriate with a tuxedo.\ |
| 954 | '''Danny''': Not if we were at Chippendale's. |
| 955 | ** At the end of the scene: |
| 956 | --->'''Charlie:''' ''[about [[FrenchJerk Jean-Paul]]]'' Cause he may be good-looking and rich and well-schooled and French royalty, you know, and live basically in a castle, but... oh, God.\ |
| 957 | '''Toby:''' This is what I've been telling you. |
| 958 | ** Meanwhile, Josh is pummeling Donna's window with snowballs. |
| 959 | --->'''Danny:''' You know, by the end of the night, I think we may have a whole new story.\ |
| 960 | '''Toby:''' *laughs* ; at this point, they're waking up the neighborhood.\ |
| 961 | '''Toby:''' *on phone* Hi, National Enquirer? |
| 962 | * The president revealing to the first lady that he used to give their children candy. |
| 963 | -->'''Bartlet''': You know I gave the kids candy all the time, right?\ |
| 964 | '''Abbey''': Behind my back?\ |
| 965 | '''Bartlet''': Yes.\ |
| 966 | '''Abbey:''' You bought their love.\ |
| 967 | '''Bartlet''': Well, it was for sale, and I wanted it.\ |
| 968 | '''Abbey''': You gave the girls candy?\ |
| 969 | '''Bartlet''': I was their dealer. Live with it. |
| 970 | * Sam is giving a speech in ''The California 47th'': |
| 971 | -->'''Sam:''' The man that I worked for is not only a great president, he's an extraordinary role model.\ |
| 972 | '''Bartlet:''' (on the phone): Leo, tell those poncy little hairdressers that I'm going to shove a loaf of bread up their ass- |
| 973 | * Toby and Charlie getting arrested in ''The California 47th'': |
| 974 | --> '''Toby:''' Excuse me, Officer... how long do you think this is going to be?\ |
| 975 | '''Officer:''' Assault? Six to twenty months.\ |
| 976 | '''Charlie:''' It wasn't assault. He slipped on a thing.\ |
| 977 | '''Officer:''' Yeah, one of the guys says you hit him.\ |
| 978 | '''Charlie:''' Well, that was different. That part may have been assault. |
| 979 | ** And later: |
| 980 | --->'''Toby:''' Is there any chance I could get a corner cell or anything possibly with a loft?\ |
| 981 | '''Officer:''' They're solitary.\ |
| 982 | '''Toby:''' Perfect. |
| 983 | *** Later still: |
| 984 | --->'''Toby:''' It made the news in DC? |
| 985 | --->'''Will:''' A Jewish guy won a barfight, it's news everywhere |
| 986 | * Also in "The California 47th", Toby discovering that his pregnant ex-wife Andi is also on board Air Force One: |
| 987 | -->'''Toby:''' Listen to me. We've got all kinds of atmospheric cabin pressure up here. We're a little late, so the Colonel's put the hammer down in a 747. You've got wind shear, downdraft, massive turbulence, not to mention four giant engines burning jet fuel at galactic temperatures. We're standing in a ''flying death tube!''\ |
| 988 | ''[Donna, Larry and Ed, who are all nearby, look up in varying degrees of confusion and alarm]''\ |
| 989 | '''Toby:''' ''[Realising]'' No, not the rest of y-you. It's just ''my'' family. It's-it's fine. ''[to Andy]'' Look...\ |
| 990 | '''Andi:''' What do you want me to do, step off?\ |
| 991 | '''Toby:''' Also, you've got twins in there. You're basically a minivan. How are you fitting into a seat?\ |
| 992 | ''[Donna and another nearby woman glare incredulously at Toby.]''\ |
| 993 | '''Andi:'''... [[SarcasmMode Uh-uh. I saw him first, girls.]] |
| 994 | * In ''Red Haven's On Fire'': |
| 995 | ** Sam berates Toby for borrowing a phone from a call girl to get in touch with Josh: |
| 996 | -->'''Sam:''' So on a call girl's phone bill, there's going to be a call to Air Force One?\ |
| 997 | '''Toby:''' You're really going to be teaching the seminar on call girl caution? [[CallBack Really?]] |
| 998 | ** Or, after they're bailed out and Charlie is acting all tough-guy to the guard: |
| 999 | --->'''Toby:''' Hey, Hurricane, we were in the joint for like twenty minutes. |
| 1000 | ** Toby as Sam's newly-appointed campaign manager has Sam speak to some reporters on Newport Beach. As the interview takes place: |
| 1001 | --->'''CJ:''' He looks youthful.\ |
| 1002 | '''Toby:''' Yes.\ |
| 1003 | '''CJ:''' And energetic.\ |
| 1004 | '''Toby:''' Yes.\ |
| 1005 | '''CJ:''' He looks youthful and energetic. Do we have anything he can jump over? |
| 1006 | * Most of ''Privateers,'' about Marion Coatsworth-Haye, especially when C.J. refers to her as "Helena Hodsworth Hooter-Tooter of Braintree." |
| 1007 | -->'''Guest:''' '''''[[NoIndoorVoice I'M MARION COATSWORTH-HAYE!!]]'''''\ |
| 1008 | '''C.J.:''' ''(uncontrollable laughter for the remainder of the scene)'' |
| 1009 | ** This leaves Amy trying to placate Ms Coatsworth-Haye by making up an award, and, with Will's miming suggestions, comes up with the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Scott_Key Francis Scott Key]] Key. |
| 1010 | -->'''Amy''': ''(to CJ)'' Is this a hazing? |
| 1011 | * In "Evidence of Things Not Seen," shots are fired at the pressroom window, and Charlie (and later Debbie) instantly defy the ensuing lockdown to ensure the president's OK. Bartlet reassures Charlie...by giving him advice on how to assassinate him. |
| 1012 | -->'''Charlie:''' Sorry, Mr. President. |
| 1013 | -->'''Bartlet:''' Come here. It's bulletproof glass in the windows. You wanna kill me, you're gonna have to do it from ''inside'' the building. |
| 1014 | -->'''Charlie:''' (genuinely relieved) Thank you, Mr. President. |
| 1015 | * During "[[WhamEpisode Life On Mars,]]" everyone's incredulity that Joe Quincy needs to figure out a leak regarding possible ''aliens...'' before the [[MoodWhiplash truth behind the matter is revealed.]] |
| 1016 | ** Even considering TheReveal, there's something pathetic about Hoynes lying about extraterrestrial life using his power as Vice President of the United States...to keep a woman interested in him. |
| 1017 | [[/folder]] |
| 1018 | |
| 1019 | [[folder:Season 5]] |
| 1020 | * As if Toby getting drunk and singing "Suicide is Painless" wasn't enough, Donna, on the phone from the White House, asks Charlie if Toby's been drinking. |
| 1021 | --> '''Charlie''': (picks up a near-empty bottle of Jack Daniels) [[BlatantLies "I don't think so".]] |
| 1022 | --> '''Donna''': Is he singing? |
| 1023 | --> '''Charlie''' [[RunningGag "I don't think so"]] |
| 1024 | * First Lady Abbey Bartlet [[SesameStreetCred appears]] in a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNojMp0rMr8 segment]] with Elmo about going to the doctor. Elmo points out that Dr. Bartlet gave up her medical license (after the MS scandal broke) which causes the entire set to erupt in laughter. |
| 1025 | -->'''Elmo''': Do you have a diploma you could show Elmo? Can Elmo be frank? This laughter is not filling Elmo with confidence! |
| 1026 | ** Also includes the SightGag everyone was waiting for: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXFKjy7d5E8 CJ Cregg hanging out with Big Bird]]. |
| 1027 | * In "The Supremes", Charlie gets into an argument with right-wing judge Christopher Mulready over affirmative action: |
| 1028 | -->'''Mulready:''' So why a racial preference and not an economic one?\ |
| 1029 | '''Charlie:''' Because affirmative action's about a legacy of racial oppression--\ |
| 1030 | '''Mulready:''' It's about compromising admission standards.\ |
| 1031 | '''Charlie:''' That's bull! ''[Mulready chuckles]'' Excuse me. It's about levelling the playing field after three hundred years of--\ |
| 1032 | '''Mulready:''' See, this is where the liberal argument goes off the rails. You get stuck in the past. Now, you ''want'' to come back at me with "grading is based on ''past'' performance , but admission should based on ''potential'', on how a candidate might ''thrive'' with this sort of opportunity. And studies show that affirmative action admits have a higher predisposition to contribute to society."\ |
| 1033 | '''Charlie:''' ''[Looking somewhere between stunned, suspicious and grateful]'' ... Hang on. I gotta write this down. |
| 1034 | ** We don't actually see Bartlet's reaction that the Republicans want Mulready on the Court in exchange for getting Lang as Chief Justice, and instead see Fiderer cleaning her desk and turning up the volume on her radio to drown out what we can hear. |
| 1035 | [[/folder]] |
| 1036 | |
| 1037 | [[folder:Season 6]] |
| 1038 | * In the middle of CJ and Josh's ongoing bet to whether or not he could abstain from junk food for one week (following Leo's heart attack), CJ sent a pizza order to Josh, which Donna jokingly said Josh should send to the Turkmentistan president, who has been causing the staff a lot of trouble this episode. |
| 1039 | -->[''later in the Oval Office'']\ |
| 1040 | '''President Bartlet''': Oh, Josh! Perhaps you could shed some light on this state department cable?\ |
| 1041 | '''Josh:''' Sir?\ |
| 1042 | '''President Bartlet''': 'Turkmenistan to US: We didn't order these pizzas'. [''fixes Josh with a sour look'']\ |
| 1043 | '''Josh:''' ...........[[OhCrap bet you're thinking there's a really good explanation for that, sir.]] |
| 1044 | * CJ's first meeting as Chief of Staff. She's barely just gotten seated at the desk when both Toby and Josh within a minute of each other pull out letters of resignation, citing that they don't feel comfortable working under her. CJ starts to protest... and then ''Bartlet'' walks into her office and bluntly announces he's uncomfortable working with a woman and that he's going to give the VP a shot at the top job, leaving CJ completely flummoxed and speechless... at which point Toby starts giggling uncontrollably. |
| 1045 | -->'''Bartlet:''' You're weak. You have a weak will. You should have held it. See if she pulled out the Continuity of Government plan.\ |
| 1046 | '''Will:''' He cracked up at the mere ''suggestion'' of the VP...\ |
| 1047 | '''Toby:''' ''[Still giggling uncontrollably]'' I had a whole thing on spending time with my kids, I went up.\ |
| 1048 | '''CJ:''' ''[Having realized the prank]'' You are bad, bad men.\ |
| 1049 | '''Bartlet:''' In the service of a vengeful god. |
| 1050 | ** Toby's first attempt at briefing the press is, naturally, a disaster that climaxes in him making a comment about C.J. dealing with the Arab-Israeli crisis by "swatting at them with her purse". Josh ''runs'' out of his office and through the halls to be outside the briefing room when Toby emerges so he can make fun of the whole thing. |
| 1051 | * As CJ and Leo finally commiserate on the burdens of the job of Chief Of Staff: |
| 1052 | -->'''Leo:''' So, how's it going?\ |
| 1053 | '''CJ:''' It's overwhelming. The amount there is to tend to, I thought I was busy before. How in the world did you manage it for seven years?\ |
| 1054 | '''Leo:''' I had a heart attack. |
| 1055 | * After suffering a severe [=MS=] attack leaving him temporarily paralyzed, President Bartlet grows tired of waiting for the hydraulic lift to be prepared in China so he can exit the plane, and instead has his new body man, Curtis, carry him: |
| 1056 | -->'''Bartlet:''' Take your time, no need to rush.\ |
| 1057 | '''Curtis:''' Am I going too fast?\ |
| 1058 | '''Bartlet:''' No, I'm just saying, you drop me, that's a moment that follows you the rest of your life.\ |
| 1059 | '''Curtis:''' Yes, sir.\ |
| 1060 | '''Bartlet:''' You keep this up your arms are gonna fall off... I hope somebody brings the damn chair.\ |
| 1061 | '''Curtis:''' I hope so too, sir. |
| 1062 | * In the middle of a senior staff meeting from "Faith Based Initiative": |
| 1063 | -->'''CJ:''' Kate, where's Uzbekistan?\ |
| 1064 | '''Kate:''' Something big blew up. Doesn't appear to be nuclear. We're going over the pictures now. We really have no idea.\ |
| 1065 | '''Annabeth:''' Let's never open these meetings to the public. |
| 1066 | * "Freedonia" gives us one of Josh's many Lymanisms after congressional-aide-turned-campaign-aide Ned ''dares'' to question his out-there strategies: |
| 1067 | -->'''Ned:''' You think that'll work?\ |
| 1068 | '''Josh''': Y'know, if I wanted your opinion I would stick you in a focus group in southern Missouri. |
| 1069 | * Josh's attempt to guide the senator's frustration lands wrong in "Drought Conditions": |
| 1070 | -->'''Josh:''' Temptation to grab at center is only gonna grow. Let's just take a minute... remember where you came from.\ |
| 1071 | '''Matt:''' [''mock panic''] I can't remember.\ |
| 1072 | '''Josh:''' I'm sorry, I didn't mean that...\ |
| 1073 | '''Matt:''' I was born a poor, black child... No, close, but that's not right.\ |
| 1074 | '''Josh:''' If you shake hands with the President, hang on as long as possible, give the cameras a chance to catch it.\ |
| 1075 | '''Matt:''' [''points to his aide''] I was born in the bayou?\ |
| 1076 | '''Ronna:''' That's not it either. |
| 1077 | * ''A Good Day'', when Kate finds herself the OnlySaneMan in the situation room as inexplicable tensions between the US and Canada over a couple of hunters move the nations closer to a conflict. |
| 1078 | -->'''Will:''' The Vice President advocates a hard line.\ |
| 1079 | '''Kate:''' [[SarcasmMode Permanent lockout in the NHL? Maple syrup embargo? Turn off Niagara Falls?]] |
| 1080 | ** Particularly, the scene where she is assuring the Canadians that the USA does not have a contingency plan to invade Canada, and then she sees the face on the nearest military advisor and realizes that yes, the USA ''does'' have a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Plan_Red plan to invade Canada]]. |
| 1081 | --->'''Kate:''' 1789, amended in 1815. The calligraphy is beautiful. And if one more deal is floated in this room, I'm gonna ask [=DoD=] to reactivate it. |
| 1082 | * The other half of ''A Good Day'', which involves an extended sequence wherein Santos and Clifford Calley are sneaking around to the VP's office. After Santos is escorted in and told to keep quiet, he moves to lay down on the couch... only to trip over Donna, who has already passed out on it. Cue screaming. |
| 1083 | ** The congressman for Arkansas is the highlight, from his introduction in his office (he sleeps there without pants), to his acting as sneaks the rest of the democrats into the VP office. |
| 1084 | [[/folder]] |
| 1085 | [[folder:Season 7]] |
| 1086 | * Abbey, Jed, Ellie and Vic toast in champagne in celebration of Ellie's and Vic's engagement. During the conversation that follows Ellie hints that the wedding needs to happen fairly soon because she is pregnant. As Jed is called out of the room Abbey is seen reaching over and taking Ellie's champagne flute away from her. |
| 1087 | * Ellie Bartlet's (rather weedy and nebbish looking) fiance Vic is called to meet the president...who just happens to be sitting in the Oval Office along with all the top military brass. |
| 1088 | --> '''Debbie''': Your 9 o'clock is starting to melt. |
| 1089 | :::This turns out to be just a prelude to actually ''entering'' the oval office - at which point all the serious, sharply uniformed men flank Vic to shake hands with him, give him hearty claps on the shoulder, and offer congratulations and instruction to take good care of the President's daughter. |
| 1090 | * Josh is trying to find out how campaign information has been leaking to the press, leading to some sad personal revelations: |
| 1091 | -->'''Josh:''' You told a friend, they told a friend, the friend told the Washington Post..?\ |
| 1092 | '''Lou:''' I haven't spoken to a friend in two months.\ |
| 1093 | '''Annabeth:''' I don't think I ''have'' any friends left.\ |
| 1094 | '''Ronna:''' All my friends are in this room.\ |
| 1095 | '''Lou:''' Okay, you win "most pathetic". |
| 1096 | :::The [[FridgeLogic Fridge Humor]] implied by Lou's conclusion is that it's preferable to lose all your friends compared to becoming friends with anybody in the scene. |
| 1097 | * CJ and Will have the following exchange, a good 6 episodes after the national security leak plotline was resolved: |
| 1098 | -->'''CJ:''' You I need. Come here.\ |
| 1099 | '''Will:''' What's wrong?\ |
| 1100 | '''CJ:''' Close the door.\ |
| 1101 | '''Will:''' I didn't do it.\ |
| 1102 | '''CJ:''' Close the door.\ |
| 1103 | '''Will:''' ''Toby'' did it.\ |
| 1104 | '''CJ:''' Shut up. |
| 1105 | * Unsurprisingly, multiple exchanges related to Doug Westin possibly having an affair with the nanny. |
| 1106 | ** Starting with Danny's mix of blunt and blasé breaking the news to CJ: |
| 1107 | --->'''Danny''': I think the president's son-in-law may be banging the nanny.\ |
| 1108 | '''CJ''': Is that a euphemism?\ |
| 1109 | '''Danny''': No. Well, "banging" is, I guess. |
| 1110 | ** And Will's "investigation" into whether he did it. |
| 1111 | --->'''Will''': That's the nanny right there. Which, makes me think he...did it. ''({{beat}})'' I mean, just look at her.\ |
| 1112 | '''CJ''': What's that supposed to mean?\ |
| 1113 | '''Will''': Well I'm just saying...\ |
| 1114 | '''CJ''': Yeah I can see your mouth moving, but you're saying what?\ |
| 1115 | '''Will''': That she's really cute and he probably did it?\ |
| 1116 | '''CJ''': They have children!\ |
| 1117 | '''Will''': Sure; be stupid to have a nanny if you didn't have kids... 'Specially one that looks like that! |
| 1118 | * When Bartlet is about to announce a major military engagement, he calls the candidates to the White House, disrupting Josh's campaign plans in the middle of a major upswing in fortune for Santos. When a scheduler calls the campaign and says Leo has to come too, Josh grabs the phone and breezily brushes her off, saying Leo has more important things to do. About 20 seconds later a White House operator calls Josh directly and tells him to hold for the President, at which point Bartlet casually asks him "bring Leo along, would you?" and tells him how nice it'll be to see everyone, then hangs up. The way Josh's high spirits just freeze on his face when Bartlet calls is what really sells it. |
| 1119 | * Will and Kate start out a scene that seems like a pretty ordinary WalkAndTalk, but quickly takes a turn. |
| 1120 | -->'''Will:''' I have a thing of yours.\ |
| 1121 | '''Kate:''' My Pyongyang report - good, I turned my whole office...\ |
| 1122 | '''Will:''' No, not that.\ |
| 1123 | '''Kate:''' Really?\ |
| 1124 | '''Will:''' Absolutely.\ |
| 1125 | '''Kate:''' It's in a blue binder, it may not be-\ |
| 1126 | '''Will:''' Nothing in a blue binder.\ |
| 1127 | '''Kate:''' You're sure? I may have taken it out of-\ |
| 1128 | '''Will:''' [[RelationshipReveal It's a bra.]]\ |
| 1129 | '''Kate:''' Oh. Okay.\ |
| 1130 | '''Will:''' [[CrossesTheLineTwice I put it in a padded envelope]], which seemed appropriate. |
| 1131 | * Donna's complete lack of cool after kissing Josh is pretty great. |
| 1132 | ** She asks Will if it would've been inappropriate if they'd hooked up, hypothetically. Will says he's already seeing someone, and Donna reassures him she's talking about someone else. |
| 1133 | --->'''Will''': You're talking about Josh?\ |
| 1134 | '''Donna''': You're seeing someone?\ |
| 1135 | '''Will''': You're seeing Josh?\ |
| 1136 | '''Donna''': No. I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours.\ |
| 1137 | '''Will''': ''(with absolute certainty)'' Yours is Josh. You're not cryptic. |
| 1138 | ** When CJ sits down to catch up with her. |
| 1139 | --->'''CJ''': How's Josh?\ |
| 1140 | '''Donna''': ''(suddenly nervous)'' What do you mean?\ |
| 1141 | '''CJ''': Which part tripped you up?\ |
| 1142 | '''Donna''': Oh, you mean...you're just...\ |
| 1143 | '''CJ''': Asking how he is.\ |
| 1144 | '''Donna''': Oh, sorry, he's um...he's fine. |
| 1145 | * Josh returns to his habit of ruining romantic spontaneity. His reaction to the news that Vinick may have a cold is initially to move towards Donna, as he had earlier in the episode, but then checks himself. At the last minute, he instead hugs Bram and Annabeth . Cue bemusement: |
| 1146 | --->'''Annabeth''': Why is there hugging?\ |
| 1147 | |
| 1148 | * Debbie tells Vinick's team to make themselves comfortable in the mural room to wait for the meeting with POTUS, then stage whispers "but not too comfortable" as she's closing the door. The kicker is Lily Tomlin's "hmm?" and innocent face when Vinick asks "excuse me?" |
| 1149 | * A small but funny moment in "''Requiem''". CJ has made plans to spend the night with Danny but cancels when Donna asks if she can spend the night at CJ's, since CJ doesn't know what to tell Donna. Josh then asks Donna to spend the night with him but she declines since she doesn't know what to tell CJ. Donna leaves and Danny comes up to sit with Josh, both of them looking dejected. |
| 1150 | * Josh's comment on Sam's attorney fiancee, while asking Sam to move back to DC and be his Deputy Chief of Staff: |
| 1151 | -->'''Josh''': Gee, I wonder if she'd be able to find gainful employment in ''the lawyer capital of the known universe.'' |
| 1152 | * There's something darkly hilarious about the gentle, reassuring briefing of the young Santos children by the head of the Presidential Detail of the Secret Service, Ron Butterfield. He instructs them to tell their assigned agents right away if a stranger tries to talk to them or give them a message for their dad, the new President. 9 year old Miranda Santos cheerfully asks "and they'll give the message to my dad?" Ron's response is the {{understatement}} of the year, "well, it's not quite that simple...", knowing that anyone harassing the First Children is probably going to jail for a very long time. |
| 1153 | [[/folder]] |
| 1154 | |
| 1155 | [[folder:Unsorted/Meta/Other]] |
| 1156 | * ''The Leadership Breakfast'': Sam and Josh light a fire in the White House, learning a little too late that this particular fireplace has had its flue closed off for decades. Cut to Charlie barging into Bartlet's bedroom: "Sir, you know how you told me never to wake you up unless the building was on fire?" |
| 1157 | ** Charlie and the President's interactions are made of funny. From Season 1's ''Celestial Navigation'': "Sir, I need you to dig in now. It wasn't a nightmare. You really are the president." "WHO IS THIS?!" |
| 1158 | ** "I mean, what in the name of everything holy could you possibly want right now?" |
| 1159 | ** The entire scene with the fire, really: |
| 1160 | --->'''Josh:''' Could you possibly get us some dried leaves?\ |
| 1161 | '''Donna:''' Yeah, I'll just run out to the forest and be right back. ''(She leaves)''\ |
| 1162 | '''Sam:''' You know what?\ |
| 1163 | '''Josh:''' You think she was being sarcastic?\ |
| 1164 | '''Sam:''' Yeah, I don't think she's getting the leaves. |
| 1165 | * Lord John Marbury, especially versus Leo. |
| 1166 | -->'''Marbury:''' Would you have something with which to light my cigarette?\ |
| 1167 | '''Leo:''' Oh, I'm afraid we don't allow smoking in this part of the world.\ |
| 1168 | '''Marbury:''' Really? In ''this'' part of the world, ''[gestures to himself]'' we positively encourage it. |
| 1169 | ** In ''The Drop-In'' when Leo doesn't know Marbury is there to see him. |
| 1170 | ---> '''Margaret:''' Leo?\ |
| 1171 | '''Leo:''' Yeah?\ |
| 1172 | '''Margaret:''' There's someone here to see you.\ |
| 1173 | '''Leo:''' ''[looks at watch]'' Who?\ |
| 1174 | '''Marbury:''' ''[off-screen]'' [[IncomingHam GERALD!]]\ |
| 1175 | '''Leo:''' [[ThisIsGonnaSuck Oh, God]]. |
| 1176 | ** While Marbury is probably a Crowning Person Of Funny, my favorite was his introduction. |
| 1177 | --->'''Marbury''': Abigail! [[RefugeInAudacity May I grasp your breasts?]] |
| 1178 | --->[[spoiler:'''Abigail''': You may kiss my cheek.]] |
| 1179 | ** This gem, from "He Shall From Time to Time": |
| 1180 | --->'''Marbury:''' Mr. President, for centuries my kingdom has ruled India with a stick and carrot. When we had a particular problem with somebody, one solution we would try would be to make him a Maharaja--a kind of regional king. We would pay him an annual tribute, and in return he would be loyal to the Crown.\ |
| 1181 | '''Leo:''' Lord Marbury, under our Constitution, the President is not empowered to create Maharajas.\ |
| 1182 | '''Marbury:''' Yes, thank you for clearing that up, Leo. Having been educated at Cambridge and the Sorbonne, I am, as you know, exceedingly stupid. |
| 1183 | ** When exactly ''isn't'' Lord John Marbury a walking SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}}? When he's being a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome, probably. As the previous quote made clear, he may be an eccentric, drink-addled ''loon'', but he's a ''magnificently'' smart eccentric, drink-addled loon. |
| 1184 | * POTUS and FLOTUS. I will make a special mention of the debate episode (Season 4's ''Game On'') where she cuts off his necktie right before he goes out. SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}} leading to a SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}} setting the stage for a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome. |
| 1185 | -->'''Bartlet:''' You know my lucky tie...\ |
| 1186 | '''Abbey:''' Yeah, I heard [it got ruined]. [[SarcasmMode So, do you think there's any point in still having the debate]]? |
| 1187 | ** The staff's absolute panic when they see he no longer has a tie as they're running down the hall to the stage is hysterical. |
| 1188 | * The episode ''And It's Surely to Their Credit'' has this memorable scene where the First Lady ([[HospitalHottie who's also a doctor]]) is dictating a memo to Charlie to give to the President about how he's fully recovered from the [[WhamEpisode Assassination attempt]]: |
| 1189 | -->'''Abbey:''' Just give him a message for me, would you? \ |
| 1190 | '''Charlie:''' Sure.\ |
| 1191 | '''Abbey:''' You'll want to write this down.\ |
| 1192 | '''Charlie:''' Yes, ma'am.\ |
| 1193 | '''Abbey:''' Your blood pressure is 120/80.\ |
| 1194 | '''Charlie:''' How did you know that, ma'am?\ |
| 1195 | '''Abbey:''' I'm saying his blood pressure.\ |
| 1196 | '''Charlie:''' Ah... is 120/80.\ |
| 1197 | '''Abbey:''' Yeah. Your EKG shows a good sinus rhythm.\ |
| 1198 | '''Charlie:''' Okay.\ |
| 1199 | '''Abbey:''' No evidence of ischemic changes.\ |
| 1200 | '''Charlie:''' How are we spelling...?\ |
| 1201 | '''Abbey:''' Doesn't matter. Your electrolytes and metabolic panels are within normal limits. Chest x-ray is clear, and prostate screens are fine.\ |
| 1202 | '''Charlie:''' Okay.\ |
| 1203 | '''Abbey:''' So, we can have sex now.\ |
| 1204 | '''Charlie:''' Okay, that’s not me and you now, right? |
| 1205 | ** Charlie steps into the Oval Office; five seconds later Bartlett comes barreling out of the room like it was on fire. A little... ''antsy'' are we, Jed? Actually, horny!Bartlett in general is a Funny Moment. |
| 1206 | --->'''Bartlet:''' Abbey, you have two minutes, or I swear to God I'm gonna get Mrs. Landingham drunk. |
| 1207 | ** Then when Bartlet, in front of a roomful of children watching him attempt to do the radio address, remembers it's the time he and Abby scheduled for sex, jumps up, wrangles on his jacket, and says, "Kids, I am so sorry. I have to go now, to a special meeting... of the ''government''!" |
| 1208 | ** When Abbey tells Bartlet about investigative journalist Nellie Bly, emphasizing her achievement in circumnavigating the world in 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes and 14 seconds. Bartlett replies, "She sounds like an incredible woman, Abbey. I'm particularly impressed that she beat [[Literature/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays a fictional record]]. If she goes down [[Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea 21,000 leagues under the sea]], I'll name a damn school after her! Let's have sex." |
| 1209 | * The build-up for this joke [[BrickJoke has spanned over two seasons]]: The Supreme Court's Chief Justice is on the verge of full-blown dementia, writing statements in verse and such. He refuses to retire, because he's afraid that with a Republican Congress, Bartlet can't replace him with another left-leaning judge. The best the president can do is getting a centrist judge appointed. When in the episode ''The Supremes'' another, this time more conservative judge dies of a heart-attack, the White House is faced with a similar dilemma. Until Donna tells Josh about the two cats of her parents. Apparently, while her father preferred one cat, her mother had her heart set on another one. Therefore, they decided to compromise, and got both cats. Josh decided to do the same, by replacing the conservative judge with another conservative, and the Chief Justice with a Democrat. When Donna finds out, she realizes what has happened: |
| 1210 | -->'''Donna:''' Oh my god, you're putting my mother's cats on the Supreme Court! |
| 1211 | ** The Chief Justice's poetic opinions are pretty hilarious in and of themselves: |
| 1212 | --->'''Toby:''' He wrote a dissenting opinion in what I am almost certain is trochaic tetrameter.\ |
| 1213 | '''Bartlet:''' (reading) "Fear of cancer from asbestos / Fuzzy science manifestos."\ |
| 1214 | and '''Leo:''' (reading) "Guilty? / Or not guilty? / Past convictions frustrate / The judge who wonders should your fate / Abate." It's a cinquain. |
| 1215 | * Sam, on the Boston Tea Party: |
| 1216 | -->''"We jumped out from behind bushes, while the British came down the road in their bright red jackets, but never has a war been so courteously declared. [[SophisticatedAsHell It was on parchment with calligraphy and "Your highness, we beseech you on this day in Philadelphia to bite me, if you please."]]'' |
| 1217 | * Donna tries to get Josh to hire Joe Quincy. |
| 1218 | -->'''Donna:''' This guy... there are some who would consider him handsome. I don't, personally, 'cause you're the only one I think is handsome. \ |
| 1219 | '''Josh:''' Uh-huh.\ |
| 1220 | '''Donna:''' But for the sake of appearances, here, around the office, I'd pretend I thought this guy was handsome if you hired him. Of course, all along it'd be a lie, 'cause of how handsome you are. And powerful. ''[lets her eyes drift onto his chest and sighs as if overwhelmed by handsomeness and power]''\ |
| 1221 | '''Josh:''' [[LampshadeHanging ...Your sense of humor's a bit of a high-wire act, isn't it? You're really trying to thread the needle.]] |
| 1222 | * The UN Secretary-General getting an earful about ambassadors not paying parking tickets: |
| 1223 | -->'''Bartlet:'''There are big signs - you can't park there. They should get towed! I hope they get towed to Queens! And the Triborough is closed! And there's a big craft show at Shea! A flea market, or a tractor show!\ |
| 1224 | ''Bartlet slams down the phone.''\ |
| 1225 | '''Charlie:''' (beat) Well, that was probably his secretary.\ |
| 1226 | '''Bartlet:''' Dammit.\ |
| 1227 | '''Charlie:''' You can bet she'll be parking in the garage tonight, though. |
| 1228 | * After C.J.'s been going on about the Dadaist surrealism of the butter Last Supper depicting butter: |
| 1229 | -->'''C.J.:''' Duchamp was the father of Dadaism.\ |
| 1230 | '''Toby:''' I know.\ |
| 1231 | '''C.J.:''' The dada of Dada.\ |
| 1232 | '''Toby:''' ...It's like there's nothing you can do about that joke, it's coming and you just have to stand there. |
| 1233 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sh_fhTszjiU Bartlet files Charlie's tax return.]] The ''President of the United States of America'', who is also a ''Nobel-prize-winning economist''... does his personal assistant's taxes... for fun. Then tries to collect the amount owed with a "gimme" hand gesture. |
| 1234 | ** Then, after Charlie and Leo figure out the reason Charlie owes the government money, rather than being owed money as he expected...Leo makes the "gimme" hand gesture. |
| 1235 | * Margaret and Leo are generally comedy gold, but the top of the list has to be this scene from ''In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part II'' |
| 1236 | -->'''Margaret:''' Can I just say something for the future?\ |
| 1237 | '''Leo:''' Yeah.\ |
| 1238 | '''Margaret:''' I can sign the President's name. I have his signature down pretty good.\ |
| 1239 | '''Leo:''' You can sign the President's name?\ |
| 1240 | '''Margaret:''' Yeah.\ |
| 1241 | '''Leo:''' On a ''document'' removing him from power and giving it to someone else?\ |
| 1242 | '''Margaret:''' Yeah? (''Leo gives her a DeathGlare'') [[OhCrap Or...do you think the White House Counsel would say that was a bad idea?]]\ |
| 1243 | '''Leo:''' I think the White House counsel would say it was a coup d'etat!\ |
| 1244 | '''Margaret:''' Well, I'd probably end up doing some time for that.\ |
| 1245 | '''Leo:''' I would '''THINK'''! And what the hell were you doing practicing the President's signature?\ |
| 1246 | '''Margaret:''' (''fleeing the room'') It was just for fun.\ |
| 1247 | '''Leo:''' (''to C.J., who has just entered'') We've got separation of powers, checks and balances, and Margaret, vetoing things and sending them back to the Hill! |
| 1248 | ** Then there's this scene from Season 1's ''In Excelsis Deo'': |
| 1249 | --->'''Leo:''' Who the hell is this guy and why do I care if he has a Merry Christmas or not?\ |
| 1250 | '''Margaret:''' Just sign the damn thing!\ |
| 1251 | '''Josh''': This is quite an operation.\ |
| 1252 | '''Margaret:''' (Deadpan, complete with a DeathGlare) We like to spread holiday cheer. |
| 1253 | ** Margaret doesn't even have to be in the room, as in the scene from Season 2's ''In This White House'' Leo offers Ainsley a job, first asking Ainsley if anyone offered her a drink: |
| 1254 | --->'''Ainsley:''' The woman who works out there, who I imagine is your secretary, offered me coffee or a soft drink.\ |
| 1255 | '''Leo:''' Okay, so...\ |
| 1256 | '''Ainsley:''' She was also kind enough to ask for my coat.\ |
| 1257 | '''Leo:''' Excellent, and...\ |
| 1258 | '''Ainsley:''' She seems to be a very good secretary.\ |
| 1259 | '''Leo:''' Well, she'll be happy to hear that, she's standing right outside the door. (''thumps door with his fist'')\ |
| 1260 | '''Margaret:''' (''from outside'') Ow. |
| 1261 | ** Bruno shows up for the first time in Leo's office without an appointment, so Margaret checks with Leo. Turns out he made the appointment himself, which he is apparently not allowed to do. Bruno meets with Leo, goes into the oval office, and comes back. When he reenters Leo's office, Margaret is STILL berating Leo about the appointment thing. Leo dismisses her to talk to Bruno, and she leaves with "I'll jot it down." |
| 1262 | * CJ spends an episode defending the urban legend that you can stand an egg on end during a solar equinox, and eventually the others look online and can't find a single website supporting it. "You really have to wonder: if no one on the Internet wants a piece of this, just how far from the pack have you strayed?" |
| 1263 | ** [[http://www.snopes.com/science/equinox.asp Haven't these people ever heard]] of ''{{Website/Snopes}}''? |
| 1264 | * Leo trolls for ideas for his wedding anniversary, and is advised against hiring a violinist: "The novelty wears off after a few minutes, and then it's just a guy with a violin in your house." |
| 1265 | * The campaign suggests Leo's daughter Mallory goes on television with him to help address his past addiction issues, possibly with her baby. Bram asks if it's a photogenic baby...with Leo in the room. The look of outrage on his face is priceless, as is Bram's slightly abashed follow-up: "...hey, not all of them are." |
| 1266 | * C.J. running into a door after she and Danny kiss for the first time--this was the kiss that was supposed to help her "get past it." (She didn't get past it, by the way. Neither of them did.) |
| 1267 | * The running gag of the president's love for trivia which the rest of the staff hates. |
| 1268 | -->'''Bartlet''': We should organize a staff field-trip to Shenandoah. I could even act as the guide. What do you think?\ |
| 1269 | '''Josh''': Good a place as any to dump your body.\ |
| 1270 | '''Bartlet''': What was that?\ |
| 1271 | '''Josh''': Did I say that out loud? |
| 1272 | ** Another example: |
| 1273 | --->'''CJ''': I can hang in there with the best of them, sir, but somewhere in the discussion of anise and coriander and the other 15 spices you like to use to baste a turkey, I just lost consciousness. |
| 1274 | * This exchange between Donna and Josh after he gets back from a trip to Finland. Note that this takes place when they are both seeing other people. |
| 1275 | -->'''Josh''': Good morning!\ |
| 1276 | '''Donna''': My man!\ |
| 1277 | '''Josh''': Yes.\ |
| 1278 | '''Donna''': You came back to me.\ |
| 1279 | '''Josh''': Just like I promised.\ |
| 1280 | '''Donna''': I missed you.\ |
| 1281 | '''Josh''': When did you find you missed me the most?\ |
| 1282 | '''Donna''': The nights.\ |
| 1283 | '''Josh''': Of course. |
| 1284 | * Josh's delight at being rid of his annoying intern Pierce. |
| 1285 | -->'''Pierce''': I was hoping you'd give a toast at my going away party.\ |
| 1286 | '''Josh''': How about a plaque for best impersonation of a blue blazer?\ |
| 1287 | '''Pierce''': So you're coming to the party?\ |
| 1288 | '''Josh''': I'm having my own celebration with five cloves of garlic and the cast of "the Exorcist". |
| 1289 | * CJ on the Bartlet administration: |
| 1290 | -->'''CJ''': Nobody turns us down. We're like the Mob, only less violent. Ultimately responsible for more death and destruction. |
| 1291 | * The White House staff find their own ways of amusing themselves during otherwise boring social gatherings. |
| 1292 | -->'''CJ''': Here, it will take your mind off of things.\ |
| 1293 | '''Josh''': Dignitary bingo?\ |
| 1294 | '''CJ''': I've already got four across. Find the Mexican president and you're home. |
| 1295 | * CJ in the briefing room brings a lot of funny stuff along the way. Even in otherwise serious storylines. |
| 1296 | -->'''CJ''': We're confirming now that a suspect has been taken into custody and is being questioned by federal law enforcement. At this time we cannot, we ''are not'' releasing any information whatsoever about the suspect.\ |
| 1297 | '''Steve''': CJ can you tell us anything? His name? Where he's from? Ethnicity? If you guys suspect a motive?\ |
| 1298 | '''CJ''': Yes, Steve, I can tell you all those things, because when I said we weren't releasing any information whatsoever I meant except his name, his address, his ethnicity and what we think his motive was. |
| 1299 | * This exchange: |
| 1300 | -->'''Bartlet''': Charlie! Would you pull the first lady out of whatever it is she's doing?\ |
| 1301 | '''Charlie''': She's with the women's caucus.\ |
| 1302 | '''Bartlet''': Well put on a helmet and pads and get in there. |
| 1303 | * During [=S6E04=] ''Liftoff'', CJ's first day as Chief of Staff, the very first walk and talk has Martin Sheen doing his famous coat donning... right into Allison Janney's face who's directly behind him. Much to her credit, she doesn't miss a beat and goes right on with the scene, and it plays right along with the theme of the episode, with CJ being hit with an avalanche of new challenges. |
| 1304 | * Recently, there has been two "reunion" clips of most of the regular cast members: |
| 1305 | ** A clip for Funny Or Die where the cast [[http://youtu.be/PEdHhZcmEoM promote the health of walking]] for 30 minutes a day... by doing the WalkAndTalk. |
| 1306 | ** A [[http://youtu.be/v52FLMOPSig political ad]] for actress Creator/MaryMcCormack's sister Bridget running for Michigan's State Supreme Court in 2012. Promoting voter attention for non-partisan down-ballot votes AND making us all pine wistfully for a show cancelled six years prior... |
| 1307 | *** Oh, in case you were wondering. [[WhateverHappenedToTheMouse She won]]. |
| 1308 | * In '''Midterms''', after the President give an awesome verbal beatdown to a bigoted radio host Sam adds a little insult to injury by walking right up to her while she's still looks stunned, taking a crab puff off of her plate and eating it in front of her before walking away. |
| 1309 | * Matt and Helen Santos have just been blindsided by Josh Lyman: |
| 1310 | -->'''Matt''': Josh wants me to run for President.\ |
| 1311 | '''Helen''': ...of the ''United States?'' |
| 1312 | [[/folder]] |
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