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TV writer, producer and director
David Mandel is a television writer, producer and director.
PROFILE
David Mandel
Guest
FROM David Mandel
The Business
Finding a home for stories we cut for time We have interesting guests on The Business, and sometimes our conversations are too long to fit into one show. So a few months ago, we decided we'd save some of the best stuff that didn't quite make the cut and we would find a home for it. First up is writer-producer David Mandel, the showrunner of HBO's Veep, which just won another Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series. He tells us what Larry David taught him about writing for sitcoms while working on Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm. We also hear from David Simon, creator of The Wire and co-creator of The Deuce about why he was -- for a time -- labeled “the angriest man in television,” and how he was able to use that to his advantage. Then, producer and director Shawn Levy defends his movie Real Steel, and tells us what went wrong with the marketing of that film. Finally, filmmaker Matt Reeves shares the crazy story about the time he and JJ Abrams were called in to repair Steven Spielberg's very first home movies when he and Abrams were just 15 years old.
The Business
Showrunner David Mandel on 'Veep' The beginning of Season Six of the HBO comedy Veep finds Selina Meyer, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, assuring the nation in a morning news interview that her post-White House life is going really well. In reality, she's had to spend some time getting over her election defeat at what she insists was a spa. The season follows Selina and her luckless staffers as they try to cement her legacy through a memoir and a presidential library celebrating her very brief tenure in the oval office. Our guest today is David Mandel, the Emmy-winning showrunner of Veep. He took over for series creator Armando Iannucci at the beginning of Season Five. Mandel got his start on Saturday Night Live, and went on to write for Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm. He tells us about overseeing Veep in the age of Trump, keeping track of the show's relentless torrent of vicious insults and how his wife's hands inspired one of the most famous episodes of Seinfeld.
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Bookworm
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Bookworm
Morgan Parker: There Are More Beautiful Things than Beyoncé Morgan Parker says that the poems in her book There Are Things More Beautiful than Beyoncé take a stand against the clichés of the dominant culture.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Why did Jared Kushner want a back channel with Russians? News broke Friday that President Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, tried setting up a back channel between the Trump transition team and the Russian government. What are the consequences for Kushner, President Trump, and the investigation into Russian meddling?
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Accusations of lying fly between James Comey and White House During his testimony Thursday, former FBI Director James Comey accused President Trump and other White House officials of lying when they said the FBI was in disarray and its staff had lost confidence in him. President Trump’s lawyer said Comey was wrong -- that the president never asked for his loyalty, and never asked him to back off the investigation into former NSA director Michael Flynn.