This is Gavin Newsom - And, This Is What Democrats Can Learn From Michigan With Governor Gretchen Whitmer

00:00:00.240 Oh my God, it's about affordability, and I'm like, no shit.

00:00:04.140 What do you think Fix the Damn Rose was about?

00:00:06.580 Every election's about affordability.

00:00:08.480 Primaries are not fun, but you gotta come together afterward.

00:00:12.740 I see you already.

00:00:13.940 So how early into next year do you declare your candidacy to president?

00:00:18.260 This is Gavin Newsom.

00:00:20.940 And this is Gretchen Whitmer.

00:00:24.960 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:27.840 Guaranteed human.

00:00:28.680 The new Red Bull Dragonberry and Tropicberry Energizers, now at McDonald's.

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00:00:50.060 I'm Hoda Kotb, host of the podcast Joy 101 with Hoda Kotb.

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00:02:37.460 I went to school here at State.

00:02:39.220 My first elective office was president of my sorority, and it was the one right across the field behind us.

00:02:44.180 I was known to, you know, spend some time here.

00:02:47.500 governor whitmer at crunchies this is not your first time here is it i know i filmed uh re-election

00:02:53.820 commercials in this bar what'd you do yeah i was sitting at the bar doing shots or something what

00:02:59.160 kind of election beer was it just beer yeah so you got like election that's the key right just

00:03:05.080 like everyday person i mean who do you want to have a beer with the lady on television having a

00:03:10.300 beer well so that honestly was that one of your first commercials for governor it was it was in

00:03:14.860 the re-elect. In the first one, I was a little more, you know, conservative. I just said things

00:03:18.740 like fix the damn roads. Yeah. Fix the damn roads. By the way, how'd you come up with that slogan?

00:03:23.700 I didn't. I just listened to people. You know, my favorite thing is to get around the state and ask

00:03:28.700 people if I'm lucky enough to get elected, what can I do that'll make your life better? Yeah.

00:03:33.020 And then I shut up and I listened and people said all over the place, fix the damn roads.

00:03:39.100 And it really was like this conversation with this woman at the Detroit Children's Hospital,

00:03:43.740 you know she's got a son in the hospital three other kids at home she's paying for child care

00:03:49.260 for them she's driving in from flint down to detroit so not a short drive and she um i was

00:03:54.940 in the hospital with her and i said you know if i'm lucky enough to get elected what can i do

00:03:58.840 and she looked at me and she goes fix the damn roads and i was shocked not that i hadn't heard

00:04:03.040 that a million times but i thought she was going to say health care yeah right child care education

00:04:09.420 something you know and i said all right give me a little more perspective like why is this top of

00:04:15.560 mind for you and she hit a pothole on the way to visit her child in the hospital and it sidelined

00:04:21.080 her for a whole day if she didn't have a second car she could just jump and she had to get her

00:04:25.100 car fixed it was a thousand bucks that's money out of rent and child care and so that was like

00:04:30.020 the moment for me that when the fundamentals are broken the people on the margins feel it the worst

00:04:35.580 right yeah if you're water like at this point when i was running you know flint you couldn't

00:04:39.940 drink the water and i forgot that was around people with means can go out and buy go buy

00:04:46.240 bottled water but if you don't you're you're trapped if the education system isn't working

00:04:52.500 for your family some people just hire a tutor and don't think anything of it yeah most people

00:04:57.140 can't do that so it's like fix the damn roads when people said that to me it's like you know

00:05:02.340 this is she just started testing it out i mean you just so you're like you you started to tell

00:05:07.380 the story a little bit and then people are like and just respond all of a sudden you're like this

00:05:11.660 is now my new stump speech well yeah you like you you know when you're talking to people you start

00:05:16.040 to mirror and it keeps you like zeroed in on what's important 100 i had would have people

00:05:21.060 cross the street and you're like you're the one that wants to fix the roads you know i'm like this

00:05:25.020 is a thing we had a bus it was written on the side of the bus but it was really funny because

00:05:29.560 There's this event that I did, and this little old lady, sweet little old lady,

00:05:32.620 she's like, I love you.

00:05:34.140 You're the one who's out there.

00:05:35.280 You say, I'm going to fix the God to your most.

00:05:37.460 I'm like, no, no, no, no, no.

00:05:38.660 I don't say God.

00:05:40.640 I love it.

00:05:41.500 I do have a limit.

00:05:42.340 I do have a limit.

00:05:43.300 You do have a limit.

00:05:44.260 So, I mean, but that literally, I mean, it's, if I think about,

00:05:47.840 people think about Gretchen, it is so iconically identified with you.

00:05:52.120 But it wasn't about me.

00:05:53.560 I didn't come up with it.

00:05:54.460 We didn't poll test it.

00:05:55.160 But that's why it works, because you listened.

00:05:57.120 It's like Ed Koch used to do that.

00:05:58.720 Yeah, give me feedback.

00:05:59.840 Yeah.

00:06:00.280 Yeah.

00:06:00.660 I mean, you've got to have stories like that, right?

00:06:02.660 Like from the trail where someone says something and it just hits you like, damn, that's what I got to.

00:06:08.000 But what were wrong with your damn roads?

00:06:09.580 Were they that bad?

00:06:11.400 Was the last governor not doing?

00:06:13.560 Decades.

00:06:14.220 Decades of underfunding.

00:06:15.500 So what did you fix?

00:06:16.240 I mean, I love all the numerics you put out, whatever, thousands and thousands of months.

00:06:20.980 What did you do?

00:06:21.440 You would do a bond or just a lot of general fund?

00:06:23.340 I had to do a bond.

00:06:24.240 So I came out with a gas tax, which, as you can imagine, was very unpopular.

00:06:28.440 Well done.

00:06:28.960 Everyone loves a gas tax.

00:06:30.100 But like I said, I was going to do it, so I did.

00:06:31.520 And, of course, I couldn't even get the Democrats in the legislature to introduce it for me.

00:06:35.840 Fun times.

00:06:36.920 So then I did a bond because I couldn't get the legislature to vote.

00:06:38.940 So you never moved forward.

00:06:40.480 And then I got a legislature that was Republican on one side and Democratic on the other.

00:06:46.720 Yeah.

00:06:47.260 And that's when the magic happened.

00:06:48.680 We passed marijuana taxes, and we took all the money that was raised at the pump and put it into roads as opposed to parsing it out amongst the budget.

00:06:58.620 got it and that's how we built finally the solution or you know a big part of the solution

00:07:04.140 to fixing the dam and then so you're real like we became more about now people are pissed that

00:07:07.840 there's so much road construction i say i'm sorry and you're welcome do you put your name do you put

00:07:15.360 your name on all the signs are you one of those governors god tell the truth i don't never you

00:07:19.320 never did that i don't i don't your staff came in with a big sign one day and you're like maybe i

00:07:24.900 don't sign the you know tax you don't do your own you don't do that state treasurer doesn't no i do

00:07:30.660 things a little more traditional secretary of states tend to have that right like that run

00:07:34.760 it doesn't jocelyn oh yeah her name's on all sorts of like the dmb everything yeah that's

00:07:39.660 because now she cut down the weight so that's a good thing no she was like that's her version

00:07:44.140 of fix the damn roads right she fixed the dmb four letter word dmb yeah it's legit so you then

00:07:49.960 started drinking heavily for the first term and then alcohol became the new slogan for the real

00:07:55.160 Of course.

00:07:55.700 I just want to go back to where we began.

00:07:57.460 I think we all were with COVID.

00:07:59.460 By the way, we're one of the few remaining, right?

00:08:02.340 Yeah.

00:08:02.620 There's only a handful of us.

00:08:03.740 Yep, yep.

00:08:04.600 Those OGs of the COVID era.

00:08:05.880 We came in together, man, and we walked through the fire.

00:08:09.400 It forged us.

00:08:11.000 Do you think back about COVID much anymore?

00:08:15.000 I mean, I do.

00:08:16.580 I'm reflecting on the last seven and a half years.

00:08:19.660 We've got a handful of months left.

00:08:21.580 I know.

00:08:22.200 It's weird, right?

00:08:22.860 it's gone it's gone by fast like there were days where it felt like months

00:08:26.420 you know the day was a month yes but um yeah you know i'm thinking about all of that i'm thinking

00:08:31.920 you know i'm grateful for a lot of the good stuff we got done i'm i'm stronger and tougher and

00:08:37.980 thicker skin because all the all the stuff we couldn't control i had to deal with but honestly

00:08:42.780 i mean do people bring up people it's amazing to me how people don't want to talk about covid

00:08:47.900 right they literally just right just no one even the critics like the loudest critics like move on

00:08:54.000 something else yeah do you feel i mean do you get that oh yeah well it's i have this it's like a it

00:08:59.540 warped my sense of time do you know what i mean it feels like a decade ago i know you know in a way

00:09:06.300 and it feels like yesterday at the same time it's like it's the strangest phenomena i think we all

00:09:10.820 kind of want to put that in the in the rearview what'd you make of fauci and all that did it bring

00:09:16.060 back some of those memories yeah but and and i feel bad for him you know i mean god yeah people

00:09:24.000 were trying to do the right thing with the information that we had whether you were dr

00:09:27.760 fauci or or his boss president trump yeah right yeah who you i mean you worked reasonably

00:09:34.940 collaboratively with him during covet right no no at all i mean he was taking shots he was not a fan

00:09:40.320 that woman from michigan we called you woman that's the least of the critiques well the plot

00:09:46.580 it was a little inspired but but he didn't i mean in no way were you able to back channel with him

00:09:51.080 during no not not my first term like it was very contentious and that's why going to the second

00:09:56.260 term i didn't know what to expect to be honest i i watched i you know i stumped for come why you

00:10:02.500 worked so hard we all worked really hard for the ticket yeah and um i woke up the next day thinking

00:10:08.900 my state voted for donald trump again yeah and i gotta figure out how to conduct myself here

00:10:14.500 you know after i tuned out for about a month yeah i had to turn off all the social media oh my gosh

00:10:20.460 right i watched eight episodes of dexter or eight seasons of dexter you like to cheer myself up

00:10:26.660 and uh and then i came out of it i thought you know i took an oath to the people of michigan

00:10:34.080 i got two years left and i'm i got it i got work to do so open hand wrote him a note after his

00:10:39.860 inauguration watch his inauguration you you wrote him a note wow did he respond to it he did he

00:10:44.960 called me i put my number in it and i said wow because in his in his inaugural speech he said

00:10:49.320 something about auto workers and i thought all right there's my opening congratulations you won

00:10:55.580 the election i notice you talk about auto workers if that's if that's something you want to work on

00:11:01.480 you know i'd love to work with you if you want to help the industry here's my number and he called

00:11:06.540 me good conversation he called me a number of times since then you know and you visited the

00:11:11.560 white house a few times i did well we've had i mean every state has had natural disasters

00:11:16.280 i spent 90 minutes with him in the oval right after yeah right so many of i mean it's that's

00:11:21.340 the job it's the damn job and take the heat right you get it i worked hard to make sure he wasn't

00:11:26.820 the oval office but he was and for michigan i gotta try to show up and it's and those are good

00:11:34.160 meetings right you know i've gotten some really good stuff done honestly i mean he delivered for

00:11:39.220 you guys fighter mission right at selfridge air national guard base and i tried to get that done

00:11:44.220 under the bite administration and then get over the finish line yeah but i got it done with him

00:11:48.300 so that's a huge deal to michigan yeah so even though i don't like it i know how to work with

00:11:53.680 people i'm not you know best friends with i get it to put it lightly i get it so you're now like

00:11:59.700 me we've got a sell-by date yep uh you said you're you're gonna a version of running 110 yard dash

00:12:06.820 through jan what noon january 1st yep what was your exact quote what'd you say you had a you

00:12:12.740 specifically said you're gonna you're not gonna sleep it was one of those you know i don't know

00:12:17.300 you don't even remember but it was it was it was so memorable i forgot i don't know you were

00:12:23.060 basically running through the tape i mean do you feel that way or are you slowing down right oh no

00:12:26.420 i feel that way are you just saying that because you're a politician no it was funny because you

00:12:29.880 were like legitimately working as hard as you've ever worked one of the candidates for governor

00:12:35.320 yes didn't come out of the primary didn't make it to the primary said you know i bet you're

00:12:39.660 you're starting to slow down aren't you i'm like do you know what this job is like no there's no

00:12:45.600 slowing down you know i had you know we've had so many different challenges so many opportunities

00:12:52.000 I just got the budget done like a month ago.

00:12:54.240 There's always something going on.

00:12:55.160 Yeah, you just finished the budget.

00:12:55.800 We got a full-time legislature.

00:12:57.220 I think you guys do too, right?

00:12:58.380 Oh, do we ever, yeah.

00:12:59.440 It never stops.

00:13:00.220 It never stops.

00:13:01.040 And are you enjoying it?

00:13:02.620 I am.

00:13:03.520 And are you enjoying it almost too much that you're like, oh gosh, now I'm really enjoying it.

00:13:07.820 No.

00:13:08.120 And I'm leaving?

00:13:08.720 No.

00:13:10.440 I'm savoring the things I love about the job.

00:13:13.160 And I'm blessing and releasing the things that I'm doing for the last time.

00:13:17.840 And what is it about the thing?

00:13:20.020 What are the things that you're just blessed to be able to let them go?

00:13:23.980 Is it the thing that's every year and has been every year and it's just cliche and it's

00:13:29.600 just everyone's going through the motions?

00:13:32.420 I don't know about you, but I've never loved giving the state of the state.

00:13:35.840 Like the pomp and circumstance and long speech.

00:13:39.480 I don't like long speeches.

00:13:40.640 I don't like listening to long speeches.

00:13:42.280 I don't like giving long speeches.

00:13:44.020 That stuff, you know, the pomp and I like doing the work.

00:13:46.940 i like the people so exactly the same way yeah yeah some people live for all that other stuff

00:13:52.600 they love all the ceremony how long are your states of the state well so usually like for

00:13:58.020 a typical governor in michigan it's a it's an hour yeah my first one i think was 35 minutes

00:14:03.520 i bet you got a standing ovation i'm like come on you guys are killing me and how about this last

00:14:09.240 one um i think it was a little bit longer because i wanted to thank everybody my cabinet everyone

00:14:14.780 who's who's been and what do you think of your last state of the state you proud of it was it a

00:14:19.720 legacy state of the state i was it like wrapping a bow unfinished work what was it it was how do

00:14:28.020 you describe it how'd you feel i think it was just an honest assessment of what we got done and what

00:14:32.980 more we have to do i was trying to figure out so our house is republican controlled our senate is

00:14:37.680 democratic controlled so i focus on literacy and housing and medical debt because i thought maybe

00:14:44.560 those are three things that this people could do in an election year you know not a whole lot gets

00:14:51.420 done in election years yeah the budget how'd you feel about your budget that's good all things

00:14:56.880 considered you know you get everything you needed everything you wanted well tariffs have really

00:15:00.640 hurt michigan and so our budget was tougher this year like a lot of us and then with the all the

00:15:07.620 medicaid cuts out of dc and then what's on the horizon in terms of medicaid cuts from

00:15:12.320 the big happy bill or whatever the hell beautiful bill they call it big beautiful betrayal yeah i

00:15:17.980 mean so so it is a tough budget we got i think we got a lot of good stuff in it but it was a

00:15:24.320 protect budget more than like an aggressive let's go out and do these new big things and i think

00:15:29.160 year eight is not the time to do big new things amen what uh what are you what are you going to

00:15:34.400 miss most about the job you think the people the people the people that you just engage with as

00:15:39.660 governor yeah and my team i've got a phenomenal team um you know but i think it's it's that

00:15:46.940 that high intensity work every day like my biggest worry is like not having enough to do

00:15:52.480 i love i thrive in the you know the pace and the seven days and the diversity of issues yeah right

00:16:00.460 yeah it's fun and the things you in a million you just like out of nowhere yeah you're challenged

00:16:05.740 with that came literally just zigzag right they're shooting down a chinese spy balloon over lake huron

00:16:11.260 right oh okay let's get down to the emergency operation center and figure out what the hell's

00:16:17.600 going on yeah what uh what are you most proud of you talked about like you you you talk about

00:16:23.180 literacy a lot and you're obviously the budget state of the state is that i mean do you really

00:16:27.620 feel that's sort of a signature we for you besides the roads the roads we feed kids breakfast and

00:16:34.220 lunch every day in our schools 1.4 million kids get two meals a day five days a week because of

00:16:39.140 that work michigan now if you're lgbtq you've got full civil rights protections in your home and in

00:16:46.340 your workplace which you didn't have before we now have enshrined women's reproductive rights

00:16:51.380 under the constitution and we've made a lot of policy changes to embrace that and and make it

00:16:57.020 stronger i mean if you look at what michigan was eight years ago and what it is today you know that

00:17:03.220 this whole progressive establishment conversation is funny to me because you know i've been referred

00:17:08.760 to as establishment i'm like look at how much we've done like i was always the insurgent

00:17:13.200 progressive and now you know the ripe old age of double nickels yeah but it's fine i debate's good

00:17:19.860 i don't begrudge anyone that i just think what what you see in michigan today versus what we were

00:17:25.500 eight years ago right it's drastically different and i'm really proud of that what do you what

00:17:30.540 What do you, if you look back, you struggled with most to get done and you fell a little

00:17:37.040 short, something you really want to get done, but you got this mixed legislature or, or

00:17:42.380 you had Dems that just didn't move.

00:17:44.020 I mean, you mentioned trying to get originally a gas tax to help with the roads to begin

00:17:48.180 with, and that was blocked.

00:17:49.600 What, what other issues?

00:17:50.780 I would like to have done more when it comes to campaign finance reform, you know, transparency,

00:17:55.880 I think, you know, but it's it's hard at the state level to remedy all the problems that have been created by the U.S. Supreme Court.

00:18:04.160 So that's ultimately got to be, you know, a federal solution there.

00:18:09.820 But I do think that there's even in Michigan law, there are probably a lot of things that we could have fixed and cleaned up.

00:18:15.480 Interesting. What what other things you would I mean, is it housing issues or.

00:18:22.100 We've done a lot in housing.

00:18:23.440 i think we've actually um i'm proud of that work but there's always more to do there's always more

00:18:29.620 you know i think that's part of the the thing you know governing in these times is like even when

00:18:35.380 you get good wins on the board the size of so many of the problems that we're confronted with are

00:18:41.420 they dwarf some of the solutions sometimes so it's it's hard to say this like we didn't fix

00:18:47.700 every road in michigan although if you're a driver and you're bitching about me under your breath as

00:18:52.140 you see all the orange barrels you might think we are there's so there's always going to be more

00:18:56.820 work to do so no real regrets i mean you haven't oh i mean there's regret but nothing that nothing

00:19:03.140 that sort of captures the there's no glaring thing that that you know stands out um well how

00:19:12.820 would you answer that question i i i mean it's interesting i get it a lot i'm starting to get

00:19:17.100 it right we're both starting to get these yeah we're not forgive me i'm doing to you what i hate

00:19:21.220 other people do it to me so tell me how you're feeling now that you're a lame duck with us

00:19:26.400 what are you looking at i haven't even asked your 2028 question governor all right well we'll get

00:19:32.560 to that how would you answer the question just ask me no governor let's go back i know you know

00:19:36.840 it's the thing that because i i there's dozens of little things but moreover you know what i

00:19:42.160 concluded the other day i was more reflective because i was frustrated with my own answer

00:19:45.820 after you know some podcast or something and i was i thought about and it's an obnoxious thing

00:19:50.960 to say but i really it it left an impression as i was reflecting on it the this notion of

00:19:56.120 accommodation how often i settled for the deal just to get get this thing done the compromise

00:20:04.040 that went a little maybe you know i should have pushed harder or i accommodated with the cities

00:20:10.420 the counties a little too much or, you know, we gave up too much of this or we didn't we didn't

00:20:15.900 take, you know. And so I think about this notion of accommodation in relationship to how people

00:20:19.840 are so frustrated with government not delivering. Yeah. And the sort of the smash mouth. That is

00:20:24.500 the one thing I think they connect with Trump. Those executive orders, shock and awe. They felt

00:20:28.820 like, all right, finally, someone's doing something fair or unfair. I think ridiculously unfair to you

00:20:34.700 and others that are that are working so hard but there's a sense of you know that that we're just

00:20:40.440 it's we're slow yeah it's you know these i remember during the um presidential debates

00:20:48.860 before biden beat trump right and there were what 17 people that were running as a democrat for

00:20:56.220 yeah right and we hosted one of the first debates in detroit but it was two nights because there

00:21:01.580 are so many people that you know they had to break it up like seven one nine the other night or

00:21:06.220 whatever and um that math doesn't really add up but eight nine whatever whatever it was i get it

00:21:13.060 no um and so did you say six seven i did really wow six seven we're in trouble we're gonna get

00:21:20.700 destroyed i know my my kids are gonna roast me oh my god um but you know so i remember watching

00:21:27.600 those debates and there were three governors on the stage right so Bullock Inslee and Hickenlooper

00:21:33.260 that's right and they were all like not cutting through right everyone else was outdoing one

00:21:40.560 another whatever the issue was right they were outflanking one another which is what happens in

00:21:45.200 in primaries right of course um but I remember looking at the governors and it's as governors

00:21:49.660 we got to get shit done you know we had to deliver at the end of the day we have to compromise and

00:21:54.640 it's yeah i was a member of the legislative body i love to take positions on issues all day i love

00:22:00.800 to out left my buddies the virtue signals you know that's fun but at the end of the day when you're

00:22:07.320 the chief executive you can't do that you've got to get a budget done you've got to get things so

00:22:12.660 what do you make of people's frustration by that they don't they don't accept that i mean isn't

00:22:16.840 that is that is that the dialogue is that what is that the bait we're having right now is it

00:22:21.400 more incumbency versus establishment or is it really left right from your perspective or left

00:22:27.440 center or whatever variant of that i think i don't know it's a good question i don't know what the

00:22:33.380 answer is i i tend to think that people want a fighter they always want a fighter right yeah

00:22:39.100 they always want someone who's going to go to the mat for you yeah but by the same token um fighting

00:22:46.200 just for the purpose of fighting doesn't make anyone's life better amen right so you got to

00:22:49.940 Fight and deliver.

00:22:51.220 Yeah.

00:22:51.740 I think you can do both.

00:22:52.620 I think a lot of our colleagues, you, me, a lot of our colleagues have been able to strike that balance.

00:23:01.640 But, you know, it's the knowledge of how to get things done and the ability to do it.

00:23:07.480 It's really an important part of the process.

00:23:09.480 Kind of, right?

00:23:10.320 It's the practical application of ideals.

00:23:13.020 You got to be in, as Bill Clinton would say, the how business.

00:23:15.620 Yep.

00:23:16.140 What and why is kind of easy.

00:23:17.540 Yep.

00:23:18.000 It's the how.

00:23:18.860 Right.

00:23:19.060 And also, and as a governor, I know you can appreciate this, program passing is not problem

00:23:24.920 solving. The minute we sign a piece of legislation, everyone then moves on in the legislature.

00:23:29.120 Meanwhile, we got to deliver. We got to implement. That's hard. I mean, and all the zigs and zags and

00:23:35.780 federal dollars that didn't materialize or state dollars that fell short or, you know,

00:23:40.400 caseloads that were twice as big and all kinds of issues with the cities and counties that didn't go

00:23:45.000 well yeah we just had a thing you know where there were a bunch of bills that were sent to me

00:23:50.460 well they should have been sent to me 18 months ago but the leadership in the house changed and

00:23:55.000 the house didn't send them to me and there's all these lawsuits that long you can't okay now the

00:24:00.080 supreme court has weighed in but here we are 18 months later wow and these bills had massive

00:24:04.280 ramifications for the budget they had old timelines in them that were written in the statute that

00:24:09.720 never it was just and you would have been locked into litigation forever yeah so i couldn't sign

00:24:14.740 them but it really made a lot of my my longtime allies mad they wanted those bills done and had

00:24:19.720 they been presented to me 18 months before we'd be having a different conversation but

00:24:23.500 um it's hard like the executive jobs are hard i'm telling you something no i know it's

00:24:30.400 groundbreaking gretchen especially when you veto something that gets 100 of the legislature or

00:24:35.140 something you got to explain that as well well or 100 of the people on your side of the aisle

00:24:39.640 Or worse. Yeah, that's harder. Where are you in the veto threshold? I mean, you must compare with previous governors, your veto percentage.

00:24:50.020 So my first term, it was a completely Republican legislature, all four years. During COVID, they sued me. They tried to take away my powers like it was ugly.

00:24:57.900 So I used some extraordinary powers of the governor's office. Many of them didn't know I possessed.

00:25:03.380 And I kind of reset the table, and we had a better working relationship after the first year, ironically, but especially after COVID.

00:25:11.260 It got so ugly here on the ground in Michigan, like it did everywhere.

00:25:15.600 I know you had it.

00:25:16.400 Really? Really?

00:25:17.420 Yeah.

00:25:17.800 Trust me.

00:25:20.360 Wait, did they try to kidnap you?

00:25:22.140 They didn't try to kidnap, but we had some crazy stuff.

00:25:24.920 I mean, all the death and the loss, but yeah, yours, that's...

00:25:28.480 It was hard everywhere.

00:25:30.740 It was hard everywhere.

00:25:31.380 Yeah, but that was next level stuff.

00:25:32.840 Yeah.

00:25:33.380 next thought especially your kids your family yeah uh and they're how is by the way how is how

00:25:38.740 are kids being raised by a governor that's not easy right how are they doing they're doing great

00:25:43.620 they're doing great and i mean they survived all this i mean meaning do you think they thrived or

00:25:48.580 they just survived i think their whole generation um struggles right like just they didn't have a

00:25:55.780 lot of the experiences that we had growing up no their whole existence is so different with

00:26:00.740 technology and then living through a pandemic during really important formative years you know

00:26:05.460 everyone was so pissed off that i pulled kids out of school yes i canceled prom i canceled

00:26:11.720 graduation guess what i canceled my own kids proms and graduation so i was hearing it inside my house

00:26:17.000 as well as out on the front lawn right i know but yeah we were doing what we thought was the right

00:26:22.680 thing to do at the time at the time we uh we just put out about a thousand page report reflecting

00:26:27.660 on covid oh we did right what we did wrong both through the health and human services lines but

00:26:32.140 also through the office of emergency service um and it was just an interesting exercise because

00:26:36.880 we hadn't you know we i mean to dive that deep and as i said quite literally i'm not exaggerating

00:26:41.600 thousand pages which makes it you know i mean thank god for ai you can at least run it through

00:26:46.300 that and get a summary uh but it's uh it was a hell of a thing to go back through all that yeah

00:26:52.000 and everyone's a genius in hindsight i mean genius in hindsight you know absolutely i mean

00:26:57.180 I just remember the Purell days. Remember, you couldn't even buy Purell. We were like, you know, every bulk purchase.

00:27:03.640 The last in-person rally of the presidential election in 2020 was in Detroit, Michigan with Joe Biden.

00:27:11.980 And we are hugging each other. But we're doing this instead of shaking hands.

00:27:16.400 But we're breathing all over each other. You know, we thought we were doing the right thing.

00:27:20.080 No one knew this was a respiratory virus.

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00:27:44.000 Hey, Portlandia fans.

00:27:45.560 Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here.

00:27:47.220 You know us, or rather, you know them.

00:27:49.300 Tony and Candice, Nina and Lance, Spike, and yes, the chicken.

00:27:53.640 We've played a lot of iconic characters over the years,

00:27:55.920 but today we're showing up as ourselves to tell you about Podlandia, AO Rewatch, our brand new podcast.

00:28:01.920 Each week, we'll revisit an episode of Portlandia from the very beginning,

00:28:05.780 breaking down the sketches, exploring the backstories of our most iconic characters,

00:28:10.120 revisiting the Portland locations you know and love, and opening up about our creative process.

00:28:15.220 How did any of this get made? Why do we think that was a good idea?

00:28:18.660 We're ready to talk about it.

00:28:20.360 And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life.

00:28:23.300 guest stars, collaborators, and friends,

00:28:25.360 including director Jonathan Kreisel,

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00:28:32.360 Kyle is going for it here.

00:28:34.180 You fully improvised, not just words, but a song, a melody.

00:28:37.920 Well, I thought he was going to write,

00:28:38.980 I thought you were all going to write a song.

00:28:40.180 I remember you thinking that.

00:28:42.580 Listen to Podlandia Ayo Rewatch

00:28:45.580 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

00:28:48.260 or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:28:53.300 important and Sean Clemens. We host the podcast Hollywood Handbook. Every episode we're trying to

00:28:58.160 help our guests improve their careers by mainly focusing on how they can help us improve our

00:29:02.280 careers. The show is famously super accessible so you can easily jump into any of our 650 episodes

00:29:07.460 and understand what's going on. We recommend some of our recent episodes with Ben Stiller.

00:29:11.520 The definition of what is a movie has kind of changed anyway too right? What do you think it

00:29:15.480 is now? It's images and words being spoken, captured by some sort of technology. Danny

00:29:22.900 mcbride he loves oh that's fantastic and you make it on you make your own that's great i call him

00:29:28.520 tarot reed that's a good name they're all named after cast members of american pie yeah i call

00:29:36.480 i don't i never looked up if she was in this but i call him lychee sobieski yeah i don't think she

00:29:42.500 was an american pie but i haven't looked it up haven't looked it up yeah she was prominent

00:29:46.360 around the same time yeah then mary steenburgen why are you guys talking to me like i'm worried

00:29:51.240 Why are you talking so down to me that you think I don't understand your little play game?

00:29:58.300 I just really am trying to set you up for success here.

00:30:01.880 Listen to Hollywood Handbook on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:30:08.040 On Solita, we share the messy stories of traveling alone as a woman.

00:30:12.920 Your Duolingo is not going to come back to you when a man is inside of you.

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00:30:35.120 Every time I tried to be alone, I kept meeting people and they were like, you smiled at us. Not a lot of people smile around here.

00:30:41.920 I can wait four hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle.

00:30:48.080 It's when you're alone that you're most receptive to the world as it is and not the lies you're sold about it.

00:30:54.160 So whether you're a solo travel veteran or you're too nervous to book your first trip, I hope you listen to Solita on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:31:07.480 You've been vetted twice for vice president, right?

00:31:11.300 Once.

00:31:12.080 Once?

00:31:12.560 Yeah, yeah.

00:31:13.400 You weren't the first time.

00:31:14.520 I was vetted for Biden.

00:31:17.040 For Biden, yeah.

00:31:18.720 And then when Harris became the nominee, they asked if I would be interested.

00:31:24.700 So that was the vetting.

00:31:25.720 Okay, so that's the second.

00:31:26.540 So I had gone through it.

00:31:28.400 What was it like going through the VP vetting?

00:31:31.420 Come on, that was pretty quick to get the call the first time.

00:31:35.000 You and I were only in our second year as governors.

00:31:38.660 Which is amazing, right?

00:31:39.480 We're in the middle of a pandemic.

00:31:40.820 Wow.

00:31:42.420 It was a lot.

00:31:43.720 But I thought it was so important that we win that election.

00:31:46.820 I went through the process but I you know when we got the call and it wasn't me

00:31:51.560 everyone in my household was really happy oh Jesus and there were many times where I saw the

00:31:57.920 vice president you know dealing with things I thought oh you had to be disappointed tell the

00:32:06.240 truth I really wasn't oh come on honestly seriously yeah really yeah yeah but I would

00:32:13.340 to turn my whole family's life upside down a big time in that moment because it was so important

00:32:18.860 that we went i thought yeah and and we did and i'm really grateful that we did it was good and

00:32:22.860 people forget i mean it wasn't just covid we were all going through all the george floyd everything

00:32:27.640 was happening out on the streets and then you got the supply chain shocks and inflation and war i

00:32:33.280 mean it was uh those were three years yeah that but they also it was it was it your experience

00:32:38.480 maybe similar to mine that it also forced functions to deliver faster using executive

00:32:47.220 order using emergency power there's sort of you know once a mind is stretched doesn't go back to

00:32:51.500 reserve form meeting you also accelerated a lot of things yeah and it shifted a different gear

00:32:57.140 oh there were lessons that absolutely inert our benefit going forward on a variety of fronts

00:33:02.980 there's no question you know um and i think about all the relationships that were forged during that

00:33:08.440 time that have been beneficial right i mean i work so closely with all of my you know fellow

00:33:14.080 midwestern governors yeah try to problem solve we built a global procurement operation essentially

00:33:20.480 overnight right we were all building planes while we were flying them yep california had a much

00:33:25.640 bigger purchasing power or any but you know michigan's the 10th largest state and we were able

00:33:30.980 to you know do a lot of things that yeah we didn't previously have those muscles we no but we were

00:33:37.700 all i mean the crazy thing it was just i mean doggy dog i mean it was we were as much as we

00:33:43.020 were collaborating we were competing we were pit against one right i mean masks and ventilators

00:33:48.180 and all that you were you were maybe on that call you know they did those governors oh yeah all of

00:33:53.900 them yeah um where he said you know i'm not a shipping clerk i'm not the country shipping

00:33:57.840 or something like that and that i think was the moment i was like holy we're on our own we're on

00:34:03.100 our own and we got to build a global procurement operation and then when we'd get something we

00:34:08.220 would find out that we were undercut by the federal government we were literally right i'm

00:34:12.120 told i got to go do this and now you're making it harder no i remember undercutting some other

00:34:16.120 states then we started doing the collaborations and we actually were doing bulk purchases that

00:34:20.060 we were able to share even with ducie republican in arizona you sent me respirators yeah we were

00:34:25.500 able to like we were helping when we help each other so when we could when we could it's interesting

00:34:30.440 we're now working we've got this west coast collaborative which we started back in trump 1.0

00:34:35.500 but now to deal with not saying it's a shadow cdc but particularly as relates to truth and trust

00:34:41.660 so we've been able to those muscles are continuing to be flexed yeah in terms of that kind of

00:34:46.820 collaborative spirit so it's interesting i think you're right looking back at that it was you know

00:34:51.860 organizations like the dga nga even for that matter at that point nga really mattered and

00:34:59.100 very important yeah national governors association yeah so you've got a few more i mean so what do

00:35:04.520 you do now i mean you're gonna you're gonna go on trips that you otherwise had not gone on tell

00:35:08.180 the truth what's your agenda look like in the next i don't know yet you know so so the next

00:35:13.460 governor will take their oath of office at noon on the first of january yeah um i'm hoping to take a

00:35:20.100 little bit of time off you know i want to get out and see the national park takes time off i don't

00:35:24.000 Yeah. So you just, you're not, you're not one of those people.

00:35:26.960 But I don't know. I want to,

00:35:27.780 I think I want to build a portfolio of sorts because I want to have enough

00:35:31.620 diversity to keep me interested. I want to keep my,

00:35:35.360 I want to keep helping Democrats across the country.

00:35:37.640 I want to help make sure that Michigan's a fertile place for a democratic

00:35:40.740 nominee for president.

00:35:42.280 So you're running for president. This is what,

00:35:44.100 this sounds like a candidate for office. I'm, I know politicians.

00:35:48.740 You are giving me the, I'm going to take time for the family line.

00:35:52.700 and stay engaged i'm trying to figure it out i need i'm gonna take your advice call paul ryan

00:35:58.280 you call paul ryan i talked to paul ryan actually paul's an interesting guy i met him only once but

00:36:03.380 i was actually he did an event on mackinac island and uh it was at the residence that i so i hosted

00:36:09.500 and we got chatting and so you know someone said if you want to figure out what you want to do

00:36:14.260 look at people who've done it well made the transition so i called him and he spent some

00:36:19.660 time with me we've had a number of conversations since he's been great i feel really he's an

00:36:23.760 interesting guy he's got a great perspective and he said you know this is how i thought about it

00:36:27.580 you might want to think about it this way you know i have enough that keeps you engaged but

00:36:32.080 you gotta have some things that feed your soul right that's the thing right yeah i love the way

00:36:36.620 you described his portfolio you also got gina gave you advice yep gina jennifer granholm and

00:36:41.520 jennifer i'm lucky i've gotten to know a lot of people who i think gone on beyond public service

00:36:47.260 What did Jennifer tell you?

00:36:48.860 She wanted to go to work at Berkeley or something?

00:36:50.440 The premise of my conversation is like doing cool things beyond public office.

00:36:55.680 I worked with Jennifer on current TV.

00:36:59.080 Current TV.

00:36:59.980 We both had a TV show.

00:37:01.660 That's what she did.

00:37:02.660 Remember after she worked for Al Gore.

00:37:05.140 And then we were then employees for a hot second.

00:37:09.780 We literally walked in.

00:37:11.200 True story.

00:37:11.960 I swear to God.

00:37:12.480 I remember walking in the same day.

00:37:14.180 She walked in.

00:37:14.900 No one gave us heads up.

00:37:16.100 and we are now officially employed which was my last show uh you know no offense but it was a

00:37:22.880 little bit shocking um yeah but she's done well yeah and she's filled her soul yeah i think it's

00:37:28.300 you know this job what i love is every day is different the diversity of things you're always

00:37:33.740 intellectually stimulated and and i think that's i i love that about this job and that's why i got

00:37:39.420 but that makes it hard to detox right from that kind of energy that sort of it's an identity too

00:37:44.960 right it is yeah governor hey it's funny so i just endorsed the woman who's running to replace

00:37:50.540 me jocelyn benson yeah our secretary of state and by the way i think is fabulous she's great

00:37:54.840 and so apparently does the voters yeah 83 oh yeah come on she's she's great um and we did this event

00:38:02.880 and we did a press scrum afterward and she got i don't know five out of the eight questions

00:38:07.880 and i was like oh this is really nice here it goes already no i was like oh you can come on

00:38:14.480 i think some of our colleagues would be like i'm still governor excuse me i was like oh no please

00:38:20.580 please continue it was really nice so my husband and i are building a house we're like excited for

00:38:27.020 the next chapter but i don't know what it all it looks like you have a little idea you know i'm a

00:38:32.700 lawyer i can are you gonna be of council or something maybe you got a pack don't you have

00:38:38.300 a pack or something i do i want to i've got a fight like hell pack yeah i like that it's good

00:38:43.020 dot org and you can donate fightlikehell.org and um we're training we're recruiting and training

00:38:49.980 people so a lot of those folks that won in virginia to flip the legislature so abby yale's

00:38:54.800 got friends in the legislature right we trained a lot of those people we've done that in wisconsin

00:38:59.240 and michigan so i'm definitely want to continue to do that that's a lot of fun that's a lot of

00:39:03.960 fun the true gretchen where'd that come from a true grit i don't know what is it so gretchen

00:39:10.960 where's this whole gretchen was a rapper is that a true story yes so i'm named after both my

00:39:16.120 grandmothers gretchen and esther right grandma gretchen always said never let anyone call you

00:39:21.140 gretch it is not attractive it rhymes with vretch okay yeah and so i always had this aversion like

00:39:27.320 if you called me gretch i was like you're like oh i didn't like it yeah yeah and um so during the

00:39:32.420 camp during the covid all of a sudden this nickname um big gretch started coming out of detroit

00:39:39.500 and i was like what is this you know because immediately i've got like what woman was big

00:39:45.820 on the front of her nickname number one and then gretch was not but so i was talking to a woman

00:39:51.080 in my team on my team from detroit shaquille myers and i'm like what is this and she was oh my god

00:39:56.300 it's the best compliment ever the people of detroit this is they're bestowing love on you

00:39:59.920 they want to award you a pair of buffs and i'm like what are buffs like i'm what are we talking

00:40:04.620 it's a buffalo horn cartier's like this is the symbol of like you've done some good so

00:40:09.900 nice we award you buffs anyway it turned into a rap song big gretch you know donald trump was

00:40:16.340 picking on me and i stood up to him to keep people safe like this is anyway it turned into a thing

00:40:21.460 and now it's my favorite nickname and your favorite and then grandma gretchen's rolling in her grave

00:40:25.060 She's not happy with this.

00:40:26.220 Because I'm big, Gretchen, and it's going on my tombstone.

00:40:28.720 It's horrible.

00:40:29.540 It's horrible.

00:40:30.400 Big.

00:40:30.840 But you said true in your book.

00:40:32.760 Well, I worked with Lisa Dickey, who I know you know.

00:40:35.340 I know.

00:40:35.360 She's great.

00:40:35.980 She's wonderful.

00:40:36.860 Help me write that book.

00:40:37.760 Hello, Lisa.

00:40:38.760 Help me write the book.

00:40:40.240 And it was a fun book.

00:40:41.820 It was so different.

00:40:42.760 Yeah.

00:40:43.240 And it was a lighter book.

00:40:45.220 I wanted to put some light into the world.

00:40:46.840 It was feeling dark.

00:40:48.060 We were going back in.

00:40:49.020 We were going into the presidential election.

00:40:50.820 Yeah.

00:40:51.980 I thought, let me put some light into the world.

00:40:52.560 Did you write it because you were going to run for president?

00:40:54.440 No.

00:40:54.680 serious would you talk about growing up on your high school principal i don't know it's honest

00:40:59.840 we like on it i would be a little more like self-aggrandizing i think if i was laying the

00:41:04.100 groundwork for a presidential run my failure was i didn't i didn't try or whatever yes i worked too

00:41:10.580 hard i worked too hard and at times i let people down i'm too generous

00:41:14.420 those never those books have never been written if you're looking for that kind of book that ain't

00:41:22.100 what uh so right so when you think about honestly have you designed now the next 100 days i mean

00:41:30.060 it's you know we talk about the first 100 days what about the last 100 days i mean do you work

00:41:34.560 your way back to noon 11 59 a little bit um you know we've got a run of transitions as soon as

00:41:41.460 the election's over so we're getting all of that set up yeah whomever's coming next we can we do

00:41:46.640 believe in the transfer of power right orderly you may even it we we accept we accept you know

00:41:54.240 i hope you got a lot of attorneys because that's going to be contested right undoubtedly no

00:41:59.720 question it'll be uh yeah um but and then the legislature will come back for a little while

00:42:05.220 during lame duck session but first we have hunting break do you do hunting break in california we are

00:42:10.880 we have more hunters in our state than most other states probably any other state

00:42:14.320 does your legislature take a break it doesn't i mean we we do you do when october's hunting right

00:42:22.180 well elk november 15th oh here's november two weeks yeah interesting interesting yeah are you

00:42:29.660 a big hunter it's rifle season see it's rifle see i'm a bow earlier yeah we need bow me not so much

00:42:37.740 you're not a bow hunter i'm not a hunter when i went to the legislature i was practicing law

00:42:42.020 and I moved to the legislature practicing a lot working my butt off billing every six minutes of

00:42:47.160 my life you know I come to the legislature and I'm like we're taking two weeks off for a hunting

00:42:51.620 season you go fishing or something this is amazing no I got ready for Thanksgiving yeah

00:42:58.040 what do you make of this I mean you're in the center it's so interesting the center of the

00:43:03.140 political universe right now Michigan but the whole DSA thing I'm from San Francisco yeah it

00:43:08.860 was called the green party back when it was the green party it was progressives and the old

00:43:14.280 sort of progressive you know the original progressive thing sort of right early howard

00:43:19.080 dean right now it seems as if it's you know it's more novel it's exploded on the scene it's because

00:43:26.200 what do you make of all this i mean even outside of just the own your own senate the campaign here

00:43:30.560 that we just had but what do you make of the larger macro what's going on i think there

00:43:36.480 definitely is a broader debate in the people identify as democrats right and they're identifying

00:43:43.080 themselves differently i think the right has really grabbed on to it because they know if

00:43:47.280 you say socialist and communist that it scares people yes we want to get more people covered

00:43:53.760 with health care absolutely we want to help bring down the cost of things i don't want chaotic

00:43:58.980 tariff policies that make michiganters lives more expensive and harder i don't want to be at a

00:44:04.600 verbal war and trade war with Canada, for God's sake, that makes, you know, it harder to make a

00:44:11.480 dime here in Michigan. I mean, I think that, you know, there are so many things that we all agree

00:44:17.520 on. The ability for some to use that title, right, to kind of scare people away from us is,

00:44:25.300 it's problematic. But I do think that there are younger people who are coming in who

00:44:29.300 see the world differently, who have got a different lived experience and that are really

00:44:33.360 having an impact on a lot of these elections. But for those that do identify on the DSA moniker,

00:44:40.000 what do you think is, is it the totality of the issues? Is it one issue or is it a tonal

00:44:46.220 point that emphasizes or is allowed that they're emphasizing that's allowing their success?

00:44:53.440 Is it one thing, many things? What do you think it is? Or is it an anti-establishment incumbent?

00:44:59.640 it doesn't it seem like there's always like an anti-establishment though every time it's just

00:45:05.220 who the establishment is is what changes yeah um it's like when people say oh it lasts cycles

00:45:11.460 elections of abigail spamburger and mikey shirrell oh my god they it's about affordability and i'm

00:45:18.020 like no shit what do you think fix the damn rose was about like every election's about affordability

00:45:24.900 amen amen so it's you know it's it's interesting to have been in you know office different offices

00:45:35.000 over the last 25 years to see so many of the similar things happen but they're called differently

00:45:40.180 you know um and i think that kind of helps with perspective but when you're when you're younger

00:45:46.360 um and and certainly i felt like we were renegades when i was young but you look back

00:45:51.300 If you go back a little further, you're like, okay, it's cyclical.

00:45:54.660 Interesting.

00:45:56.060 Israel plays a huge role, just Gaza issues.

00:45:59.800 I think in Michigan, even more than maybe other parts of the country

00:46:05.560 because we've got such a large Arab population.

00:46:09.600 I also think there is a generational difference playing out here

00:46:16.420 that is something that we've got to work through.

00:46:21.300 Right.

00:46:21.780 No question.

00:46:22.980 But I do think that that's an issue that's uniquely, it's playing out across the country,

00:46:26.860 but I think it's maybe even more pronounced here in Michigan.

00:46:31.240 You, within what, 12 hours, endorsed, you went down the ticket, endorsed everybody.

00:46:36.820 Endorsed the whole ticket after the primary.

00:46:37.860 You didn't take a beat.

00:46:41.040 That was easy for you to do?

00:46:44.000 We don't have time to take a beat.

00:46:45.260 Um, the, you know, and primaries are not fun, but you know, you got to come together afterward

00:46:53.040 because the thought of the, the real threat of John James as the next governor of Michigan

00:46:58.080 or Mike Rogers going to the U S Senate and making the difference, whether or not we can

00:47:02.440 hold Donald Trump accountable, whether or not we can push back on the Trump policies

00:47:07.480 that are hurting people and, and the, you know, MAGA Republicans in Washington, DC,

00:47:12.300 that's the biggest threat and that's why you know i didn't waste any time and i'm going to work hard

00:47:18.700 um i'm also the vice chair of our organization the democratic governors association so i'm doing

00:47:23.380 a lot of work across the country with our candidates i'm going to spend a little time

00:47:27.520 with amy acton in ohio and kisha lance bottoms and georgia so um i'm going to be getting around and

00:47:34.140 we get a lot of great candidates but these governors races i think if we've learned anything

00:47:38.200 in the last 10 years who the governor is matters it matters for you know election purposes that

00:47:45.320 matters in the midst of a pandemic it matters if you want benefits to feed your kids right when

00:47:50.960 the administration cut off snap benefits it was democratic governors who marshaled the resources

00:47:56.020 and moved fast to try to make sure kids didn't go hungry do you think you've been a better governor

00:48:01.440 because you've been more challenged with a split legislature than you would have otherwise been

00:48:07.320 um i i've maybe learned a lot more than than i would have otherwise um i do think that there is

00:48:16.020 value to robust debate you know i mean it wasn't easy and some of them shared stages with people

00:48:22.920 that were convicted of wanting to kidnap me and kill me and actually share and i just sit at the

00:48:28.040 table with them and negotiate a budget but all that being said michiganders you know the someone

00:48:35.640 ask me what was your greatest accomplishment i think it's getting re-elected by 11 points after

00:48:41.400 coming out with a 45 cent gas tax in my first year i mean you put it in the gas governing through

00:48:46.580 covid and covid yeah and all the other challenges that we had the fact that michigander said

00:48:51.320 we want you to do this for four more years and by the way we elected you with 11 points so i

00:48:57.200 flipped the house and the senate for the first time in 40 years yeah that was the greatest

00:49:01.720 accomplishment because in those two years right after that we got a ton of things done good stuff

00:49:07.560 and i feel really um grateful and it's interesting you mentioned the the free meals um work you've

00:49:13.860 done with equity k-12 education the literacy commitment yeah health care free community

00:49:19.680 college free community college and expanded that even further right yeah deeper every person yeah

00:49:25.080 Yeah, in the roads.

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00:49:46.840 Hey, Portlandia fans.

00:49:48.420 Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here.

00:49:50.340 You know us, or rather, you know them.

00:49:51.920 Tony and Candace, Nina and Lance, Spike, and yes, the chicken.

00:49:56.480 We've played a lot of iconic characters over the years,

00:49:58.760 but today we're showing up as ourselves to tell you about Podlandia,

00:50:02.500 AO Rewatch, our brand new podcast.

00:50:04.760 Each week, we'll revisit an episode of Portlandia from the very beginning,

00:50:08.620 breaking down the sketches, exploring the backstories of our most iconic characters,

00:50:12.980 revisiting the Portland locations you know and love,

00:50:15.480 and opening up about our creative process.

00:50:18.040 How did any of this get made?

00:50:19.740 Why do we think that was a good idea?

00:50:21.780 We're ready to talk about it.

00:50:23.160 And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life.

00:50:26.160 Guest stars, collaborators, and friends, including director Jonathan Kreisel,

00:50:30.240 the mayor himself, Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more.

00:50:35.200 Kyle is going for it here.

00:50:37.020 You fully improvised, not just words, but a song, a melody.

00:50:40.760 Well, I thought he was going to write, I thought you were all going to write a song.

00:50:43.020 I remember you thinking that.

00:50:44.740 Listen to Podlandia Ayo Rewatch on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:51:14.740 The definition of what is a movie has kind of changed anyway, too, right?

00:51:17.800 What do you think it is now?

00:51:18.880 It's images and words being spoken, captured by some sort of technology.

00:51:25.520 Danny McBride.

00:51:26.360 He loves Boba.

00:51:27.240 Oh, that's fantastic.

00:51:28.360 And you make it on, you make your own.

00:51:30.180 That's great.

00:51:30.980 I call him Taro Reed.

00:51:34.680 That's a good name.

00:51:35.720 They're all named after cast members of American Pie.

00:51:38.220 Yeah.

00:51:38.440 Oh, gotcha.

00:51:38.980 I call, I don't, I never looked up if she was in this, but I call him Leachie Sobieski.

00:51:44.420 Yeah, I don't think she was an American Pie, but I still like that.

00:51:46.820 Haven't looked it up, haven't looked it up.

00:51:48.580 She was prominent around the same time.

00:51:50.700 Then Mary Steenburgen.

00:51:51.880 Why are you guys talking to me like, why are you talking so down to me

00:51:56.780 that you think I don't understand your little play game?

00:52:01.140 I just really am trying to set you up for success here.

00:52:04.740 Listen to Hollywood Handbook on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

00:52:08.420 or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:52:10.880 On Solita, we share the messy stories of traveling alone as a woman.

00:52:15.760 Your Duolingo is not going to come back to you when a man is inside of you.

00:52:21.860 Oh, no.

00:52:23.000 I'm Julie Pinheiro, and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first.

00:52:31.320 I'm on a mission to reclaim the word Solita, trading the pity for possibility.

00:52:37.960 Every time I tried to be alone, I kept meeting people and they were like, you smiled at us.

00:52:42.680 Not a lot of people smile around here.

00:52:44.760 I can wait four hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle.

00:52:50.660 It's when you're alone that you're most receptive to the world as it is and not the lies you're sold about it.

00:52:57.000 So whether you're a solo travel veteran or you're too nervous to book your first trip, I hope you listen to Solita on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:53:10.380 So what's the advice you give to Jocelyn? I mean, she's almost, well, all things being equal and she runs the kind of campaign she's capable of running. She'll be the next governor. Are you in the advice dispensing business?

00:53:23.320 No. You know what? I'm going to...

00:53:24.980 You think you're going to, did you ever ask?

00:53:26.380 I hope I'm going to seed the ground and she can walk in and have what she needs to be successful.

00:53:31.460 And then I'll get the heck out of her here.

00:53:33.180 And you're not going to be, you're not going to have animus that she doesn't call you.

00:53:36.780 No.

00:53:37.200 And she's, you're just, you're, you're, they've moved on.

00:53:40.120 She'll have my number.

00:53:41.320 And if she needs it, I will take her call.

00:53:42.960 And you don't expect she's going to have her call.

00:53:44.820 You're going to be like, no, she's got this.

00:53:46.680 She's, she has been a secretary of state these last eight years.

00:53:49.180 We work side by side.

00:53:50.760 I'll always be there to support her and help her every step of the way.

00:53:53.620 but I'm also not that person who's going to loom over the Capitol and

00:53:57.280 question everything she did. Okay.

00:54:00.300 And even if her opponent went, that would be my policy too. Like I,

00:54:03.860 I don't believe in dead hand control, you know,

00:54:06.560 but if there is advice, what is it? I mean, she, she must've asked you.

00:54:11.380 I think the best thing I did was really surround myself with great people.

00:54:15.700 Yeah. I mean, my chief of staff stayed with me.

00:54:19.680 You must've had some terrible people. Oh yeah. We, we had some,

00:54:23.620 we had some turnover i don't get everything right i got the majority really like we had a great team

00:54:30.100 i feel really i couldn't have done it without them oh yeah so you had some longevity with me

00:54:35.060 through year eight well that's insane that's on you no that's almost three years usually that's

00:54:39.780 actually ridiculous that's actually probably unhealthy she just left okay the care she needs

00:54:47.140 but it's so i mean yeah i mean that's that's great advice i'm obviously that's the best one

00:54:54.300 i mean that there are and and then get to know your fellow governors you know it sounds like

00:54:59.600 you know bs but no one yeah no one can fathom all the different pressures that we are confronting

00:55:08.120 except for someone who else is in the our shoes you mentioned money in politics i mean public

00:55:14.440 financing what well i mean ultimately seriously i mean so much of the work we do at dga

00:55:19.480 is raising money and we spend ungodly sums of money to get people elected right and under you

00:55:26.760 know we got to play by the rules that there are but we should actually fix the rules in this

00:55:30.960 country and but that's a much harder longer conversation in a citizens united world can

00:55:38.440 fix it you have moved on i thought you were running through the tape i am but the legislature's gone

00:55:46.020 they're all is everybody literally gone they're all campaigning now i mean they've got a couple

00:55:50.160 of session days so no more bills to sign or anything i mean probably not for a while they're

00:55:54.840 probably there might be a few things they come in and that's it oh so i they're all campaigning i've

00:55:59.020 got over 16 1700 active bills that are oh yeah so i'm in the middle of legislature session so i

00:56:04.860 feel like i still have your legislature doesn't leave and go campaign no no no they've got to get

00:56:09.200 through the next so the next month but i'll through the middle of september so well over a thousand

00:56:13.920 bills likely to sign how do you like the way that you guys do elections i mean we went to

00:56:18.900 legislative redistricting for a month after yeah well no i wasn't doing that oh she she went after

00:56:26.820 me right there no but you know the the whole like prioritizing and the fact that you could

00:56:31.800 have had two republicans oh open primaries yeah like it's been there's a real push i thought it

00:56:39.220 it was at a time when there was so much dysfunction in california there were two reforms that

00:56:45.960 substantively shifted things in a very positive way one was you don't get paid legislature unless

00:56:54.260 you submit the budget on time so you got a vote on the budget and there was so much games being

00:56:59.800 played. We could never get a budget done. And we attached a paycheck, by the way, which should be

00:57:05.160 the case in Congress. How did that, did you have to amend your constitution to do that? Yeah. So

00:57:09.600 went to the voters. Then they, they did the open primary as well. And then we did into the third

00:57:14.420 leg of the stool would have been independent redistricting, which is the great irony of what

00:57:18.460 we did on prop 50. And I was a big proponent of independent redistricting, but things have

00:57:22.820 changed. So we needed to change. So we needed to change the constitution started at 46% in that

00:57:28.600 first poll that was done public was not there and eventually won by well over 20 22 three points

00:57:34.520 um people understood what was at stake but and that was litigated temporarily meaning we

00:57:40.920 mended the constitution and we'll revert back to our original form after a few cycles but the open

00:57:47.100 ended question now is this open primary because we likely would have you know could have conceivably

00:57:51.840 been just two republicans in the general election right uh because there were so many democrats

00:57:56.020 running. And there were just two high profile Republicans that I think for the first time is

00:58:01.460 alarm people. We also have, I mean, it's so mixed. I mean, the size of 21 state populations combined

00:58:06.620 and you're 480 plus cities and each city has different roles, including rank choice voting.

00:58:12.120 So you have rank choice voting for your mayor, but not for the state legislature, not for your

00:58:15.980 governor, not for the president. So the confusion, the labyrinth that is. So arguing for some

00:58:21.940 simplicity and open primaries sort of in that rubric our ballots get pretty long i mean there's

00:58:27.040 a citizen initiative for you know putting things on the ballot but in the constitution but it ain't

00:58:32.600 nothing like no it's direct democracy run amok i mean if infamously right that's how my recall got

00:58:38.240 on it's the lowest threat it's one of the low in fact it is the i think lowest threshold in the

00:58:43.480 country not that they needed that they would have easily exceeded if it was higher to get it on the

00:58:47.920 ballot, but it was so easily abused. We had Arnold Schwarzenegger because of the last recall,

00:58:53.760 but prior to mine. But that's just a perfect example of direct democracy. The problem is it

00:58:58.280 could be bought on either side of the political aisle. Interestingly, we have this year's ballot,

00:59:02.960 some public financing opportunity to allow non-charter cities. When I was mayor, we did

00:59:08.720 public financing for mayor's races. Only chartered cities, which there's a handful in California can

00:59:13.640 do that this would allow all cities to run with public financing so it's our effort to sort of

00:59:19.880 continue to chip away at addressing big money but it's just kind of i mean it what you guys just

00:59:24.680 experienced here with the outside money coming in it's just obscene i'd raise 84 million dollars

00:59:29.760 for my recall then turn around in this prop 50 we raise 119 million dollars in 90 days

00:59:35.180 it's obscene it's wild and so i get why people are pissed and then are criticizing folks for

00:59:41.420 taking big money same time you're trying to save democracy right there's no there's no way to

00:59:46.800 right an election i would love more than anything to say instead of 80 million dollars on a campaign

00:59:52.820 i'm going to make sure we're going to dedicate all of this to scholarships for kids or

00:59:57.720 yes you know pay it pay off everyone's you know college debt yeah and pay off your mortgage you

01:00:05.000 know if you don't have college debt like yeah and all your health care debt and everything else yeah

01:00:08.680 You know, like you could do so much good with the money that we waste on slandering one another, you know?

01:00:16.520 So that you won't miss, that part of politics, the ruthlessness side.

01:00:21.180 No, it's, you know, it's hard to lead in these times and hard to run for office.

01:00:25.880 And that's why I'm grateful that there are people who are willing to put their names on the ballot.

01:00:29.640 Yeah, legitimately.

01:00:31.160 And that's why even when I'm out of office, I want to help people who are willing to do that.

01:00:35.780 But you still have a bug for this.

01:00:37.140 Tell the truth.

01:00:38.680 I have a bug in that I want to stay involved.

01:00:42.380 Yeah.

01:00:44.140 The bug isn't, I got to run for office.

01:00:46.160 But if there's a chance for elected office, you would jump at it.

01:00:50.980 If it felt right.

01:00:53.840 Of course, see, the pause says it all.

01:00:56.400 You know, we're sitting, we're having a beer at Crunchy's, okay?

01:01:01.440 Yeah.

01:01:01.680 It was just the two of us talking, maybe.

01:01:04.600 What do you mean?

01:01:05.000 There's a microphone in front of my face.

01:01:06.960 i'm a little more thoughtful of the words i'm going to choose wow okay all right so you are

01:01:12.500 running shut up you are a pain it's kind of come on it's fun to be on the other side of the mic

01:01:19.460 so how early into next year do you do you declare your candidacy for president i i can edit this

01:01:24.960 this is the difference

01:01:25.680 i want to start a podcast just so i can why don't you one of the few bashir has a podcast

01:01:32.720 these politicians and podcasts

01:01:34.680 Ted Cruz has a podcast

01:01:36.300 a lot of politicians, it's good, it's fun

01:01:39.040 Is Ted Cruz's fun?

01:01:40.600 I don't think so

01:01:41.780 I don't know, but he has a lot of, I give him credit

01:01:44.180 he actually has some pretty decent numbers

01:01:47.300 I'm impressed

01:01:48.660 There's a part of me that would like to like

01:01:50.500 take a road trip across the country

01:01:53.340 Are we going to go to National Parks?

01:01:54.580 See some cool, yes

01:01:55.520 Talk to Americans and find out what the heck's going on

01:01:58.700 You know what I mean?

01:01:59.920 And then I can help inform your platform

01:02:01.840 that'd be helpful yeah oh really because it's a damn country it's the damn country what do you

01:02:09.740 think that i mean honestly what's are you in the we can revert back to our original form or god no

01:02:16.880 you're just there's no reverting back nowhere going back no one wants to you know get back to

01:02:21.780 anywhere yeah we wanted we have to re think and reform and you know this is a moment i that i

01:02:33.100 democrats had better come with a solution we'd better come with a solution that is better than

01:02:41.040 anything we've ever done in the past it's not going back to how things used to be that's not

01:02:45.100 happening no no you know it always cracks me when people say oh you know the messaging coming out of

01:02:51.000 D.C. is not good.

01:02:51.800 I'm like, no governor is looking at D.C. for messaging.

01:02:54.840 We're on the ground with our people every day.

01:02:56.580 We know what's going on.

01:02:57.620 And I'm grateful because the next person has got to have an Avenger-style cabinet because there's so much damn work to do.

01:03:05.900 I like that.

01:03:06.280 You've got to have the best, talented people.

01:03:08.460 It's like not team arrivals, but kind of like team arrivals, right?

01:03:11.920 You've got to have the best people because one scintilla of the work that needs to be done is rebuilding a relationship with Canada.

01:03:19.680 And that ain't going to be easy.

01:03:21.440 You don't think it's easy?

01:03:22.200 Oh, they are elbows up.

01:03:22.900 I heard Carney the other day.

01:03:24.060 He was attacking California wine.

01:03:25.660 I'm like, where's California?

01:03:26.940 He's not a man at California wine.

01:03:28.640 He's mad at the administration that is punitive and petty.

01:03:34.700 You know what you asked me?

01:03:35.640 We were talking about mistakes.

01:03:36.860 One of the mistakes I made was spending $5 million on a marketing campaign in Canada

01:03:41.420 to say we're not Washington, D.C.

01:03:44.100 Didn't go well for me.

01:03:45.280 I'm like, damn, they hate us.

01:03:46.640 I was just trying to keep 1.7 million tourists.

01:03:48.840 i mean i'm like we're no workout we're the most un-trumped state we're good and they're like no

01:03:53.900 i know you're an american i keep trying to tell them that too but you know right they're mad at

01:03:58.580 us all i know that's all and that's why i say like you think about all the work that needs to be done

01:04:03.820 that should be the easiest come on that's just you if you were president all you have to do is

01:04:10.180 go across your bridge and show up and you'd have standing ovation from millions and millions tens

01:04:15.820 of millions of canadians that's true just by showing up but that's how easy you earn trust

01:04:21.180 by the teaspoon and you lose it by the bucket yeah so it's going to take a long time and i

01:04:24.800 think it's going to take successive administrations before the world says america's not it's back

01:04:29.120 gone yeah we can trust them there are allies they are leaders in the democratic world right like

01:04:35.960 to be in a place where people want to emulate the united states and trust us and work with us

01:04:42.560 and build with us and fight those that are trying to undermine all of that

01:04:46.420 is going to take successive administrations, I think.

01:04:49.920 That's the challenge.

01:04:50.660 I think a lot of good work can be done fast, but marvel.

01:04:53.580 You've got to think of that Avengers-style cabinet.

01:04:57.620 An Avengers-style cabinet.

01:04:58.700 Put that in your platform.

01:05:00.780 I won't charge you anything for that one.

01:05:02.320 That's amazing.

01:05:03.600 Look at you, you're running a consultancy here already.

01:05:06.340 So which national park are you going to go to?

01:05:07.900 That can be part of my portfolio.

01:05:08.880 That's part of your portfolio.

01:05:10.120 I like, by the way, portfolio thinking is the right way to think.

01:05:12.120 by the way thinking about your life as a portfolio is good as well yeah i think it's honestly it's a

01:05:16.240 very it's a smart you said do you want to run something i'm like i don't want to run something

01:05:19.960 i want to help a number of things do you have principles that you live by have you thought

01:05:27.340 in those terms or do you have a why not in politics but that sort of you're attached to

01:05:33.500 in terms of who you are what you represent your family your husband relationships with people

01:05:40.500 so you know i read the book by sahil bloom the five types of wealth yeah it's a great book to

01:05:46.880 read especially like if you're going into a transition and i think it's the one that i'll

01:05:49.880 dust off at different transitions in my life um and it's a variation of that question and it was

01:05:56.100 who are you what defines you you know what is it and i'm the person that shows up when there's a

01:06:01.980 problem and rolls up my sleeve that's that's who i am and you really i mean you congruently feel

01:06:06.740 When my mom was sick with cancer, that's what I did.

01:06:09.520 My kids need something.

01:06:10.980 If I see what's going on in Flint, Michigan, a water crisis, I run for governor.

01:06:15.260 You know, that's who I am.

01:06:17.820 And so I think that's what grounds me.

01:06:21.280 And that's why as I'm thinking about what a portfolio looks like, I got to have that as a part of it.

01:06:25.720 I got to feel like what I do is meaningful and does good.

01:06:30.680 I love that.

01:06:31.940 And do you try to just institute those values, the kids?

01:06:35.660 you talk in those terms with your kids yeah yeah you torture them at the dinner table oh yeah they

01:06:40.480 make fun of me and you're like oh god mom why are you doing this

01:06:43.780 they do during the campaign they had my whole son speech

01:06:48.460 i'm gretchen whitley i love michigan i do love michigan shut up you great ungrateful children

01:06:57.060 so a few more months you're going to be out campaigning all across the country

01:07:03.820 campaign for the Democrats, focus on the governor's races. What's your confidence level?

01:07:09.900 There's a Speaker Jeffries, and what do you expect in terms of the Senate race?

01:07:14.920 We can't make any assumptions despite how bad the administration's numbers are and how hard

01:07:20.200 the policies have been on our pocketbooks, right? We've got great candidates. We got a lot of work

01:07:26.000 to do, though. We just can't make any assumptions. I think it could be a big year. If we do what we

01:07:32.780 got to do and we have the resources i hate to say it to do it we can have a lot of success here i

01:07:38.280 think we could pick up some congressional seats here in michigan here as well house seats um i

01:07:43.960 think that there's a possibility that we could have a democratic trifecta at the state level

01:07:48.660 here in michigan um i think maybe that's not the case in some other states that you would hope it

01:07:54.760 would be because of the candidate quality and organization etc um but you know the fact that

01:08:01.360 we're even talking about a state like iowa with rob sands he's impressive he's a star by by the

01:08:07.980 way you everybody should hear that name yeah no he's a star he's he's if he wins you will he'll

01:08:16.720 be a household name even if he doesn't this guy is talented oh yeah he's a legit hunter uh-huh

01:08:21.640 oh yeah like legit not like me definitely not like you um i could probably take him at euchre

01:08:29.180 though do you know euchre okay what bob euchre what i don't know this is a midwestern card game

01:08:34.260 oh jesus i just lost all the midwest cred if i ever had any i'll teach you before you get ready

01:08:39.360 to run for president and then um yeah and and amy acton the fact that we're even talking about ohio

01:08:45.840 in that credit ohio but she's and she's impressive and she's interesting because

01:08:50.200 she's an og from the covet days oh yeah but she's built so much trust line and informed all the

01:08:55.820 our decisions and you know what to his credit he has her back too which is fascinating republican

01:09:00.140 governor well my mike was one of my go-tos yeah in covet like he was he was a gentleman back then

01:09:06.700 very closely he morphed a little bit there was some things i was like oh that's not who he is

01:09:10.800 kind of put a mask on a little for the trump stuff but you can't you can't sit i can't yeah

01:09:15.680 he's a republican you know trying to run ohio no i get it i get it i get it i get it no but he was

01:09:21.460 one of the there was it was you're nasty and you bring me back to a little bit of those days right

01:09:26.420 i mean the ones that were collaborative and constructive amy took so much crap but she did

01:09:30.460 the right thing yeah you know and she earned the respect of the outgoing long time republican

01:09:35.660 public servant mike dewine like this is yeah we've got opportunities and so we can't squander them by

01:09:41.740 you know going places where there's not an opportunity where we don't really have a good

01:09:46.300 shot. We've got to really be focused and we've got to stay talking about things that matter to

01:09:51.620 people. Yeah, no. Not esoteric, random, possible debates that pundits want us to have, like where

01:09:59.940 the rubber meets the road. And speaking of the road, the road to the White House comes through

01:10:04.420 Michigan. That's what I expect. We'll see you a lot. Jesus, you don't even have to move for your

01:10:10.520 campaign let me ask what did you were you very aggressive in trying to move it first uh or did

01:10:17.800 you get we landed fifth and i think that's pretty good pretty awesome yeah right yeah was that

01:10:22.760 surprising to you no we worked really hard to make sure what do you mean surprising that's a

01:10:29.200 all part of our master plan it was already a master plan but it is a big deal right it is

01:10:34.020 you know for the longest time right it was iowa new hampshire south carolina michigan's the most

01:10:40.440 diverse swing state and so it always seemed like we should be higher up you know i'm sure there's

01:10:48.960 wonderful reasons that those other states probably needed to have their voices heard early but right

01:10:53.960 they were really representative of the country and i feel like michigan is in a way that um is

01:10:59.720 unique that's good uh well we'll look forward to seeing you back frequently uh governor you're

01:11:06.980 unique this was fun i enjoyed this and i appreciate you coming on and thanks for inviting me and i

01:11:12.540 know you were like hanging out here three in the morning back in the day yeah well that's what i

01:11:16.420 really wanted so they kicked me out by two no you know that's not what the owner said they said

01:11:21.520 crunchies what this is a cool place it is um and they've got buckets you can buy beer by the bucket

01:11:30.280 and then you dip a pitcher and it's not sanitary but oh god halfway through you don't care no

01:11:36.040 If you ran for a third term, that would be your commercial.

01:11:41.440 I'd be drinking out of a bucket.

01:11:43.180 If I ran for a third term, I would need a bucket.

01:11:44.880 You would need a bucket.

01:11:46.360 Gretchen Whitmer, thank you for being with us.

01:11:48.480 Thanks, Gavin.

01:11:56.580 I'm Hoda Kotb, host of the podcast Joy 101 with Hoda Kotb.

01:12:00.360 You know, I'm always searching for inspiration and useful tools to maximize joy.

01:12:06.040 Like when my friend Henry Winkler offered advice to aspiring actors and really anybody hoping to stand out.

01:12:13.120 You're not hired just to fill time and space.

01:12:15.900 You're hired to fill the space with you.

01:12:18.760 Listen to Joy 101 with Hoda Kotb on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

01:12:26.560 Hey, Portlandia fans.

01:12:27.740 Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here.

01:12:29.800 The dream of the 90s is alive in podcast form.

01:12:32.600 We're launching Podlandia, AO Rewatch, our brand new podcast where we revisit every episode of

01:12:38.000 Portlandia together, breaking down sketches, going deep on our iconic characters, and pulling back

01:12:42.960 the curtain on how it all got made. And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to

01:12:47.080 life. Guest stars, collaborators, and friends, including director Jonathan Kreisel, the mayor

01:12:52.060 himself, Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more. Kyle is going for it here.

01:12:58.360 You fully improvised, not just words, but a song.

01:13:02.020 Well, I thought you were all going to write a song.

01:13:03.340 I remember you thinking that.

01:13:05.880 Listen to Podlandia, AAO Rewatch on the iHeartRadio app,

01:13:09.880 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

01:13:13.600 On Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman.

01:13:18.160 Your Duolingo is not going to come back to you when a man is inside of you.

01:13:23.360 Oh, no.

01:13:24.400 I'm Julie Pinheiro, and I travel by myself

01:13:26.760 because it's a rare space where I can say yes

01:13:29.420 without asking anyone else first.

01:13:31.940 I'm on a mission to reclaim the word Solita,

01:13:34.800 trading the pity for possibility.

01:13:37.540 Listen to Solita on the iHeartRadio app,

01:13:40.340 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

01:13:45.500 Hey, this is Hayes Davenport.

01:13:47.420 And Sean Clemens.

01:13:48.620 We host the podcast Hollywood Handbook.

01:13:50.780 Every episode, we're trying to help our guests

01:13:52.400 improve their careers by mainly focusing

01:13:54.180 on how they can help us improve our careers.

01:13:56.720 The show's famously super accessible

01:13:58.180 so you can easily jump into any of our

01:14:00.080 650 episodes and understand what's

01:14:02.360 going on. We recommend some of our recent episodes

01:14:04.340 with Ben Stiller, Danny McBride, Riz Ahmed

01:14:06.540 and Mary Steenburgen. Listen to Hollywood

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01:14:12.400 podcasts. This is an iHeart

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01:14:16.900 human.

This is Gavin Newsom - August 14, 2026

And, This Is What Democrats Can Learn From Michigan With Governor Gretchen Whitmer

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