Did Veep predict the future? Let’s wait for the results. You might have seen online that the current president dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, and now our female vice-president is looking to take over the position. And you might have noticed that this is also the plot of Veep. Well, a lot of other people also noticed, including the cast and creative team. Below, the latest political-comedy commentary from showrunner David Mandel, creator Armando Iannucci, and star Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Veep creator Armando Iannucci
July 21: The show’s creator, Armando Iannucci, was the first to here to clarify: There was no crystal ball. “Don’t forget we made all that up, though,†Iannucci wrote on X on July 21 in response to a fan who compared our current real life to the plot of the show. Another user wrote, “This show. It’s always this show,†to which Iannucci responded, “Is it?†And fair — honestly, sometimes it’s not. Did any of Kamala Harris’s staff get a nosebleed at any of this news? No, really, we’re curious. Maybe we should get a camera crew up in there.
Showrunner David Mandel
July 24: David Mandel, who took over as showrunner in season five of Veep after Iannucci left, gave his opinions on the comparisons to The Hollywood Reporter. Mostly, he likes them. “I get driven crazy when people try to use Veep to diminish [Harris],†he said, adding that he likes it when Veep is used to celebrate Harris, but that “there are assholes who are using it differently.†“Surprise surprise, Kamala is a woman of color, and it seems like those people are using it as a simple way of insulting her,†he said. “So I don’t like that part.†He also added one more political hot take that stems from being a TV writer. “The real failure of the Writers Guild strike is that the guild did not figure out how to get The Simpsons and Veep writers residuals for when they correctly predicted the future.†We agree, and when a local high school gets sent back to the 1950s, the writers of Riverdale will be vindicated.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
August 20: While the rest of us are having fun drawing comparisons between Vice-President–to–President Selina Meyer and VP Kamala Harris, the woman who played Meyer is a little less convinced. While on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Louis-Dreyfus both acknowledged the similarities between Meyer’s and Harris’s situations and also took a moment to point out the differences between the two women. “On Veep, I played a narcissistic, megalomaniac sociopath,†Louis-Dreyfus said. “And that is not Kamala Harris.†Then she added: “It might be another candidate in the race.†With Trump now in the race for “most Selina Meyer†candidate, the winner will be decided when either Trump or Harris gets a pixie cut.