Former Congressman Marty Russo makes a cameo appearance on Alpha House.
It’s not often you have a chance to take a trip down memory lane while hanging out at a fake wedding on an all day TV show shoot.
The hit show “Alpha House” on Amazon.com is very (very) loosely based on the house in Washington DC which I shared with three other Democratic Members of Congress: George Miller, Leon Panetta, and Chuck Schumer. The new Alpha House is nothing like our house — they are four Republican Senators and have all sorts of strange escapades.
The original Alpha House was very focused on good politics and, as noted in this 1986 Wall Street Journal article, we used our camaraderie to build coalitions to get legislation passed.
But I have to admit it was fun to go to Long Island and make a cameo appearance in the season finale episode. Also appearing was a good friend — Former Congressman Sam Gejdenson who actually replaced me in the house when I left Congress. Both Sam and I had a one line cameo in the spotlight.
Joining us on the set and appearing in a separate cameo shot were MSNBC Anchor Alex Witt (as smart as she is lovely!) and Norm Ornstein (who is a master of one-liners).
It was impressive to see the chaos of what goes into filming a big scene with 300 extras and a handful of Washington types. John Goodman and his co-stars were gracious and seemed to get a kick out of meeting some of the original Alpha House roommates. I’ll keep you posted if my Hollywood lines make the final cut!
