Richard Schiff — who played White House communications director Toby Ziegler on “The West Wing” — was spotted with real Beltway insiders last week.
The star was “going from meeting-to-meeting in Congress,” he said, where, “I cannot walk 10 feet in the halls … Republicans, Democrats, they’ve all watched … Someone on their staff always says, ‘You’re the reason I’m doing this.’ To which I always say, ‘I’m sorry.’” He was meeting with pols as part of the Creative Coalition’s push for National Endowment for the Arts funding.
While in town, Schiff also attended the annual Bytes & Bylines bash before the White House Correspondents Dinner — this year held at the Irish ambassador’s residence.
Said another guest of the scene, “As the night went on, people in the house needed to sleep.” But, “before everyone was kicked out, the last lingerers started singing the Irish folk ballad ‘Fields of Athenry’ in the living room” led by one happy Irish dignitary.
“I felt like I was in an Irish pub,” he said of the party, since he was just in Dublin in April for a live “West Wing Weekly” podcast. He’d also gone to Belfast to attend a conference marking the 20th anniversary of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, where Bill Clinton, former British PM Tony Blair and former Irish PM Bertie Ahern appeared.
The Bytes & Bylines bash — which is known for drawing media and tech types — was hosted by Allen Gannett, Eric Kuhn, John McCarthy, Susanna Quinn and Jon Steinberg.
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