Julia Louis-Dreyfus Reveals Her Awkward Real-Life 'Veep' Moment With Hillary Clinton
Julia Louis-Dreyfus just shared a pitch-perfect example of life imitating art.
The “Veep” star, who portrayed fictional Vice President Selina Meyer in the HBO satire, revealed Monday that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton once praised her performance in a glowing letter — only for an email leak to divulge Clinton’s true feelings.
Louis-Dreyfus told Stephen Colbert and his “Late Night” audience that it was “exciting” and “divine” to meet Clinton backstage, but then revealed just how similar the show’s fictional Washington, D.C., is to the real-life capital — by merely reading a couple of documents.
The first was a buck slip, or envelope insert, which Clinton sent the actor in 2013.
“It says, ‘Julia you’re a great veep,’” Louis-Dreyfus read aloud with a wink Monday before continuing. “‘Hope you can get gun control, immigration reform and job creation this season. All the best, Hillary Rodham Clinton.’ And it’s dated 1/29/13. Very nice, so nice.”
Colbert went on to remind viewers that Clinton’s emails were leaked in 2016, however. He had Louis-Dreyfus read a particularly illuminating exchange between Clinton and one of her advisers.
“It says, ‘A friend wants me to sign something for Julia Lewis-Dreyfus for ‘Veep,’ any ideas?’” the actor read with another knowing glance before Colbert chimed in: “He wrote back, ‘Let me brainstorm on this one, do some research. I confess I haven’t seen the show.’”
The raucous crowd laughter only grew louder when Colbert showed both the buck slip and a printout of the email encased in glass — and Louis-Dreyfus confirmed: “Well, I put them in a frame together” — before asking his guest what the two-part memento means to her.
“This represents to me, and I say this with all respect of