Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff
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what we can do about it, and why we should care. Listen to Basket Case every Tuesday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, everyone. It's Katie Couric. Well, the election is in the homestretch right in time for a new season of my podcast, Next Question. I'm bringing in some FOKs, friends of Katie's, to help me out, like Ezra Klein, Jen Psaki, Astead Herndon. But we're also going to have some fun, thanks to some of my friends like Samantha Bee and Charlemagne Tha God.

We're going to take some viewer questions as well. I mean, isn't that what democracy is all about? Check out our new season of Next Question with me, Katie Couric, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Man, what's happening, man? You got Marshawn, Beast Mode, Lynch. Doug Hendrickson. And Gavin Newsom, and you're listening to Politicking. Hey, Marshawn and Doug, you know, we got up next, we got another Doug, Doug.

How many Dougs are out there? There's not many Dougs. What Doug do we have? Yeah, we got the second gentleman. I'm just telling you, there's never been a second gentleman in history. The man who's making history, but is about to make real history is the first, the only first gentleman in the United States of America, Doug Emhoff. Hello, Governor. What's going on, buddy? Happy belated birthday, man. No, well, happy birthday. Is this, I think today's your official birthday, right?

I don't want to talk about the age. It's too much. Well, Doug, you're my namesake. I don't hear many more Dugs anymore, so thank God you're a Doug because I never meet any new young Dugs. I feel like we should have met somewhere.

Along the way, by the way, are there is that a trend? Is there not? Or is the second gentleman? Are you inspiring legions of parents to name their sons, Doug? Have you seen any evidence of that? I've made so few. And then when I do, it's literally like, hey, man, we got to stick together as Doug's because there's so few of us.

You feeling a little insecure? There is no Doug's. I don't meet Doug's anymore. Is that right? Yeah. My God. All right, Doug, I got one. I got the real question. The tough question. Is it, you know, Martin short or Andy Sandberg? Which one?

Tell the truth. I don't need any of your politicking. I want, I want an honest response. You know, it's interesting that Martin short who's way older and shorter, but like, like he actually got me. It was almost like me Sandberg. It's good. It's funny. It's, it's not quite me, but some of the lines are pretty good. And he's got the hair down and, but I don't know what dance he's doing. He's like doing this. And it's like saying that's the Dougie. I'm like, come on, man.

Do you remember, I mean, the first time you were on SNL, come on, that had to be a lot of fun. Again, calls from all your friends, everybody opining. How many years ago was that? Martin Short did the first...

First one, right? That was, I think, early on in the term. But yeah, this is a show I've watched literally my whole life. It came out 50 years ago, so I was 10. And this was something we all stayed up for and watched. And throughout the week, we would literally repeat all the things that we'd seen on the show that week, all the iconic skits from way back when. And then, so this is an iconic show. And then to see yourself on it

Yeah, the group chats blow up on that kind of stuff. And now with Sammer coming in, you know, it's one of many surreal things that I've experienced in this role. I love it. I love it. But then Maya Rudolph is really good and she's really like upped her game.

You know her well, Gavin. She came back this time. It's like, wow, she's so on it. So she's done a really good job. And you guys, I mean, you don't sit around and watch this stuff. You don't have any time to watch this stuff. I don't even see her right now. No, we are like...

in separate places. Most of the time, uh, we are only focused on the selection. The only thing we talk about right now is how we can win and what, what do we need to do to make sure that we win the selection? That's it. Not a lot of happy couple time right now. It's just focused determination. And, uh, if anything, it's like, where are you? Where are you? Okay. When am I going to see you? And then we just try to keep up a little bit. And, uh,

A little bit of, you know, a couple of discussion, talk about kids, maybe grandnieces. And then it's just really, what do we got to do? What are you hearing out there? I'm all over the country. So I'll just give her notes from the field. And then we just try to use that to get the word out. I love that you have a badass woman. So people, my clients used to tell me, said, Doug, let me get this straight. Your wife's a CPA, your wife's an attorney, and your wife makes more money than you. I said, yes, she does.

And I'm very happy about it. So I love the fact of what she's done and what you've done. And it's a cool thing because it's something to be applauded, in my opinion. And as Marshawn knows, he'd rather call my wife than call me for advice. So we all know where the smarter people lie. And that's your wife and my wife. And I would say the governor's wife, too. I was going to say, go married well, too. I know Jennifer is amazing.

- So it's, to me, it's like an old school thing to support your wife. I mean, I'm ferociously protective of my family, my wife, my kids, our big blended family. And this is just a part of that. I love being an entertainment lawyer. I was good at it. I was successful. I miss it. But when we're there for each other, so when she had this opportunity to get on the Biden-Harris ticket,

It was a no-brainer to support her to be vice president, first woman vice president. And it's also been fulfilling to do this. You guys have been together, what, it's been over a decade now, right? 2013, when you had that blind date? Yeah, our 10-year wedding anniversary was the night of her DNC speech, August 22nd. So that was 10 years of marriage. We met a couple years before that.

So when I met her, Gavin, she was just in her first term as attorney general. And, you know, I knew her. I was a lawyer. So I knew her as our attorney general. And she had a pretty incredible reputation as a fearsome prosecutor and attorney general. So I got set up on a blind date.

During a client meeting, the client happened to be best friends with Kamala Harris. And by the end of that meeting, I had Kamala Harris's number. And I told the story at the DNC, but that's basically what happened. And 10, 12 years later, here I am.

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I'm Buzz Knight, the host of the Taken a Walk podcast, the podcast where I talk with musicians and get the inside scoop on their latest projects. Join me for an upcoming episode with the great progressive rock songwriter and musician John Anderson, talking about his new music. This friend of mine, John Amick, sent me a video of these guys, the Bang Geeks, playing Heart of the Sunrise. And it kind of freaked me out how good they were. So I got in touch with Richie and

And I said, let's go on tour. And he said, is that John Anderson for sure? I said, yes, it is.

And we went on tour for 12 gigs. And they actually worked on so many great Yes pieces of music. We did the tour. And at the end of the tour, I said, let's make an album. Check out the Take a Walk podcast starting on September the 17th with John Anderson, formerly of Yes, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, it's Mike and Ian. We're the hosts of How to Do Everything from NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Each week, we take your questions and find someone much smarter than us to answer them. Questions like, how do you survive the Bermuda Triangle? How do you find a date inside the Bermuda Triangle? We can't help you, but we will find someone who can. Listen to the How to Do Everything podcast on iHeartRadio. ♪

Well, Doug, did you know right away, in fact, it was funny, when I met my wife, I met her at some party in San Francisco, and I'm like, who is this girl? I thought she was from Sweden, some model from Sweden that just showed up at this party. And I go up and talk to her, and she's like, where'd you go to school? I said, San Jose State.

And she's like, oh, you guys lost to Kentucky in the tournament a couple years before. I said, oh, my God. And then I'm like, I'm done. So within 30 seconds, I'm all in. I'm like, I met my wife, called my mom. I said, I met the new one. And she's like, who? And I said, I don't know. I got her first name. I know nothing about her, but I'm all in. And then I pursued a little bit, and there I am. So did you know right away that she was the one from that first meeting? Yeah, this was definitely that love at first sight.

For those old enough to watch the Brady Bunch, you know, those Bobby Brady fireworks going off in the background. This was like, and we talked on the phone for an hour before the first date, but I picked her up and it just felt like,

We had been together and we're going to be together. And by the end of that first night, we were literally already talking about the future and, and all that stuff. So, yeah. And we've literally been together ever since that first date. And that's why it's been tough these, these last couple of months, but we're so used to being together all the time and not being around each other that much. But, but again, there's too much at stake to worry about that stuff now. And we'll,

after the election, we'll have time for that. - We'll worry about it. But you, I mean, 10 years ago, seriously, can you ever, I know it's, can you ever have imagined being in the position you are now, but were there even, did you guys even have early conversations, 2014, '15, '16, that ever even seeded the possibility

that you'd be in the position, the two of you, that you are right now? No. When we first met, like I said, she was focused on being Attorney General. She was talking about running again for re-election, which she did. And I don't know, I think it was unopposed. And I said, wow, politics is so easy. I didn't even remember you had an election. And then when the Senate seat came up, she went for that. And that was...

you know, I was still working full time. I was in and out. I did a few events here and there, but basically I was not that involved. And that was, you know, that was a decision that she made. And it was something that, you know, got me to D.C. and I started coming to D.C. more professionally. And I think it was the rise of Trump when she decided to run for president in 19 and

It's because of Trump. And she and many other Dems decided, hey, we got to put our name out there. Somebody's got to beat this guy. And it turned out it was her and Joe Biden who did it. And now it's going to be her and Tim Walz to do it again. But no, Gavin, you knew me a little bit back then. I was a happy lawyer. It was kind of fun to be around politics. But I was every time you and I talked, it was

Hey, I'm talking about my legal practice and that's it. So this was something really until she got on the vice presidential ticket where I was thrown into this full time when I, you know, quote unquote, got into politics.

And was there did you have an option of not did you? I mean, was it I know there's no there's no rulebook for second gentleman that didn't come with the gig because it's unprecedented history. But was there any prospect where you were going to continue to work or you knew when she got sworn in as VP that the conflicts and all those issues, you got to commit yourself full time to public service in this role?

So when she got on the ticket, I didn't realize that that was my last day of work ever as a lawyer, which I did not know that at the time. I think once during the transition period after they won the election and before the inauguration, I think for those reasons you stated conflicts and just this is the real gig being second gentleman to support her, but really supporting the administration, especially we knew during COVID that

We all had to get out there to help people get vaccinated. And there was so much work to do that it really was a full-time job from the get-go. But I didn't realize that at the time when she got that call from Biden that that was it. That was the last time I'd do what I love so much. So it was at the beginning, it was a tough transition. I was really struggling to figure out the role. And she's the one who said, look, you are the first Jew ever

jump into the anti-semitism fight you're the first guy ever there's gender equity issues and of course after the dobbs decision that became even more so and then as a lawyer you know we need more lawyers doing more pro bono so i jumped into that as well so a lot of this was her pushing me to say hey look you got this amazing platform use it and then

I think the administration saw that I could handle myself. So I would say I'm like the sixth man off the bench where I just raised my hand and I traveled the world. I did inaugurations. I led presidential delegations and did all kinds of things I never dreamed I would do in this role. And then I teach part-time at Georgetown Law School. Hey, Doug, did you trademark Second Gentleman? Because obviously we know beast mode here, trademark beast mode back in 06. Did we trademark that or is it too late to trademark that? Yeah.

Well, let's see. Let me put my IP lawyer hat back on. Am I right, Marshawn? I can't give legal advice anymore. Sorry. Public service. But, Doug, what, I mean, just I think, you know, it goes back to what this Doug was saying earlier. And in this sort of, you know, being a little bit, you know, you're as second gentleman, this idea, you know, because Kamala is so powerful,

omnipresent, powerful, prolific, successful. And you had that kind of success, as you said, for decades as an entertainment lawyer yourself to step back, I imagine is not

hasn't been easy or is it still difficult? Or now you're finding the role sort of hand in glove and you're figuring it out. But was there any friction there? Was there any issues around your own identity, your own self-worth in relationship to someone of her stature? No, because one of the things that attracted us to each other was like a merger of equals. When I met her, we really looked at each other as

as equals and we supported each other and, you know, grew our careers together. And again, when she had this unique opportunity to be vice president of the United States,

I had to put that aside because it was more important because of our equal partnership to support her. And yes, at the beginning, it wasn't about being any less of a man or anything like that. It was just because I stopped doing something that I loved so much. I was at the top of my game.

I just even talking to you about sports and what you do, Doug and Marshawn and all these things. And I know Gavin, you're interested in this. Yeah, I miss it. I definitely miss it. But again, I follow it. I get to teach it. But it's an it's a great trade off because look what I get to do. I get to support her as vice president, hopefully as president. And then I get so much fulfillment.

In the role, substantively. And I've gotten to travel the country, travel the world in a way I never would have been able to do otherwise. So, you know, any kind of feelings I had was just about missing what I was doing. Not, you know, feeling bitter or angry or salty with her or anything for, oh, you took me away from this. It's not that at all.

Well, Doug, once we do win, we can then do some boondoggles on Air Force One. We can grab Marshawn from the movie sets and we can go and do some great trips together. National fantasy football draft day. We're going to have some good episodes. Doug, you've been doing fantasy football for, I mean, for as long as we've been alive. What, 30 years or something? This league started when I was at USC Law School in 1989.

It's basically the same crew. Now, most of us have one or both of our kids involved. So my son, Cole, is now 30, has been my partner for nine or 10 years.

And it's the smack talk, the group chat is off is always good. But now that I'm in this position, you know, it's just the abuse comes in all the time. But it's a great way to stay in touch with my friends and a great way to stay in touch with Cole. Because, of course, last night, you know, we have Kittle on. I mean, I'm just texting him, Kittle, second touchdown. And we're just like following our team.

And it's bonds us as father and son. And it bonds me to this group of people I've known since the eighties. And it's just really fun. And it's a great diversion from what's going on in my life right now. So even now, last night, I'm like, okay, that's great. Did you put the picks in for Sunday to make sure that we are competing?

I'm Buzz Knight, the host of the Taken a Walk podcast, the podcast where I talk with musicians and get the inside scoop on their latest projects. Join me for an upcoming episode with the great progressive rock songwriter and musician John Anderson, talking about his new music. This friend of mine, John Amick, sent me a video of these guys, the Bang Geeks, playing Heart of the Sunrise. And it kind of freaked me out how good they were. So I got in touch with Richie and

And I said, let's go on tour. And he said, is that John Anderson for sure? I said, yes, it is.

And we went on tour for 12 gigs. And they actually worked on so many great Yes pieces of music. We did the tour. And at the end of the tour, I said, let's make an album. Check out the Take a Walk podcast starting on September the 17th with John Anderson, formerly of Yes, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I felt too seen. Um,

- I'm dragged. - I'm NK and this is Basket Case. - So I basically had what back in the day they would call a nervous breakdown. - I was crying and I was inconsolable. - It was just very big sudden swaps of different meds. - What is wrong with me? - Oh, look at you giving me therapy girl.

Finally, a show for the mentally ill girlies. On Basket Case, I talk to people about what happens when what we call mental health is shaped by the conditions of the world we live in. Because if you haven't noticed, we are experiencing some kind of conditions that are pretty hard to live with. But if you struggle to cope, the society that created the conditions in the first place will tell you there's something wrong with you. And it will call you a basket case.

Listen to Basket Case every Tuesday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Well, Doug, you'll love this. So my 12-year-old son, again, addicted to fantasy football. I mean, he plays this thing left and right. So a couple Sundays ago, my client Rasheed Rice gets hurt in the game. Oh, yeah, I saw that. And so during the game, nobody knows how hurt he is. So he's now trying to facilitate a trade with his buddies. Oh.

And I'm like, no, no, no. He's going to be out for the year. You can't trade him. It's like inside information. I was going to say insider trading. There's no insider trading in fantasy. He's like, well, they're not going to know. I said, well, I know Canyon, but like it's kind of, do you really want to do that to your friends? Like, you know, I know he's probably going to be out for the year. He's like, well, it's not out in public yet, so I'm going to still trade him. So we traded him to his buddy because ESPN said he might be a week-to-week thing, and I knew it was probably going to be longer, but he still traded him, and his buddy got mad at him a couple days later, but.

It's so funny. I was in the finals last season, and I only won this thing once in year 2000. So one time, 24 years ago, just a long-suffering owner in this league. So last year, we had a great team. We made it to the finals, and I tried to get the other team to tank. And my offer was, we will do this year's draft at the White House.

If you do tank and let me win this trophy. And of course the draft was not at the white house because they did not tank. And it was more important to kick my butt in fantasy. And that's what happened. So there's a, couldn't even, couldn't even sway them with that. I love it. By the way, did you, did you guys have any sway or did you pick Marshawn back in the day in your fantasy football? He always went too high. Yeah. He always went too high. And I, I don't, I looked, I don't think I ever had him. And I was always, I,

I didn't have him because I was watching him. So I went to USC. So he was always like, oh, why is that guy so good? Recal, man, why did he not come to SC? Marshawn, why? And so he was one of those. Pete Carroll, man, that's why I didn't come. No, I never looked. I wish. He was always so good. What do you mean you always had Pete? Now I'm curious. What do you mean Pete Carroll? That's your guy. Come on.

Yeah, but not in college. I don't think I was ready for them. They was having too much fun over there. Yeah, well, see, I rooted if they weren't playing one of my teams, I was always rooting for Coach Carroll. It's funny how a lot of the SC people you see out there, look at Sam Darnold, you know, on the Vikings right now. So, look, I root for all the Trojans and coaches except if they're playing my team.

So Doug, you and the VP are massive sports fans. So if it's one day in the week and there's an NBA game, a football game, a baseball game, what are you guys watching? Well, she loves her Warriors. So if she's around and if it's for her, it's NBA over. And she loves her Warriors, man. And so the

The Laker warrior thing is real. The giant Dodger thing is real. That's next level real. And by the way, that's an issue for you, Doug. One time, Gavin, I was, there's this one like stock photo of me.

We went to a giant game and she's like, put this hat on. And it was a giant hat. And of course that became the Doug and Kamala picture. And every time that thing comes up, I'm like, tape that thing down. And it's all my LA friends are like, bro, come on, man. I imagine you've never gotten her in a Dodger hat, have you? I mean, because that ended the campaign. Oh, hell no, no. No, that's not going to happen. It's so funny. And it's not just her, it's her whole family. So it's got...

you know, her extended family is now, you know, texting all the time. If it's any LA Bay area matchup. Um, but you know, the Rams got, the Rams got on a couple of weeks ago. That was, uh, that was good. She has heard as Marshawn was when they left, uh, Oakland. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's a shame what happened. You sure do know how to press some buttons. Don't you? She's a daughter of Oakland. I mean, she, she's, was born there in Oakland. And, um,

Yeah, I mean, look, you had a city that had iconic franchises, and now they don't. So it's not great. Hey, Doug, I know our time's short, but with everything that is...

The sort of essential why, and that is what's going on in the next few weeks and what all of us need to be doing so that we don't dream of regretting on Election Day. I mean, you're out there, you're hearing from people directly. What is, I mean, in order to really close this,

Whatever gaps may be remaining, though, the vice president's looking at a really strong position. But as we say, polls don't vote, people vote. What can we be doing? What do you recommend folks that are listening in what they can do in the next few weeks to make sure she's successful? Right. We got 20 something days left. So this is it. This is the time to act. So first of all, it's close.

It shouldn't be this close, but it is. And people need to not get distracted and kind of see through this haze that Trump has put out there of gaslighting, misinformation, disinformation. He didn't do a good job the first time. He's going to be worse this time. It's going to be dangerous for people. People's lives will not be better. They'll be much worse, let alone who gets to pick the next Supreme Court justices. All the things that will impact people's lives, that calm is going to be

so much better on. So we just need to make sure people are actually paying attention to who they both are. That split screen on the debate said it all. Kamala's been out there each and every day on a full-blown media blitz. So if anyone wants to know more about her, there's lots of ways to learn more about her and her record and what she stands for and what she fights for, which is

which is you. But right now, it's on the ground. It's a ground game. We're competing in all seven swing states, and it's literally tied or just about tied, one up a little bit. But that's it. So people need to understand it's in their hands in these particular states. So I was in Georgia yesterday. I was in Arizona a couple of days before that. I'm in Pennsylvania tomorrow. So we're going right to the

locales where these folks have the opportunity to decide who will be the next president and what kind of world and what kind of country the rest of us are going to live in. So that's how we are all spending the remainder of our time going to where we need to win and just making sure people understand what that binary choice is. And Gavin, I know you've been out there, you're feeling the excitement and it's intergenerational too. I'm seeing, you know, the grandparents, the parents and the grandkids,

all fired up about her and coming out. So we had to turn that enthusiasm into registration and early voting and make sure people are canvassing, knocking on those doors, sending out those messages so we can have a future that we can all live in. And it's not all this chaos and drama that we knew what it was like before. And we can have a world that

you know, we can move forward in. And that's what it's all about right now. 20 something days left to do this. And I'm looking forward, I'm getting back out. I think we're in four States the next six days for you guys. And I agree with you. It's daylight and darkness, chaos versus competency, right versus wrong, everything at stake. And so look, Doug, I appreciate everything you've done. You've done such a great job as second gentleman, but you're about to make history again.

as first gentleman in the united states and we're looking forward to watching that history get made thank you all gavin doug marshall thanks a lot great podcast this was great i i'm gonna you have a new listener too so thank you all and uh let's get this done i'll see you on the other side take care thank you doug take care of you doug appreciate you man everybody

I'm NK, and this is Basket Case. What is wrong with me? A show about the ways that mental illness is shaped by not just biology, Swaps of different meds. but by culture and society. By looking closely at the conditions that cause mental distress, I find out why so many of us are struggling to feel sane,

what we can do about it, and why we should care. Listen to Basket Case every Tuesday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, everyone. It's Katie Couric. Well, the election is in the homestretch right in time for a new season of my podcast, Next Question. I'm bringing in some FOKs, friends of Katie's, to help me out, like Ezra Klein, Jen Psaki, Astead Herndon. But we're also going to have some fun, thanks to some of my friends like Samantha Bee and Charlemagne Tha God. We're

We're going to take some viewer questions as well. I mean, isn't that what democracy is all about? Check out our new season of Next Question with me, Katie Couric, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Joe Gatto. I'm Steve Byrne. We are Two Cool Moms. We certainly are. And guess where we could find us now? Oh, I don't know. The iHeart Podcast Network? That's right. We're an official iHeart podcast, and I'm super excited about it. I am too. I thought Two Cool Moms was such a fun podcast, but now it's even more funner and cooler and heartier. That's right. It's more iHeartier.

I knew it. Check your heart rate. We're here at iHeart. Yeah, you can find us wherever you listen to your podcasts or on the iHeartRadio app.