Veep Premiered 9 Years Ago Today

On April 22, 2012, HBO premiered Armando Ianucci's Veep, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus as fictional Vice President of the United States Selina Meyer, a role which won her six consecutive Emmys on a show that garnered a total of 17 of them.

In this clip from Season 1, Episode 1, Meyer struggles to improvise her way through a speech that was heavily redacted at the last minute, and the result forces her staff — her Chief of Staff Amy Brookheimer (Anna Chlumsky, six straight Emmy nominations), her personal aide Gary Walsh (Tony Hale, two Emmy wins), her Director of Communications Mike McLintock (Matt Walsh, 2 Emmy nominations) and his Deputy Director Dan Egan (Reid Scott) — into damage control mode.

Former Obama administration officials have claimed that Veep is the closest to the actual reality of governance than other prominent political shows like The West Wing or House of Cards. In a 2017 installment of Pod Save America interviewing later-season showrunner David Mandel, ex-Obama staffer Tommy Vietor claimed it was "because you guys nail the fragility of the egos, and the day-to-day idiocy of the decision-making.”

Veep ran for seven seasons, wrapping in May of 2019. 

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Andy Hunsaker has a head full of sitcom gags and nerd-genre lore, and can be followed @AndyHunsaker if you're into that sort of thing.