New Be

Wow Post Hoc, you rocked it.

Missy Fitz et moi. Love this wonderful human.

Although it was the second episode, it was a riot of firsts. Everywhere you looked, they came at you. The first time anyone heard the phrase, “Donna, bring me all the muffins and bagels in the land!” It seems to be the most beloved phrase ever uttered from Donna's mouth. People literally stop me on the street and ask me to say it into their cell phones. It was the first time Bartlet did that tricky thing with his coat and the first time Brad pounded on his chest like a gorilla. I remember him lowering himself to the floor between takes– dragging his knuckles, crouching, and hooting. This was a thing he would do now and again. The crew, the actors–we stood shaking our heads, mortified for him but happy all the same.

It was the first time we saw– and I met–my friend Merrin Dungey, the brilliant actress who played Mandy’s assistant. Both she and Moira Kelly would leave the show in time, but my friendship with Merrin remained. She lived near my apartment, and we spent the day of 9/11 together, hunched over cups of coffee watching the news–our connection cemented forever. It was the first peek we got of Melissa Fitgerald, who played Carol, CJ’s eventual assistant and the godmother of my fifteen-year-old son, Julian. She’s my ride-or-die friend.

The assistants all slayed me: The inimitable NiCole Robinson who played Leo’s assistant; Suzy Nakamura, a major talent. All of these women could have done what I did, but I got lucky. This second show of the series, I got a bump–a little more trust from Aaron. It was the first time you saw Donna following Josh around, on his heels, doing that funny tiptoe shuffle–wanting to overtake him while trying to keep up. I think it was the pencil skirt and heels.

At the table reading in the Roosevelt Room, all of these women and other support players, along with department heads and writing staff, sat along the perimeter in folding chairs. I pulled up to the big oak table with the lead cast and producers and sat my ass down next to Allison Janney. It didn't occur to me to sit anywhere else.

I remember Tommy Schlamme, who also directed this second episode, didn't quite like how I put my coat on the rack. He would walk over hurriedly and look at me with mild pity. I was nervous and kept hanging my coat with unfortunate timing, burying my joke. He was reluctantly patient because he knew making an actor self-conscious only doubled the time they would take to nail it.

After watching the show– all of these beginnings–I’m inspired now to cultivate new experiences. To keep my mind sharp, my soul looking forward, excited like I was back then. Nothing will replace those moments of discovery, the flush of novelty bursting around every bullpen corner, but I'm gonna give it a shot. I recently told my teenage boys that I’m considering taking a hip-hop dance class, and they looked at each other, then back at me, with a mix of deep concern and horror. But I may do it anyway– screw those kids. And if you see me, please be nice. Because most likely, I’ll be out of rhythm and flailing– but only because it’s my very first time.