Veep boss: "I want to be very clear about this: Selina Meyer would hate Kamala Harris"

Los Angeles Times

Former Veep showrunner David Mandel spoke to the Los Angeles Times about Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' victory, the similarities to the events of the past week to the show's Nevada storyline, the surreality of the Four Seasons Total Landscaping story and what advice Selina Meyer would give to the first-ever female vice president. "The funniest thing to me, just conceptually, is Veep seems more popular now than when we were actually on the air," says Mandel, who spoke to Julia Louis-Dreyfus on Saturday. "I feel like more people are discussing it than when we were actually on regular HBO on Sunday night. We’re getting more relevant — maybe not for good reasons, but we’re getting more relevant. In terms of what’s gone on, honestly, I do take a little pride in it. We took the non-humor part of Veep very seriously. We always had just fantastic consultants, from both sides of the aisle: Democrats and Republicans. And I myself was a government major in college. Me and Julia, we took that part of the show really seriously and so when we were talking about what happens in disputed elections or what would happen in these various [election outcomes], we did our research, and so obviously we were always trying to think about what could happen; we didn’t think it would happen. Sometimes we were looking even for what’s the craziest thing that might happen. I don’t take any credit for it happening. But we were definitely trying to think of insane things that could happen." Mandel also discussed the Four Seasons Total Landscaping story, which he says is stranger than fiction. "I’ve got to be honest with you," he says, "I feel like if we had like taken this to a table read ... Don’t get me wrong: People would have been like, 'Oh, I love the laughs; I love that thing with the Four Seasons, that was good.'" As for the advice Harris would give, Mandel says: "I want to be very clear about this: Selina Meyer would hate Kamala Harris. There’s just no question about how much she would hate her. She would hate her intelligence, she would hate to know how much people like her, how popular she is. So I don’t think she would readily give advice — but if truly pressed, perhaps in the middle of the night and a little drunk, maybe. Some of the things Selina would hate about her ... Kamala is so readily ahead of where Selina ever was. She has a really great incredible staff around her that I’m sure will only get better. Mainly, Selina would say, don’t hire Amy Bruckheimer — that would be her key, key piece of advice. And definitely don’t hire Mike McClintock."