NBC's "State of Affairs": Private Set Tour & Actors on Real-Life Daily Briefs

Mickey Novak here, for Young Hollywood, on the set of State of Affairs, on NBC. You can now see why Katherine Heigl gets paid the big bucks. Can we get started? Thanks.

Hey, I'm Tommy Savas from NBC's State of Affairs.

I'm Nikki Novak from Young Hollywood and this is

This is good ol' honest Dave.

It is. We're here with the voiceover extraordinaire, Adam Kaufman.

Yeah. I'm everywhere.

I am here with Cliff Chamberlain. You look dashing.

I do. Thanks.

I feel really underdressed here today on the set of State of Affairs.

You gotta bring your A-game. You gotta be qua.

But I don't say that about yourself. I'm here with Sheila Van. Good to see you.

Thank you. Good to see you.

You just told me that you're this is the last episode you're shooting.

Yes.

Is has anybody cried yet?

Not yet. Nostalgic. Saturday's our last day, so

Yeah, you can feel the nostalgia already. It's like Really? How do I make this my screensaver right now?

Um, you don't have the clearance for that. This is something you've seen, you always see when you see the Oval Office, this is that secret. This side doesn't look cool, but on the other side you'll see this is that secret round door. You see?

I haven't seen what's on the other side yet. You ready?

Yeah.

This is the Oval Office.

It sure is.

You were not kidding. Pretty cool, no?

It is an office and it is oval shaped.

It is oval. Hence the name. So this is where President Constance Payton also known as wonderful Alfre Woodard sits. Today, Nikki Novak is gonna sit in the. You gotta do it. So Adam posted an Instagram video singing Don't Stop Believing.

Yeah.

saying that he listens to that on the way to work every morning.

Yeah.

And I've heard about a bromance happening between you two of these.

Yeah. Yeah.

How do you reciprocate such feelings?

Yeah, no, I I send him uh finger paints. I said you're favorite color. It's blue. Yeah. Yeah. No, um, no, I I I send him uh finger paints. Favorite paints. And then, you know, depending on my mood, blue or red.

Don't Stop Believing?

Yes. I like to sing it to Tommy on my way to work.

You do, don't you? We'll allow me. Just be a gentleman here. Go ahead. Oh, thank you so much. The reason I called you here today in a mini skirt is ruling the free world in a mini skirt. Are you gonna brief me? You have the PDB on the show. Yes. What how would you feel about a CDB? Oh, Cliff. Yes. Daily brief where in the morning, somebody sort of came to you with, you know, a list of 10 things you should focus on for the day.

Daily brief. Like what I'm going to eat?

Yeah, like where I'm going to be driving. Yeah, like don't you know, we do the work on one night, but don't think about this. This isn't important to your life right now.

Oh, gosh. I would love a briefer. A briefer in the morning. To start your day. Don't you think?

I guess it's like a personal assister

Yeah, exactly. In a way. Which is also my biggest dream in life. These are the top 10 things you need to focus on today. Forget about that.

I had that.

Did you? It was called childhood. What would I want to go back to that?

That's a really good point. This is David DP's office, David Harbour. The uh Secretary of State's office. And then I don't know what's in, this is going to be, we can find out together what's in here. Have you never checked?

I'm gonna guess it's a dartboard.

I'm going to guess it's a dartboard.

And that'd be correct. There you go. One point me. Dartboard. Look at that. Wonderful.

Yeah. Why not, right? A bit of holes in the set. Oh! All right, watch it. Ready? Watch this. All right. Okay, you win. Anyway. Move it on. Moving on. Yes. Yes, ma'am. Put that on the list. Yes, ma'am. And then my 2 o'clock, get rid of the 2 o'clock. I never liked that guy. Yeah, something. Um and then, you know, right here, I just think we need to address this a little. You know, I think you need to do your work, you need to tighten that up a little bit. I need to be, have a little bit more information than that.

You just nailed it. You just nailed it. Congratulations. You nailed it. I really liked the job. You have the Emmy, I think. There you go.

Catherine said something about how the briefer, a briefer is like the president's secret weapon. Okay. Do you have a secret weapon as an actor?

Secret weapon as an actor? That you can reveal. As a matter of fact, I do. No. Don't give away all your secrets. Honestly, I'm learning more and more that it's so much just about being myself and not like trying to fit any sort of mold or I think it used to be like, okay, this is the character and I have to put this character on. And now I'm like, I think I'm actually cooler than most characters out there, so I'm just gonna be myself.

Probably my most top secret weapon as an actor is that I write my lines everywhere. Cause everybody finds my little post-it notes with my lines in there.

Yeah. In case you forget?

Yeah. Really? Well, or in case I just never learn them.

So now we're going into the Op Center. Yeah. This is some high security stuff, so you gotta you know, lean in. Yeah. Is it like fingerprint? No, I can't show you the code. There we go. Ready? I got it. Um, but yeah, Op Center. Uh this is where you see us on the show. You know, going after the terrorists. Wow. Fighting the missing girls, curing Ebola, all that kind of fun stuff. Uh, just light fair.

Yeah, exactly. If you look at all of the screens, they all have different Wow. cool things going on.

Yeah. Just saying, the traffic report. Oh, I can figure out which way to take home. Don't take the 101. 101 is slammed. 405 looks wide open. Got it. Uh cool satellite images. Wait, that's my backyard. What are you guys doing? That's awkward.

Are you more of an over analyzer as a person or a trust your gut kinda guy?

I think I'm very much a trust your gut kinda guy.

Yeah. I could have said that before you answered.

Yeah. I like to, you know, follow my feelings and kinda do what my heart tells me to do.

Probably over-analyzer.

Are you?

Yeah, I'm a Libra, so I I'm always like doubt.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I get it. I'm an over-analyzer too, yeah. I think most actors are. Like, how can you not be in your head in a business like this? Right. What or who is your spirit animal?

Yeah, it's Sheila Van.

I thought you were gonna say Oprah.

Nope. Sheila Van. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, it's cool. I got a chance to actually visit the CIA where I was in prep for this show.

Stop it.

I did. I was super lucky. Took them like a month and a half to vet me out to let me go, to make sure I wasn't a terrorist. It's pretty dead on how this looks as compared to.

You're kidding. What did you find out?

Well, I didn't get to see any of the really cool secret stuff, obviously.

They kept you out on purpose. They thought you seemed a little shady.

But their cafeteria looks just like our cafeteria. Okay. And their bathrooms, uncanny.

They have good food?

Yeah. No.

And even though you're a happily married man. Kristen Stewart.

Oh. Casey, that's my girl. You didn't call her Casey. She has the same eyelashes. I kind of don't want to meet her cuz I feel like when I meet her then I I won't have a crush on her anymore. You know what I mean? She's an arse. No, I'm kidding. No, she's actually the nicest. I've met her.

I'm jealous. Maybe you can hook it up.

I can. Well, I mean.

You're new.

Yeah, you know, I'm just I'm saying. Yeah. Like on the screen. Like as a screen romance. Yes. Yeah.

This is the, we'll go over here. This is cool. This is the burn shoot. So this is where you'll see us throwing all of our confidential things down.

Oh, right. Now, this really exists, right? And this really is. At the CIA?

Yeah. Yeah. Um, fun fact, this burn shoot doesn't go anywhere. It just it ends right there.

Now, do your pockets.

Nope. Nor do my pockets. You wanna point that out? These are fake pockets. Why? I do not know.

Are you more of an air guitarist, a hairbrush singer, or a steering wheel uh drummer? What do you think?

Air guitar 100%. I can shred. I will shred your for now. That's not for now. I'll hairbrush sing. I will shred your face off with air guitar.

Wow. That's harsh.

Yeah. That's how good I am. Really? I'm that good.

Steering wheel drumming for sure.

I've been playing air guitar for like 35 years. Yeah. I learned this when I was prepping to audition for Blue Man Group.

Professional at this point?

Well, you can go pro. Yeah. Bar Mitzvah. Bar Mitzvah parties. That's what you'd be doing. Hmm. Wow. If I wasn't acting, yeah. Marshmallow.