Veep: A Hilarious Mess [TV]

This satirical sitcom of American politics has taken my insulated life by storm, and I’m thankful for it. It’s a break from the dark, obsessive ambition of House of Cards (which I enjoy) and the headless-chicken, unfunny and severely uninteresting political opining of my Facebook feed (which I hate).

That’s what Veep is for me, really – a combination of the heady glamour of Hollywood-ized politics and the ugly reality of its effect on the everyman. I’ve never been invested in any of that, but I’ve always wondered what it’s like behind-the-scenes, and Veep has pulled the curtain to a(n exaggerated) collection of moments that nobody is supposed to see.

The show follows Selina Meyer, the fictional first female Vice President of the United States, and her posse as they maneouver the political landscape. Instead of a tightly knit plot from beginning to end, each episode is packed with scenes that feel like outtakes as they go about staging the veep’s public appearances, sweating the small stuff instead of focusing on what’s important, furiously whispering swear bombs at each other. The ambitious foul-mouthed group, which includes the veep herself, swearing hard and fast with zeal, is all about damage control, as their poorly equipped leader pursues power and importance by being concerned about her public appearance.

It is awkward, and frustrating, and you question how this woman even got to this position in the first place, but that’s the truth of it, isn’t it, that the most coveted positions are typically occupied by, in creator Armando Ianucci’s words, “Big people with small hearts. Stupid people with high IQs.”

The showrunners were very careful not to make Selina Meyer a Sarah Palin, which would have been too easy and really not that funny at all. Meyer isn’t entirely a dumbass – she cusses way too creatively (in one episode, her speech was edited and she bemoaned being “pencil-fucked”) – but she is definitely misguided, and her support group is, by association, just as misguided.

That’s what I love about this show – that, just like in real life, most of the results of branding happen by accident, handled by a bumbling, anxious, frustrated team, but most of all, that they run their mouth like I never could, saying things that I can only think or passively sub-tweet because they’re mean and so distasteful and disrespectful.

If you don’t already, watch it. Just be prepared for the lols – they’re quick and shocking and they don’t give you time to react before they’re on to the next one, just like comedy was meant to be.