Julia Louis-Dreyfus Shares a ‘Veep’ Story Involving Hillary Clinton

Julia Louis-Dreyfus arrived at the 2024 Democratic National Convention (DNC), making a stop on Stephen Colbert’s Late Show ahead of hosting an event with the country’s Democratic women governors. Colbert is hosting his late-night show live from Chicago during the DNC, filming from the Auditorium Theater, located close to the United Center where the convention is held. Louis-Dreyfus and Hillary Rodham Clinton, one of the DNC’s opening night speakers, were among his first guests. Backstage, Louis-Dreyfus expressed her excitement, calling the experience “Divine.” She then shared the amusing story of her first interaction with Clinton.

In 2013, while Veep was in its second year, Louis-Dreyfus received a signed buck slip from Clinton, gifted by her hair and makeup team on the show. On Veep, Louis-Dreyfus played Selina Meyer, the first fictional female Vice President and later the first fictional female President in the Emmy-winning HBO comedy. The note Clinton wrote, which Louis-Dreyfus brought with her to Colbert, read: “Julia, you’re a great VEEP. Hope you can get gun control, immigration reform and job creation this season!” The note was dated January 29, 2013.

Later, when Clinton’s emails were hacked and leaked in 2016, Louis-Dreyfus and Colbert recalled discovering an email that led to her receiving the gift. The email showed Clinton seeking advice on what to sign for Julia, humorously misspelling her name as “Lewis.” This admission cracked up both Colbert and Louis-Dreyfus, and she revealed that she had framed both the note and the email side by side, bringing that framed piece to the show as well.

“This represents to me — and I say this with all respect, of course, to Secretary Clinton — but this represents to me Washington, D.C. and really, it’s kind of a little Veep moment. It’s what we were satirizing very extremely on Veep,” she shared. Colbert suggested that on the show, Matt Walsh’s character, Mike McClintock, would have handled such a task for her character. She humorously noted, “It probably would have been more botched. She obviously handled it very elegantly.”

Louis-Dreyfus first shared this story in 2016 with The Hollywood Reporter, calling it “perfect.” She mentioned that her on-set hairstylist, who had worked with Clinton, facilitated this admiration exchange. The framed notes have since taken a place of pride in her office.

The Clinton story reflects the early days of Veep, a time when the show was appreciated across the political spectrum. This nostalgic period is something that Louis-Dreyfus, showrunner David Mandel, and creator Armanda Ianucci have come to cherish. The trio has recently revisited the series, which has seen a resurgence in popularity following Kamala Harris’s nomination as the 2024 presidential candidate for the Democratic party.

Louis-Dreyfus noted that politics have grown more divisive in recent years. “I think in the last few years, the culture of politics has become much more venal,” said Louis-Dreyfus. “So when we started we were pushing against reality, but now less so, certainly in terms of the nastiness of the communication.”

Earlier on Colbert’s show, Louis-Dreyfus reiterated her support for Harris’s presidential bid. Reflecting on Harris’s election as Vice President in 2020, she shared her hopeful outlook for November’s elections: “I’m hoping that I can post a similar thing in November that says ‘Madam President’ is no longer a fictional character.”

Recalling a favorite Veep scene where her character berates Walsh’s character for starting a speech with, “As a woman,” Louis-Dreyfus highlighted the harsh treatment of women in politics. Comparing her Veep character to Harris, she stressed, “On Veep, I played a narcissistic, megalomaniac, sociopath and that is not Kamala Harris. It might be another candidate in the race.” She humorously compared Jonah Ryan, played by Timothy Simons, to J.D. Vance, adding, “I’m sure he’s made love to many couches…a sleeper sofa,” referring to GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s running mate.

Next, Louis-Dreyfus is set to spotlight other women leaders in an upcoming panel with the Democratic Governors Association. On August 21, the third day of the DNC, she will host a panel with the country’s eight Democratic women governors from Arizona, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, and Oregon. “After this election, it might even be 11 Democratic women governors, you never know,” she told Colbert.

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