Julia Louis-Dreyfus takes up a very “Veep” story about Hillary Clinton

Julia Louis-Dreyfus has landed at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, where she will be attending Stephen Colbert’s Late Show before hosting an event with the country’s Democratic female governors on Wednesday.

Colbert is hosting his late-night show live from Chicago during the DNC events this week, filming at Chicago’s Auditorium Theater, just off the convention center’s United Center. And Louis-Dreyfus and Hillary Rodham Clinton – one of the DNC’s opening night speakers – were two of his first guests. The women had the chance to interact backstage – “So exciting! Divine,” Louis-Dreyfus said – and when the Veep As the star sat down on Colbert’s couch, she recounted the hilarious story of the very first time the two met.

In 2013, the second year in which Veep was on the air, Louis-Dreyfus told the story of how people in her hair and makeup department on the show gave her a signed letter from Clinton. Louis-Dreyfus played Selina Meyer, the first fictional vice president and eventually the first fictional president, in HBO’s Emmy-winning comedy.

Clinton’s note, which the actress brought to Colbert, read: “Julia, you are a great Vice President. I hope you can pass gun control, immigration reform and job creation this season!” The note was dated January 29, 2013.

Then, in 2016, when Clinton’s emails were hacked and published online, Louis-Dreyfus and Colbert recalled how Louis-Dreyfus found the email from Clinton that prompted her to participate in the giveaway.

“A friend wants me to sign something for Julia Lewis-Dreyfus for Veep. Any ideas?” the actress read, quoting Clinton and emphasizing her misspelled name in the email. The reply to Clinton was, “Let me brainstorm/do some research on this. I must confess, I haven’t seen the show!”

This admission drew laughter from both Colbert and Louis-Dreyfus, who said she ended up framing both Clinton’s farewell note and printed email side by side (and brought the latter with her).

“For me, this represents – and I say this with all due respect to Secretary Clinton, of course – but for me, this represents Washington, DC, and it is really a little Veep Wait a minute. That’s what we portrayed in a very satirical way. Veep”, she says.

When Colbert suggested that Matt Walsh’s Mike McClintock could have taken on such a task for her character on the show, she joked, “That probably would have been even more botched. She obviously handled it very gracefully.”

Louis-Dreyfus first told the story of the note behind the note with The Hollywood Reporter in 2016 and said: “I mean, it’s perfect – just perfect,” she said, as if she was coming out of a Veep script. Louis-Dreyfus – whose hairdresser had worked with Clinton on the set and expressed her admiration – kept the framed notes in her office.

The Clinton story represents the happy days of Veepwhich was famously enjoyed by both sides of the aisle in the political satire’s early seasons, a nostalgic time that star Louis-Dreyfus, showrunner David Mandel and creator Armanda Ianucci all look back on with more affection lately than in recent years when politics have become so divisive. The trio revived the series as it experienced a viral resurgence and a surge in viewership after Kamala Harris rose to the top of the Democratic Party ticket as a 2024 presidential candidate.

“I think in recent years the culture of politics has become much more corrupt,” said Louis-Dreyfus, who has been on the show for seven seasons. Veep and has won multiple Emmys, said recently. “So when we started out, we were contradicting reality, but now that’s less the case, especially in terms of the meanness of the communication.”

Earlier, Louis-Dreyfus spoke on Colbert about her support for Harris’ presidential candidacy and recited her social media post from when Harris was elected the country’s first female vice president in 2020: “Madam Vice President” is no longer a fictional character, she wrote. “I hope to post something similar in November saying that ‘Madam President’ is no longer a fictional character,” she said.

She quoted a memorable Veep scene in which she scathingly criticized Walsh’s character for starting one of her speeches with “As a woman,” as her favorite example of how harshly women are treated in politics. And she made it clear that she would not draw comparisons between her Veep Character and Harris: “On VeepI played a narcissistic, megalomaniacal sociopath, and that’s not Kamala Harris. That could be another candidate in the race.” She also called Jonah Ryan, the character played by Timothy Simons, the most JD Vance-like. “I’m sure he’s slept with a lot of couches… a sofa bed,” she said with a giggle of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s running mate.

Next, Louis-Dreyfus will spotlight other female leaders when she joins forces with the Democratic Governors Association. On August 21, the third day of the DNC, Seinfeld The star, producer and activist will moderate a panel discussion on August 21 with the country’s eight Democratic female governors: Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly, Maine Governor Janet Mills, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Oregon Governor Tina Kotek.

“After this election, there could even be 11 Democratic female governors, you never know,” she told Colbert.