The White House Brings Big Block of Cheese Day Back January 21, with ‘The West Wing’ Helping Out [Video]

The White House claims it's dedicated to making President Barack Obama's administration the most open and accessible in history.

So, it's bringing back the publicly-accessible Big Block of Cheese Day on Wednesday, Jan. 21.

From The White House:

That's why, for the second year in a row, we thought it'd be a gouda idea to brie-unite a certain cast of characters to help us bring back a tradition that dates back to the days of President Andrew Jackson.

"On February 22, 1837, President Jackson had a 1,400-pound block of cheese hauled into the main foyer of The White House for an open house with thousands of citizens and his staff, where they discussed the issues of the day while carving off slabs of cheddar."

On Wednesday, in honor of President Jackson (and to President Josiah Bartlet for fans of NBC's "The West Wing," with the show's cast helping promote the event), is The White House's second annual virtual Big Block of Cheese Day.

The tradition was brought back to life fictionally during the first season (1999-2000) of "The West Wing."

“We called because we wanted to talk to you about Big Block of Cheese Day,” "West Wing" actor Bradley Whiteford, who played White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman, tells White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest in a video promoting the event.

Other "West Wing" cast members Allison Janney, Richard Schiff, Dule Hill, Mary McCormack and Martin Sheen also make appearances in the video. They also did a public-service reunion video in 2012 reminding people to vote on the non-partisan selection of election ballots in places like Michigan.

Obama administration members are going to be using social media to answer questions about the president's State of the Union address and other issues.

Log on to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr, and ask away using the hashtag #AskTheWH.

The State of the Union address is 9 p.m. EST Tuesday (Jan. 20) from the chambers of the U.S. House of Representatives on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. visit WhiteHouse.gov/SOTU and television networks to watch.