[MUSIC PLAYING]
- How are you? - I'm good.
How are you?
I'm doing great, thank you.
- So glad to see you. - And you're feeling well?
Everything is good? - Yeah.
- Good, good. - Why?
Do I look sick?
No, no, you know, you've had some things.
Yeah, a few things here and there.
Yeah, I'm good.
- You last night-- - Yes.
Got a shout-- kind of Elaine Benes,
in a way, got a shout out. - Yes.
During the-- well, let's show that clip
so people know what's going on.
I don't think the Democratic Party
should be surprised that so many Americans
believe, yada, yada, yada.
[APPLAUSE]
That's Elaine, huh?
That is so bizarre.
I guess she's going to pick me as her running mate.
Is that what that means?
I think, if anything, she would be your running mate.
I mean, come on now.
That's pretty-- well, that must be--
Yeah that was just--
- Is that exciting? - Well--
No?
You know, it's bizarre.
It's kind of like worlds colliding and then some, right?
Yeah, when you become such a part of the fabric of society--
The culture, yeah.
That you're here now like a catchphrase in a debate.
Yeah, totally.
It's like, imagine what the lady from the
"Where's the Beef" commercial must have
felt like so many years ago.
It'll be weird when they say, no soup for you.
[LAUGHTER] - That will be weird.
[APPLAUSE AND CHEERING]
Definitely, you got half of it.
So do you feel like you have any kind
of, like, extraordinary insight into the election
and what goes on in the White House because of the show
that you just did for seven seasons?
Yeah, I think, I mean, I've learned a lot about politics.
And I got a sense of the true anxiety
that probably a lot of these people
feel going in and trying to sell themselves as a candidate,
as a brand, and make a stamp and a quick stamp,
sort of as themselves, but quickly.
Yeah, right.
Just to boil yourself down and also to not do the--
things you don't do are probably more important as we saw.
I feel like I learned what it's like to be
a candidate from your show.
And then I go, oh, wait a minute.
I don't know if it's really like this at all.
It is, yeah.
As a matter of fact, as I was watching the debate tonight,
I was--
it gave me a lot of anxiety.
I had to kind of turn away, you know?
When you would watch a debate like that
like a couple of years ago, would you be thinking, oh,
how can I use this for the show?
Totally.
100%.
And does that change the way you watched it tonight?
You could just relax and--
[LAUGHTER]
Yeah, yeah, I guess.
I don't know.
I mean, I've seen it now a few times, you know what I mean?
You have, yeah.
Boy, would it have been great if CNN had just
slipped one of you, one of Selina's debate clips
into that program. - I would have loved it.
It would have fit in really perfectly.
- It really would have fit in. - Yeah.
That's the thing that's crazy about the whole thing.
Yes.
What is the moratorium-- like, what kind of time period--
like, I don't know what I can say
about the last episode of Veep even though it
was months ago that it aired.
I think we can talk about it.
Can we now say what happened?
Why not?
Why shouldn't we?
OK.
I mean, I think, unless somebody tells me I'm wrong.
But, yeah, go for it.
- OK, all right, - OK, go.
So there's the ending of the show
when Selina finally, again, becomes
president of the United States.
Yes.
[APPLAUSE AND CHEERING]
You know, everybody applauds, but she's like--
It's not for real.
It's not for real, number one, and number two,
she's a terrible person.
[LAUGHTER]
What the hell is wrong with this country?
Well, we did it once.
Why not again?
Exactly.
But OK, then at the very end of the show--
Yes.
So it's 20, like something, 4 years later.
They jump ahead 24, 25 years later.
That's right. - And we're watching the news.
Yes.
And Selina Meyer has died.
Yes.
We're at her funeral, the coverage of her funeral.
And almost immediately after, kind of right in the middle
of the coverage of the funeral, Tom Hanks dies and steals
her thunder completely. - Completely.
Yes.
That's exactly right.
And that, incidentally, I love that joke
so much because we spent a lot of time
talking about his iconic career within the context of the show.
And of course, it is an iconic career that he's had.
But it was a callback, in fact, to the pilot episode of Veep
in which we reference Tom Hanks and what
if something that Selena did gets bumped out
of the news cycle if something bad happens,
like if Tom Hanks dies.
And everybody looks at, actually it
was Matt Walsh playing the character, saying,
why would you say something like that?
Tom Hanks is not going to die.
And then of course, we use that joke at the end of the episode,
which was really great.
What I was wondering is if Tom knew he
was going to die on that show.
So get a load of this.
We're in the final mix for the show.
We've locked picture.
So this is, you know, we're about to turn it in to HBO
and then it's done, done.
You can't touch it.
And we're listening to the playback.
And one of our producers says, hey,
who talked to Tom about this?
And we all sort of looked at each other.
And we had all forgotten to be in touch with Tom Hanks.
[LAUGHTER]
And so, I mean, we had gotten permission to use clips
from his movies and stuff.
And so all of a sudden I was furiously
writing an email to him, email to his agent,
texting him, trying to reach him because we were under the gun.
I mean, literally, really we had no time.
And fortunately, while we were in the sound mix,
within about 20 minutes, I heard back from him.
And the first thing he said was, absolutely.
I explained to him the joke, and he got it completely.
And then his second thing was he was complaining
that he wasn't cast as the abortion
doctor in an earlier episode.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
So it was a lose-lose for Tom.
Exactly.
But he was a really good sport about it.
Well and that's a good sport when you're
calling somebody to really to tell
him that they've passed away.
And they handle it well.
Well, that's why he's America's most beloved, I guess.
Exactly.
When we come back, we're going to see a clip,
well, it may remind you of what happened on television tonight.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus is here and we'll be right back.
Tell you something about justice, Senator.
When I was coming up as a lawyer,
I didn't have to remind everyone I
was a woman every 10 seconds because they
never let me forget it.
I smiled all through the casual grabbing of my behind
and all the secret meetings on the golf course
that I wasn't invited to.
So how about giving a little thanks to the women like me
who built the ladder that you used
to get up onto your soapbox?
How about for once in your life you stop whining, you stop
complaining, and just man up?
Because I honestly--
[APPLAUSE]
Yeah, that's right.
You heard me.
Man up.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
[APPLAUSE AND CHEERING]
And Veep, it's over.
There's no more Veep to watch.
But if you haven't watched it, go back from the beginning
and watch it all the way through to Tom Hanks' death.
OK, so I know this is maybe embarrassing, but--
All right.
--you've got eight Emmys for acting.
You've got 11 Emmys total.
[APPLAUSE AND CHEERING]
You're tied for the most acting Emmys
ever from any comic actress or any actor,
male, female, no matter what.
You're tied with Cloris Leachman.
Bless her heart.
[APPLAUSE AND CHEERING]
Who is 93 years old.
Yes.
And are you looking forward to really
crushing her in September?
She's going down.
Remember Cloris Leachman in "Young Frankenstein?"
Oh, my god.
Remember, (EASTERN EUROPEAN ACCENT) "He was my boyfriend."
Yeah, oh, she was great.
She was incredible.
Yeah, and you're better, though.
You know, you're going--
What?
--to be ahead of her.
No, no, no, no.
It is the number of awards that really--
Matters?
Yeah, it matters most.
I asked where you keep all these awards
because you have so many Emmys.
And there's only one trophy that you display in your home.
Yes, yes.
And that is this one right here.
Explain what that is.
I'll tell you what that is.
That is I got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
a few years back.
And they misspelled my [BLEEP] name.
[LAUGHTER]
And for true.
It was the most extraordinary moment.
And so I had them--
they had to fix it.
And I said, oh, save the misspelled part,
the Julia Luis-Dreyfus.
And so I have that.
And it's a prized possession of mine.
And it's just a good reminder to keep me in my place.
Yeah.
Yeah. It's good, isn't it?
Yeah, it's great.
They jackhammered that up beautifully.
[APPLAUSE AND CHEERING]
You also-- a really great award, especially for a comedy actor,
is the Mark Twain Prize which you received last year.
And that's a big deal.
It's at the Kennedy Center.
[APPLAUSE AND CHEERING]
Everyone came to pay tribute to you.
Was that, did you enjoy that experience?
Well, let me tell you something.
I got this letter asking me to come to the Kennedy Center.
And when I first got this letter, I misread it.
And I thought they were asking me to speak about someone else.
And I was like, meh, I'm not going to go all the way to DC
and tout somebody else.
Accolades. - Right.
And then I read it again, and I thought, oh my god, it's me.
They want to-- oh, of course I'll go.
And so that was actually how I opened the whole--
telling that story on myself which was kind of true.
But it was it was really scary, to tell you
the truth, because you come out and there are like 3,000
people sitting there.
And they're very serious, kind of, for a comedy audience.
Serious, yeah.
Wealthy people, mostly.
Yeah.
And they put you in a booth.
And you have to, you know-- and I sort of made an Evita joke
when I was up there.
But I was nervous as hell because they
say we're going to give you this award for comedy.
Congratulations.
Now speak for 15 minutes.
So it's sort of like you have to prove that you're worthy
of it, which is how I looked at it, which is kind of the truth.
And so I was just [BLEEP] in my pants, to tell you the truth.
I was really nervous.
How long did you worry about it
and work on what you were going to say?
Well, I worked on it. I worried.
Please, I worried about it from the get-go.
And I worked on it for a number of weeks leading up.
But I had an epiphany on the plane ride there.
Actually, the plane ride from New York to DC
because I'd done your show.
Right you were with us, yeah.
And I had this epiphany which was to--
I did this whole long bit about considering
myself a dramatic actress.
And I was sort of put off that this was only for comedy
and that I had auditioned for "Merchant of Venice"
and I didn't get it.
And I thought it was sort of a joke
that I hadn't gotten it, blah, blah, blah.
And so then I end up doing this monologue, Portia's monologue
from "Merchant of Venice."
But I did it like Elaine Benes.
And that was my epiphany that I got on the plane.
So that worked out.
Well, that's why you're you, I guess.
[APPLAUSE AND CHEERING]
Well, it's great to have you here.
Thank you. I'm so happy to be here.
I hope you beat that Cloris Leachman.
[APPLAUSE AND CHEERING]
She's worn this crown for too long.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, everybody.
[APPLAUSE AND CHEERING]
The final season of Veep is on HBO.
We'll be back with Steve Martorano.
Thanks for watching.
If you like that video, click the Subscribe button.
And if you didn't like, well, you hurt my feelings.