Showrunner David Mandel Tells Late Night How Veep is in Competition with the White House

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David Mandel sat down with Seth Meyers on Tuesday night to talk about how writing for “Veep” this season has become more complicated than in previous seasons. Mandel, who is the “Veep” showrunner and has written for “Seinfeld, “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “SNL” told Seth how the current administration in the White House is making him and his writers look “like amateurs”.

Mandel said, “We used to sit around trying to brainstorm – ‘What’s the stupidest thing a president could do?, What’s the worst thing a press secretary could do?'” He then said that the real life president and his staff are beating them to the punch and coming up with things that are stupider and worse than the things they can think of. The “Veep” boss said it’s like going up against a competing show on another network, saying, “Their first hundred days were like a hundred really good episodes. That’s syndication!”

He also told Seth Meyers about a joke he had to go back and edit out of an episode of “Veep” because it was too close to the reality of something President Trump was accused of in real life. He added that Mike McLintock, the former White House Press Secretary on “Veep” played by Matt Walsh is no longer “the worst press secretary on Earth” and that Mike (Matt) would actually make a better press secretary than the one holding down the job now. Sorry Spicy.

Another interesting point of Seth Meyer’s interview with Dave Mandel, was how he learned to write sitcoms from Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David and the secret that Larry taught him about writing comedy. You can watch Mandel explain this secret to Seth in the clip below provided through YouTube.

You’ll also get to watch Dave Mandel talk about his extensive collection of original comic art, toys and Star Wars memorabilia. You know it’s an extensive collection when George Lucas has to borrow stuff back from Dave Mandel for retrospective projects.

You can watch new Season 6 episodes of “Veep” on Sundays at 10:30pm on HBO.

Ernie Tripper
Ernie Tripper