There’s so much talk about Duos on The West Wing-President Bartlet and Leo, Toby and Sam, Josh and Donna-But there probably has been none better than that of Ed and Larry. Ed and Larry are always together, to the point that it is hard to tell which one’s Ed, and which one’s Larry. When you look up the name of one of them, the other pops up right beneath. In fact, William Duffy once mentioned that sometimes writer Aaron Sorkin would mix up which one was which when writing their lines.

To clear up any confusion, Ed is played by actor Peter James Smith while Larry is played by actor William Duffy.

The characters of Ed and Larry are fan favorites, and, although not part of the main cast, they are in all 7 seasons, and for good reason, they are hilarious! Also, they are necessary to demonstrate that it is not just the main characters of The West Wing that work in the real White House, but that there are tons of staffers who run things every day. In fact, Aaron Sorkin has said that Ed and Larry represent 20 to 30 people in the real White House.

I thought that this would be a good time to talk about the actors.

Peter James Smith, who plays Ed, was born on a US Air Force base in Taiwan and moved to the United States of America at the age of 1. He was in the Mega-Hit ER(there was a casting connection to The West Wing, and John Wells was both an ER and The West Wing executive producer.) He was invited to read for a part in The West Wing, and actually read his lines opposite of Aaron Sorkin, not realizing that it was he who wrote the show. Although he sassed Sorkin after he told him that he was done reading after his first 2 lines, he still got the part. His past credits include some of the most popular shows of the last 30 years, including 24, CSI Miami, Spin City, Friends, ER, and Party of Five.

William Duffy, who plays Larry, got aquatinted with Aaron Sorkin in 1992 on the National Tour of Few Good Men(Joshua Malina was also in the tour), where he was part of the ensemble and an understudy for Daniel Kaffee and Jack Ross. He originally auditioned for the role of Sam Seaborn(but when he heard that Rob Lowe was auditioning, he knew he was in trouble.) Other credits of his include Criminal Minds, Scandal(also with Joshua Malina), NCIS, ER, and Beverly Hills 90210, he also does a lot of voice acting, including in another one of Aaron Sorkin’s shows, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

The episode Lord John Maurbry was the first time that they had a full scene together, and when both the actors started to realize that they would continue to be on the show. They were hilarious in this episode, and in it may be one of my favorite Ed and Larry Scenes (along with them pranking Donna by giving her a fax saying a satellite is going to crash into the Earth) in which they pull together a hilarious briefing for CJ from The Encyclopedia Britannica. The inclusion of Larry and Ed in The West Wing helps the show to bear more resemblance to the real world while adding an extra layer of comedy. Thank you to these amazing actors! Also, thanks to The West Wing Weekly, one of my favorite podcasts, where I got a lot of the information for this post.