Julia Louis-Dreyfus Says Everybody Thinks ‘Veep’ Is About ‘The Other Guys’

The fifth season of vicious political satire Veep is about to start, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus is making the talk show rounds to promote it. On the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, she talks about how the genius of the show is that they never identify which political party everybody belongs to.

“I play a character who will pretty much say anything to stay alive politically. So, really, we just refer to the ‘other party,'” says Louis-Dreyfus. She also says that the show never parodies a real person. Still, the show ends up being so accurate, that politicians from both parties will go up to her and say, ” ‘It’s just like them.’ They always think it’s the people in the other party.”

Louis-Dreyfus also told Colbert that she got her ear charmingly talked off by real-life Veep Joe Biden at a White House state dinner. He was telling her “one fabulous story after another,” which is all well and good, but Louis-Dreyfus also wanted to meet JJ Abrams. “Of course, you can’t say to the vice president, ‘Excuse me, Mr. Vice President, I think I’m gonna go mingle.'”

In this last video, Louis-Dreyfus recalls having to wait for a seat at a White House state dinner with Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan. “She told me that she and Justice Scalia–who was of course alive at the time–they would get together every week and talk about the Veep episode from the night before.” When Colbert asks if they had a problem with Veep’s “scalding” language, Louis-Dreyfus answers that “she didn’t seem to have a problem with it. Free speech and all.” Damn.

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