There were a lot of new developments in the season-four premiere of Veep, the most welcome one arguably being Patton Oswalt’s appearance as the vice-president’s chief of staff. While many members of Selina’s team have new job titles that require them in the West Wing more often, Jonah Ryan is back as liaison to the vice-president, meaning he gets to spend some close time with Oswalt’s character (perhaps too close). At the Evening With the Cast of Veep at the Paley Center in New York recently, Timothy Simons described exactly how the moment with Oswalt grabbing his balls felt.
“There is like this silent negotiation on set between Patton and I in the lead-up,†Simons said, “because I don’t know if he has ever been in a sex scene before, but I haven’t because like, nobody wants to see that. [Laughs.]â€
His cast members latched onto two words:
Gary Cole: A sex scene!
Julia Louis-Dreyfus: You’re calling it a sex scene?
Matt Walsh: That’s not a sex scene.
JLD: Have you had sex?!
TS: Well, hold on.
JLD: Because that is not how it works, man.
Kevin Dunn: What you watch in your spare time, that is not a sex scene.
TS: I think I know what it is. I got my wife pregnant. I got my wife pregnant, so I think I have a solid idea of what it is. You stand right next to them and then you grab their genitals. I think what I’m trying to say if I could get these fucking jokers off my back for one second is that I have never had to navigate anyone, any co-workers’ genitalia at work before. I’ve never had to do that, so there was a silent negotiation of, like, wardrobe comes up and is like, “Do you want to wear a cup?†and Patton and I are just standing right next to each about to do this and like, “I mean, do you … should I?†You both get just so uncomfortable that it’s like, “I don’t know.â€
KD: Does props have to set up spare balls?
Here’s Patton Oswalt getting intimate with Jonah: