As soon as Joe Biden pulled out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Kamala Harris as his successor, connections were made to HBO’s Veep, a show about a fictional female vice-president, Selina Meyer, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. So, naturally, this week Louis-Dreyfus is at the DNC in Chicago to host a panel of Democratic governors and show her support for the Harris-Walz ticket, and she stopped by The Late Show to chat with Stephen Colbert about the connection.
Back in 2020, when Harris first became vice-president, Louis-Dreyfus tweeted her support, referencing the show:
“Madam Vice President” is no longer a fictional character. @KamalaHarris pic.twitter.com/rg1fErtHGX
— Julia Louis-Dreyfus (@OfficialJLD) November 7, 2020
Talking with Colbert on Monday, Louis-Dreyfus said the 2020 tweet was “based on my experience on the show Veep,” adding, “And I’m hoping that I can post a similar thing in November that says, ‘Madame President is no longer a fictional character.’” But she wanted to clarify that Harris is not the same person as her character. “Let me explain to you: On Veep I played a narcissistic, megalomaniac sociopath, and that is not Kamala Harris,” she said. “It might be another candidate in the race.”
She did, however, concede one real-life connection to the show: J.D. Vance, she said, reminds her of Jonah Ryan, the obnoxious White House liaison turned vice-president played by Timothy Simons who, on the show, became the first vice-president in history to be impeached. “I’m sure he’s made love to many couches,” she joked.
