This is the President

Yes, it's really happened. On January 20, 2017, Donald J. Trump will be sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. But rather than deal in doom and gloom, we here at This is the President have turned back the clock back once again to take a look at inaugurations past during a simpler time. In this case, January 19, 1973, the day before Richard M. Nixon was to be sworn in for his second term. In this call, we'll touch on subjects such as Tricky Dick's "interesting" connection to the Marriott hotel chain, the Nixonburger and that mysterious gap in the Watergate tapes that helped bring down the president. As always - we'll also have Harmon's Presidential Impression, Presidential Tweets and a way too in depth discussion of the 1990 Gerard Depardieu movie vehicle, "Green Card."

Happy 2017 Everyone! In keeping with the New Year theme, we dug up this call from President Lyndon Johnson to Lone Star Beer magnate Harry Jersig on January 1, 1964 to get your year started off right. But don't think that's all we've got for you - oh no! In addition to such popular segments as the "Whether or not Weather Report" and "Harmon's Presidential Impressions" we're introducing what we think is going to be our killer new feature - Presidential Tweets! That's right, in each episode Harmon and I read out and analyse our favorite tweet from the soon-to-be 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump!

Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas everyone! We hope you enjoy our first ever Christmas special. In this episode, we feature not one but TWO phone calls from everyone's favorite disgraced president, Richard M. Nixon! But that's not all - one of the phone calls in today's episode features not one but TWO presidents! That's right - ONE phone call, TWO presidents - who will emerge victorious? This episode also marks Harmon Leon's first show as an official co-host. He really kicks it off in style as he returns to bring us his best presidential impressions in his very own segment. We also touch upon fake news, the upcoming electoral college vote and presidential golf scores.

In today's episode we pit two of our Presidents who both originally got their start on the small screen before making their way to the White House. In one corner, we have the "Great Communicator", Mr. Ronald Reagan, while in the other we have "Grab 'em by the p***y" President elect Donald Trump. Robocalls, for those of you not in the know, are those annoying automatic phone calls you get around election time. For this episode, my guest host Mr. Harmon Leon and I dug up one of the first robocalls from Ronald Reagan and compare that to one of the robocalls used by the White Nationalists who were supporting Trump's election. In between, we discuss the position of the 1980s seminal alternative band The Smiths and their position on Brexit and Harmon amazes with another one of his presidential impressions. You can also subscribe to the podcast over at iTunes and now over at Google Play as well!

We're putting this episode up in honor of World AIDS Day, December 1. So, hopefully you'll see it up on the internets that day. Wanted to keep this one short and sweet, because there's not really much to laugh at here. What we've done is taken the three press conferences that we featured in our documentary, When AIDS Was Funny, for Vanity Fair and simply strung them all together for your listening pleasure (or displeasure). The press conferences in the episode start on October 15, 1982 - which was the first time that AIDS was mentioned during a press conferences, to June 13, 1983 and finally end up on December 11, 1984. What's interesting is that, in the first press conference, you can hear the Deputy Press Secretary, Larry Speakes, saying to himself (or an aide) "A I D S? I don't have anything on that" to the last press conference when he's more or less prepared on the subject. The reporter doing the questioning is Lester Kinsolving (that's him up there with The Gipper). Lester wasn't the biggest fan of "alternative livestyles" so he does have his own agenda by asking these questions. Be that as it may, the guy did have a pretty impressive track record before this, including marching with MLK in Selma and being the first reporter to cover Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple.

Did you know that President Reagan had a brother? Neither did I. But he did and in this episode of This is the President, we get to hear the two siblings talk about the legendary O'Malley brothers and the weather in Dixon, Illinois. Did we mention the fact that these aren't all winners? Joining me on this episode is our guest Harmon Leon, who, in addition to his presidential phone call commentary, provides us with post election updates from the home of Donald J. Trump, New York City. But don't let the phone call subject matter scare you off - in this episode you'll get the inside scoop of Ronald Reagan's connection to John Cusack, hear Harmon's legendary Ronald Reagan impression and get in on the ground floor of SNL alum Joe Piscopo's Republican candidacy.

This is Part 2 of our The Original October Surprise podcast. The revelation of the "grab 'em by the p***y" tape from presidential candidate Donald Trump might have stymied his chances for election when it was leaked this month, but it's not the first time a candidate has been blindsided by what's become known as the October Surprise. The history of the October Surprise goes all the way back to 1964 - the same year that the Beatles landed on the U.S. shores - when one of President Johnson's closest aides was caught getting "friendly" with another man in the basement of a Y.M.C.A bathroom in Washington, D.C. Luckily for history, the ensuing telephone calls among the White House staff were all caught on tape and preserved for history - and this podcast. I originally did this as a video for Vanity Fair, but thought there was some good stuff that got left out, so I've packed it into a podcast with a couple of extra tidbits.

The revelation of the "grab 'em by the p***y" tape from presidential candidate Donald Trump might have stymied his chances for election when the tape was leaked this month, but it's not the first time this has happened to a candidate. The history of the October Surprise goes all the way back to 1964 - the same year that the Beatles landed on the U.S. shores - when one of President Johnson's closest aides was caught getting "friendly" with another man in the basement of a Y.M.C.A bathroom in Washington, D.C. Luckily for history, the ensuing telephone calls among the White House staff were all caught on tape and preserved for history - and this podcast.

On September 22, 1965, President Johnson picked up the White House phone to make a call to President Khan of Pakistan. His goal was to help ease any tensions between India and Pakistan that had resulted in the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965. The only problem was that, even in the 1960s, the White House had no direct line to Pakistan and had to rely on standard overseas telephone companies for connecting the parties. In this phone call, we hear President Johnson wrestling to be understood by the overseas operator and bewildered by the communications snafus. For trivia fans, this phone call is also where we get the title of the podcast. It's an interesting little peek into the day to day problems of being the President and trying to place an overseas phone call circa 1965. In this episode, I'm again joined by Harmon Leon, a comedian here in town for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival performing, appropriately enough "Harmon Leon's Big Fat Racist Show."

On August 18, 1967, President Johnson placed a phone call to Baltimore Mayor Theodore McKeldin asking him to come and help out in the Federal government in Washington. During the call, he also asked the Mayor to help him find a "young, able, negro" to take a place in the government as well. This short phone call highlights some of the country's thoughts about race at the time and also shows firsthand, the "Johnson Technique" that LBJ would use to grind down his opponents. For the first time, I'm joined by special guest Harmon Leon, a comedian here in town for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival performing, appropriately enough "Harmon Leon's Big Fat Racist Show."