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A new memoir from one of Barack Obama's speech writers will lift the lid on life inside the West Wing - and paint a picture of a surprising bro-culture in the White House.

David Litt, an aide in the White House for nearly all of Obama's presidency, reveals how he was part of an all-male, all-white and all under-40 team which produced speech after speech for the president.

He also reveals how the team - and other White House aides - drank, smoked, called each other 'bro', and liked - or pretended to like - only college basketball to please the president. 

One aide used his White House business card to sleep with a blonde D.C. newscaster and boast about it to his co-workers.

Behind-the-scenes: Former Senior Presidential Speechwriter David Litt (center) gives an unvarnished take on his four years as Obama's 'go-to' comedy writer in the White House

Litt does not name the woman, but says that the aide who slept with her was clearly uninterested in a continuing relationship with her.

The revelations are made in his upcoming memoir, Thanks, Obama: My Hopey Changey White House Years, which uncovers the team behind some of the president's most memorable speeches.

Litt, a Yale graduate who became one of the youngest White House speechwriters in history at the age of 24, reveals the apprehension that came with applying for a National Security Position in Washington with a history of recreational drug use.

All applicants were required to undergo an intense interrogation process - still, Litt remained honest.

'After some back-of-the-envelope math, I listed thirty instances of undergraduate marijuana use, plus one experience with mushrooms I made clear I hadn't enjoyed,' he writes.  

Litt, who is now head writer and producer for comedy website Funny or Die, became one of the youngest White House speechwriters in history at the age of 24 in 2011

'Each day my heart pounded as I scanned my inbox. Had something gone wrong with my urine sample? Had the vetters learned about the month in college when I paired thrift-store blazers with Looney Tunes pajamas and was certain I started a trend?'  

Despite drug use being rumored an 'automatic deal-breaker' for federal jobs, Litt was cleared to work for the president on April 1, 2011.

He later admits landing such a prestigious job was a benefit of 'privilege.' 

Inside the White House, Litt depicts a scene that is less House of Cards, and more of a fraternity house, particularly within his team.

Working alongside speechwriters Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Jeff Nussbaum, he tells how they called each other 'bro' and showed off their status in and outside of the White House.

'I studied the West Wing with my anthropological intensity, and had learned to translate my boss's unique dialect: the curt, one-line message,' he writes.

'The final category of email, and by far the most precious, was any message containing the words "boom!" or "bro," he adds. 

'These were special. They meant you were totally killing it and had established yourself as a valued member of the team.' 

As far as the dating scene in Washington, Litt describes, seduction was 'almost painfully easy,' as colleagues used their White House credentials to pick up women.  

'There was the winter, for example, when a blond local newscaster caught the eye of a co-worker. (I'll call him Chase, because that's what he enjoyed),' he writes. 

'Chase' pursued the news anchor by inviting her to holiday receptions and sports teams visits to the White House.

The book reveals the writing process behind Obama's speeches at the White House Correspondent's Dinner including the crude jokes that never made it to the final copy (Pictured: Obama working on his acceptance speech with Jon Favreau (center), Director of Speechwriting and campaign adviser David Axelrod, November 2012) 

A racially-loaded joke in reference to Obama's 'manhood' was scrapped from the final speech in 2011 which Litt describes, made the president 'laughed so loudly' (Pictured reading a draft of his remarks for the White House Correspondents Association dinner)

'Each time she arrived...he'd charm her for a few minutes, drop a couple of names, and then apologize for being so busy he couldn't stay.

'It was almost too easy. After sealing the deal, Chase bragged about his conquest, but anyone could tell he was just going through the motions.' 

Litt admits his White House business card had worked its magic on him on one occasion as well. 

He also told that the 'ultimate Oval Office power move' among the men was to take an apple as you left a meeting, polish it using your suit and 'take a casual chomp on your way out of the door'. 

He admits that he never did so himself, but he did amass a collection of presidential boxes of M&Ms.

He added that 'if chest bumping had been permitted in the Oval, we would have gone for it,' but instead the next best thing was to laugh with 'outsized' confidence while strutting from the room.

Obamaworld was also a place where there was no other choice but to like college basketball or pretend to like it, as the former president was known to be a huge fan.

As the president's go-to comedy writer, Litt also pulled the curtain back on some of the jokes for Obama's White House Correspondent's Dinner speeches which did not make the final cut.

In 2011, Litt had written in the gag about 2012 Republican presidential contender Tim Pawlenty in Obama's speech in response to the notorious birther conspiracy.

'You may think Tim Pawlenty's all-American, but have you heard his full name? That's right: Tim 'bin Laden' Pawlenty,' he wrote in as the original line. 

Rehearsal: In 2015, the White House teamed up with Comedy Central star Keegan-Michael Key to play Obama's 'anger translator' on stage 

During a rehearsal for the comedy skit which required Obama to refrain from laughing, the president said: 'The truth is, I'm pretty f***ing good at this'

'It was going to be epic. I couldn't wait,' he writes. 

To his dismay, the bin Laden line ended up being removed by the president himself.

Obama replaced the name with 'Hosni,' in reference to Hosni Mubarak, the corrupt former president of Egypt, and the joke fell flat.

In fact, the reason for Obama excising bin Laden was to become apparent the next day: before the speech, the president had been in the situation room, giving the go-ahead to the raid which killed the architect of 9/11.

Also that year, Litt reveals, the speechwriters took in the help of one of their 'comedy-world silent partners,' Girls and Freaks and Greeks producer Judd Apatow, who had written a joke torching the then-presidential hopeful Donald Trump.

Litt says that it left Trump 'as red and angry as a blister'. 

'"Well", I remember thinking, "that's the end of Donald Trump."'

And while Obama had earned a reputation for being an articulate speaker, Litt reveals the president struggled with timing while rehearsing for an audio recording to be played at the following year's dinner.

Speaking to the youth: The former president starred in a much-watched Buzzfeed video called Things Everyone Does But Doesn't Talk About, in a bid to pitch Obamacare to young people

Within 24-hours of the video release Litt said, 11million people had viewed the interview, and traffic to Healthcare.gov jumped to 40 per cent

He went badly wrong in rehearsal, and seemed set for failure.

However, during Obama's second attempt, he 'hit the precise words that sold each punch line best,' as if he had been rehearsing all day.

Behind the scenes, the commander-in-chief seemed to indulge in the bro-culture and join in on the banter while rehearsing with his team.

During a run-through of his speech for the 2012 Correspondents Dinner, one member of his team made a racially-loaded joke that referenced the president's manhood.

The line alluded to Vice President Joe Biden's remark that POTUS had a 'big stick' when it came to foreign policy.

'Let's put it this way, dreams aren't the only thing I got from my father,' speechwriter Jeff Nussbaum wrote as a joke.

According to Litt, 'POTUS laughed so loudly that I secretly hoped he would add the line to the script.'

However, he explains, a 'presidential d**k joke was a bridge too far' during an election year and the line was scrapped. 

During another rehearsal, Obama had been practicing lines for a skit involving Comedy Central star Keegan-Michael Key for the 2015 Correspondents Dinner. 

After the president was asked if the crew should return the next morning for another run-through, he responded: 'Nah...The truth is, I'm pretty f***ing good at this.'  

Obamaworld also had its own 'members-only' vocabulary, some of it distinctly impenetrable.

According to Litt, the term 'POTUS' was still a cool-kids-only word in 2011, but it was eventually shortened to 'P.'

However, there was one Obama quirk that managed to put off much of the staff, Litt reveals.

The president had a penchant for 'incessant whistling.'

'I'm not sure exactly when POTUS picked up this habit. Maybe 2014, maybe before. All I know for certain is that once he started, he couldn't be stopped,' Litt says.

He described how the whistling sound served as an 'informal barometer of power.'

How irritating you found it was an indicator of how much time you were in Obama's presence.

One senior aide - an unnamed assistant to the president, made clear his status by saying: 'It is really f***ing irritating.'

Litt says he was not senior enough to be annoyed.

Not so funny: In 2012, Litt had written a joke about how the president would look like Morgan Freeman by the end of his second term, to Obama's disapproval (Pictured in 2009, and 2016)

The book also lifts the veil on the administration's attempts to sell policies to younger voters, using the president's charisma and humor.  

Desperate to pitch Obamacare to young Americans in 2014, Litt describes how the White House turned to the internet as their plan of action.

It included Obama's famous appearance on the comedy talk show, Between Two Ferns, with funnyman Zach Galifianakis.

Within 24-hours of the video release Litt said, 11million people had viewed the interview, and traffic to Healthcare.gov jumped to 40 per cent. 

Still Obama was still receiving flak from the press, mainly about the early failure of the website.

Litt notes the following year, the White House turned to BuzzFeed to produce a video to 'shamelessly promote his law.'

The video features the president doing 'things everyone does but doesn't talk about.' It was popular in some circles but others questioned whether it was undignified for a president.

But by the end of that spring, millions had watched the viral clip and 'sixteen million more Americans were insured.'

Thanks, Obama will hit the shelves on September 19 

What Litt also says is that one of the Buzzfeed crew, a cameraman, left his business card with the president, urging him to take it in case he needed better filming in the future. 

And he also makes clear that in the first days of the healthcare.gov website fiasco, he did not trust it himself - despite the White House going into overdrive to assure people that it worked properly. 

The stress from being in the West Wing was an ailment that did not escape even the youngest of staff members, Litt revealed.

Most White House staff dealt with the pressure by drinking, smoking, and for some, running marathons.

And he suggests it wasn't just the aides who felt the strain. 

In 2012, the writer had crafted a joke about how Obama would look like actor Morgan Freeman by the end of his second term. 

The president however, was less than amused.

'"That's not even funny," he said.'

'Three years later, I could see his point.'  

Thanks, Obama by David Litt, will be released September 19 and is available for pre-order on Amazon.com