Judd Apatow Loves C-SPAN Speaker's Vote Coverage: 'Every Smile Gets Me The Willies'

When the U.S. House of Representatives attempted to elect a new president this week, political junkies were treated to a comedy of errors that could have been pulled straight from an Armando script Iannucci. GOP leader Kevin McCarthy's decade-long Sisyphean quest to clinch the presidency ran into another problem (14 of them, to be precise), as his rise to the job was blocked repeatedly by a handful of far-right members of his own party. who refused to vote for him.

While McCarthy finally managed to garner enough votes to be sworn in as president, the week of dramas created some incredible television. Many Americans noticed that the coverage on C-SPAN was far more interesting than the network's normally dry congressional programming, with the camera showing a slew of side conversations between representatives who would normally never see the light of day.

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The change in tone was due to Congressional leaders dictating what C-SPAN is and not being allowed to show. But since no one was in charge while Congress tried to elect a leader, the cameramen had carte blanche to tell the whole story.

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The cover caught Hollywood's attention. In a new story in The New Yorker, some of the film industry's best satirists delve into the human madness that cameras have been able to capture.

"Love the shots on the new 'loose' C-SPAN. It's kind of like C-SPAN after hours," said David Mandel, showrunner of 'Veep' and 'The White House Plumbers." "I love seeing the side talks, the attempts at negotiation, and most importantly, I love watching the Democrats try to pretend they're not taking advantage of every second."

Judd Apatow also expressed his admiration for the cover, adding that the caucuses between GOP representatives reminded him of "the scenes where the evil vampires, the Volturi clan, gather to conspire." Every smile scares me. They are clearly planning their attack on the Cullen family."

The entertainment value of the President's votes has not been lost on anyone, including the people who produced the C-SPAN cover.

"Oh, absolutely," said Benjamin O'Connell, director of editorial operations for C-SPAN. "I don't think anyone here has forgotten that we are participating in a historic event by showing something so unusual to the American people."

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