Posted in: HBO, Max, TV | Tagged: david mandel, HBO, julia louis-dreyfus, kamala harris, San Diego Comic Con 2024, veep

Veep: Julia Louis-Dreyfus on Series Getting Bump from VP Kamala Harris

Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus & showrunner David Mandel on the show's resurging popularity since VP Kamala Harris announced her run.

Veep might have wrapped its series run on HBO in 2019, but the series shot back up in the polls as of late with viewership skyrocketing thanks to a case of life imitating art with Vice President-turned-Democratic presidential frontrunner Kamala Harris after President Joe Biden's shocking withdrawal from the 2024 race. Harris's rise parallels Julia Louis-Dreyfus's character Selina Meyer, who emerged from VP to the presidency in the Armando Iannucci comedy. Louis-Dreyfus commented on the recent surge in viewership to Entertainment Weekly while promoting Marvel's Thunderbolts* at San Diego Comic-Con.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus "Happy People Are Getting a Kick Out of" 'Veep'

"It's been a wild thing to witness. Viewership went up something insane like 350 percent," Louis-Dreyfus said. "I'm delighted. I'm happy people are getting a kick out of it. And I know that Kamala Harris is — big time." The first season of Veep saw a 353 percent increase in viewership on July 22nd following Biden's announcement and subsequent endorsement of Harris for the Democratic nomination, with the Democrat National Convention now a mere three weeks away, planned for August 19-22 in Chicago. The first season logged 2.2 million minutes viewed on Monday, compared to 486,000 minutes on July 21st, according to Luminate.

Meyer, like Harris, served as a senator from a blue state before an unsuccessful presidential run in 2012 that afforded her an opportunity to become the running mate to Stuart Hughes, who was never depicted on screen. After he resigns to tend to his wife's poor mental health, Meyer gains the presidency at the end of the third season. Harris served as a senator from California from 2017-2021 with a presidential run from 2019-2020 before withdrawing from the race and endorsing Biden, who defeated Republican incumbent Donald Trump in 2020. He, in turn, selected her as his running mate.

David Mandel, Veep showrunner for seasons 5-7, appreciates the newfound attention the series but is annoyed how people use the comedy to take away from Harris's run. "But there are two types of people doing Veep memes right now: There are people really enjoying Selina's moment of telling her staff that she's running for president; there's a joy there that's fun and nice and celebratory," Mandel told The Hollywood Reporter. "And then there are assholes who are using it differently. Surprise surprise, Kamala is a woman of color, and it seems like those people are using it as a simple way of insulting her. So I don't like that part."

For more, you can check out the video. Marvel's Thunderbolts*, which also stars Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, David Harbour, and Rachel Weisz, comes to theaters on May 2nd, 2025.

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