‘West Wing’ Fans Can Now Listen To The Entire ATX Reunion On “The West Wing Weekly” Podcast

Over the weekend, we gave you a full report of the best moments from the big The West Wing reunion at the 2016 ATX Festival. Of course, reading about an event isn’t the same as being there. Legions of West Wing fans couldn’t make it to the panel, but that doesn’t mean they have to be left in the dark about what was shared. Thanks to Joshua Malina and Hrishi Hirway‘s new podcast, “The West Wing Weekly,” fans can listen to the entire discussion in its entirety for free today. All you have to do is click here.

I got a chance to sit down with Malina and Hirway after the event. In addition to sharing gossip about director Thomas Schlamme’s little quibble with the podcast, the duo also broke down how they felt about the event as fans of the show.

Malina — who was also one of the event’s special guests — said, “I felt on the panel like I was a fan of the show, more than I was a participant because that was the emphasis. It makes sense. When you’ve got the big dogs, when Aaron’s there, you’re not going to focus on [seasons] five, six, seven, which I think is entirely appropriate.”

He added, “I do feel, as a fan of the show, very thankful that I was invited onto a speeding train of a hit show and I don’t have — it doesn’t upset me, it’s just the reality — I don’t have the stake the others do in creating what The West Wing was.”

“I mean, for me, the Sorkin years are the years. It’s the canon,” said Hirway. “So I didn’t expect they would go into much beyond. I know they went over, but I could have sat for hours…getting to hear those stories is amazing to me as a fan.”

When I told them that I was impressed by how the emphasis of the event seemed to be on teamwork, as opposed to individual accomplishment, Malina laughed and said that was “generous” of me. Malina said, “I experienced it more as all of us just loving ourselves as a group, but in a very safe place. Although, you’re right. People were kind of passing the ball around and kind of patting each other on the back. In a sense, what it boils down to is…’Aren’t we great?’ And there are very few circumstances where you can do that if you are a person who has any sense of how you come across. This was a safe space to do that.”

Safe space or not, the group onstage often ganged up on Malina — to hilarious effect. “I took a lot of body blows. It was a bit of a dog pile on me.” said Malina. “That said, I had it coming to me. I’ve been mean to them for many years. So I think there was a sort of tacit agreement to just dog pile on me.”

Malina later added, “My favorite part of the panel was seeing Aaron. I like what he had to say in terms of seeing the audience because he’s really a guy who spends most of his time working alone in a room and I can only imagine how horrible and difficult it must be. So, I like the way he said it, but even more so, as a friend of his, he got his moment in the sun in front of 800 people. And it was a nice chance for all of us to pat him on the back and give him the credit that he deserves.”

Some critics have suggested in the past that The West Wing was too idealistic, but it seems to be that precise earnestness that makes it such a potent piece of art for today’s political landscape.

“I do think there’s a zeitgeist moment that’s perfect for The West Wing because people are just fed up with the current discourse, the tone of it. I think that it feeds into a sense of idealism that people have. Whatever cynicism people might have for politics, I think there is at least some kind of hope that people cling to that there are good, talented, smart, well-intentioned people at the helm,” Hirway offered.

Malina joked: “Heaven forfend, but if Trump were actually elected President, I think that Netflix West Wing views would go through the roof — just to get through the day.”

[Listen to the “West Wing Reunion (Live From ATX)” on “The West Wing Weekly”]

[Watch The West Wing on Netflix]

[Photos courtesy ATX Festival]