The West Wing: 10 Greatest Ever Moments

Joshua “Lemon” Lyman is one of the show’s most vital ingredients, and with good reason is many people’s favourite character. He’s witty, charming, demonstrably one of the keenest political minds of his generation, and his will they/won’t they relationship with Donna is a heart-warming mainstay of the show. He’s also however, capable of being a bit of an arrogant arse.

In this episode, the illegal arrest of Supreme Court nominee Roberto Mendoza and it's potential consequences was the primary dramatic thrust. The extremely welcome comic relief however was focused on CJ requiring emergency root-canal surgery and her resultant inability to hold the daily press briefing. When Josh decides to step up and cover for CJ, the look on her face speaks volumes as she foresees the potential disaster ahead.

Sure enough, after Josh makes the mistake of being rather condescending to Danny on his way to the podium, he proceeds to host the world’s worst ever press briefing that saw the press corps tear him apart and ended with him inadvertently suggesting the President had a “secret plan to fight inflation”.

Josh’s shell-shocked look as he exits the briefing room is a joy to behold, a joy matched only by CJ’s angry dressing-down delivered through a heavily swollen mouth. Hubris proved Josh's downfall on several occasions, but this is undoubtedly the prime example of his cockiness completely getting the better of him. Bradley Whitford was always a strong comedic performer, but his work here is exceptional, swinging from cocksure swagger one minute, to sheer unadulterated panic the next.