Emergency Powers

"Emergency Powers" is the fourth episode of the first season of *Morning Show,* a segment of *It's All Been Done Radio Hour*. It was first performed on June 8, 2019 as the second segment in Show XLVIII. It was released as podcast episode 242.

Written by Jerome Wetzel

Directed by Samantha Stark

Previous episode: "Bro Code"

Next episode: *Packer & Ratcliff* "The Pursuit of Packer"

## **The Story**

As the episode begins, it has been two weeks since *Morning Show* launched. It's almost 6 AM and Shelly Meyers, Pat Shock, and Gus Goodall await the arrival of their gues, who is late. Shelly insists she confirmed with staff this morning, and she'll be there. Pat says he is ready for his upcoming interview, but seems quite nervous. He asks if Shelly can put a mic in his ear, but she says they aren't really set up for that. She expresses her faith in him.

Mayor Regina Hayes enters with seconds to spare, and sits in the studio. As the show starts, Mayor Hayes calls her crimes alleged and insists that she is innocent. Shelly starts ranting in the booth, unheard in the studio or on the air. Gus taunts Regina about her so-called 'witch hunt,' which Pat maintains professionalism and pushes forward.

Mayor Hayes than announces that she's enacting emergency powers to deal with climate change and making the city a leader in the effort, since the federal government is pulling out of international deals, and the president and Congress have done nothing to act. Pat accuses her of manufacturing a crisis to distract from her scandal, since other than being slightly hotter, Columbus has not felt the effects of climate change. (It is mentioned that other areas have suffered much worse weather patterns and effects.) Mayor Hayes insists she must act now before lives are lost. Her plans include making recommendations to citizens to save power with clean energy, setting up a commission to make changes at the local level, and suing the federal government for failing to act. Pat points out that it would be cheaper for the city to sign on to an existing lawsuit that other cities started, but Regina just says she must fight for the citizens.

Pat tries to steer the talk back to her personal issues. Mayor Hayes calls it nothing but rumors, but Pat says there is hard evidence that he's seen. As she continues to try to hijack the conversation, Pat states that she was explicitly booked to talk about the scandal, and her staff promised she was planning to resign on air. Mayor Hayes calls the show trash and claims once more her innocence.

Gus taunts Mayor Hayes further, and she is about to walk out. Pat calms her, but insists they talk about the agreed-upon topic or the interview is over. Mayor Hayes asserts that she decides when it's over, and Pat says no, this is his show. He then tells her how much he respects her office and many of the accomplishments she's done, which she is happy to list. Pat agrees that is relevant, and some may be willing to see past her indiscretions if she owned up to them. He mentions that while exposing her helped him professionally, it has hurt him personally. Pat also says she has a responsibility for her actions, and asks if the ends justify the means? He asks if she'll be the hero he's thought of her as and take ownership of her crimes. She continues to insist she didn't do anything wrong, and Pat takes the show to commercial.

As soon as the mics are off, Mayor Hayes lays into Pat and threatens to sue him for slander. Pat returns that he meant everything he said. Mayor Hayes wants to defend herself when they return from break, but Shelly says they got what they needed. She rails, and Shelly says she always thought Regina was slimy. Regina says she will speak to Shelly's boss.

At that moment, Brooks Dylan comes in, having been listening from upstairs. He asks Gus to show Regina out. Regina says if she's going down, Brooks is coming with her. He replies that they'll see, before leaving while muttering about his hosts.

Pat and Shelly agree that, despite him being idealistic and she being a cynic, they make a good team.

## **Guest Starring**

* Dino Tripodis as the narrator
* Samantha Stark as Mayor Regina Hayes
* Ryan Yohe as Brooks Dylan

## **Re-run**

This episode was rerun at the Columbus Arts Festival on Sunday, June 9, 2019, less than twenty-four hours after its initial performance. As such, there is almost no difference between the two versions, unlike most re-runs. Wind can be heard in that re-run, as it was done outside. The podcast version of the re-run was released exclusively to Patreon donors.

All of the troupe members in the segment were present at the special performance, but there was a different guest narrator. Sean Taylor did the honors. Jerome Wetzel filled in as Foley and directed the show.

## **Trivia**

* There are two major mistakes in both versions of this episode. Pat calls the radio station WBD, leaving out the U. Gus and the narrator refer to the character as Gus Goodale, instead of Goodall. It is likely Jerome looked at the pilot script to find Gus' last name and used the original version. The upcoming episode "Halloween" refers to both of these mistakes and explains them in-canon.
* Ryan Yohe added the sarcasm to Brooks' departing dialogue, perfectly in character, but is why the following Shelly and Pat lines don't quite add up, as his "nice job" was not originally intended to be sarcastic.