Are we allowed to swear on this show sure, yeah, so, you know I
Can't do it, but you know, yeah, but I mean, you know using the word
You know and
And and all these horrible things. Well, that was just that's become quite natural to me
And I apologize for that, but you know know so we already got some of the gushing out of the way
but should I do some more just on camera because
It's meaningless if it's not taped, I adore the show and this role this character
Talked to me about what it's like does this feel like a bit of a victory tour for you you kind of get to go
Out on a high I would think well
I mean, I I have to say that we poured our hearts and souls into this final season
So it has great meaning to the entire group
As a result and the journey that all of these characters take not just Selina Meyer
But everyone through to the final episode is is pretty intense and fans of the show
I'm hoping very much will be quite satisfied. My sense is and correct me if I'm wrong
Like I'm you've played some some amazing characters in your career, but even among those I feel like Selena might be maybe your favorites
I mean, it seems like you enjoy this character to an absurd degree. I enjoy playing her more than I can possibly
describe to you or articulate and walking away from it is
really bittersweet because I've just
Adored this wretched woman. Is it just is it just like
catharsis after catharsis in terms of like there's nothing more funny than than unchecked narcissism just like
exactly
unchecked narcissism that's exactly it and a very undeveloped person emotionally, you know, this is a
woman who has never really was never nurtured or loved and
So she has crawled her way into an existence and I think it fuels her
Ambition and and drive we have seven episodes to go we do in the final season to keep it
Unpredictable, is that a challenge for you?
And the writers to kind of figure out how to Zig where the audience thinks you're gonna zag. Yeah
We don't want the audience having a sense of oh, yeah, I see where they're heading
Yeah, because you want it to feel fresh and surprising and just from a storytelling point of view
there's not really much I can tease except to say that Selina is
at her most Selena, right and
Forum and you know, you can read into that a million things I suppose, but I'm quite pleased with where we ended up
So I mean and adding to the you know
the
Context of this last season obviously is the journey that you've been on personally like a year and a half ago going through the cancer
Diagnosis and and I I'm just curious
Like did all the cliches kind of come up in terms of?
Appreciating every moment and appreciating this this last
Season in a different way than you ever had before because who knew like who knew how this was going to turn out?
well, I mean the I guess you could say cliche that came true was that the support and and
Kindness and love that I receive from the people with whom I work was
Unparalleled and
Buoying to say the least
I will say that when you're in the in the trenches sort of waging this kind of battle to
Have the the knowledge that this is this is where I'm headed. I'm getting myself back to work
We're reading scripts. I did, you know, we had table reads during my my treatment and stuff
And that was just a tonic it got me through a lot of stuff in a very significant way
But one thing that came out of this that was surprising to me was that it gave me the ability to help other people
Who were enduring this battle?
What was most surprising about that is that I took great comfort in them, and I didn't see that one coming
Yeah, and that was awesome. If you'll indulge me I want to go back a little bit. Sure
Okay So when you're coming of age and you're just gonna deciding to kind of like make a go of it as an actor
And it's specifically somebody working in the comedy space. I mean nowadays
I feel like we're replete with examples of female actors female comedians working in that space when you were coming of age
Did you feel like there was a path for you?
Do you feel like it was tough to imagine what your career was going to turn into? I had a drive
Like I wasn't trying to emulate. Yes someone there a lot of women out there that I
Admired, but I didn't think to myself I want that right? I just thought I want employment
Start simple. It's not trying to be the second Jane Curtin. Let's try gainfully employed. Yeah
Yeah, and find jobs that are fun to do back in Chicago, of course
Yeah, do you remember that as a as a happy time? Oh, it was fabulous
I went to Northwestern University and then when I was in school, I started to do theater outside in Chicago
so I was in the second city touring company for a period of time and then most fortuitously I
joined the practical theater company where my boyfriend and then my husband later many years later Brad Hall was the co
co founder of with his friend Paul burrows and so
That that experience of working in Chicago
Sent me in a trajectory that changed my life forever well, and it sent you to SNL at a pretty young age
Yeah, it's 21 and that must have been from all accounts a rude awakening you get the breast ring at a young age
I'm at SNL. Yeah, I mean I've made it how early in those days. Did you realize it was not going to be I
Figured it out pretty soon. I got to tell you that first table read was rough and
So it was not an easy
An easy time I was there for three years. I didn't come to SNL armed with you know a huge
Basket of characters and I'd been working on and so on and so forth
I just I was just going as an actress who happened to be, you know
Funny on occasion that who an actress who got comedic roles
But I mean you have to understand I was I was doing check off while I was in school
I mean, I was sort of considered myself to be a well-rounded actress, you know, but I just then I happened to fall into these
More community. Ah, but it was it was more that wasn't the problem as much as it was a drug culture
It was very male oriented not female friendly at all
So it was not a good time and there's you know, it wasn't it wasn't great
I mean, well, you know, we're not trying to drag people through the mud here
But I'm just curious like where your ideas just dismissed
Like was it just sort of like you didn't have a voice there and couldn't possibly get anybody to listen to your voice
There is that. Yes, and also I think that
you know, I I wasn't a writer so and that was hard because then what happened is I had to sort of work with
Tried to work with other writers to write material for me to be in and it was a pretty dog-eat-dog
Culture it's a hard show to do. I mean churning out an hour and a half of material
Week after week. That's fresh and new is tricky. Yeah. Yeah. It was not an easy time
What's the difference in a situation like like Seinfeld where you're part of a group of collaborators?
You're not a producer though. You're not exempt reducer on that. Definitely not did you feel like you had a voice in that show?
I did it was right from the start. I felt respected there the material that they gave me to do was
Strong in the beginning. It wasn't as much material as I would have liked but then sort of as the series progressed. I
Got sort of shall we say waiter your stuff?
Yeah, Larry David was at SNL when I was there my third year and that's how we came to know each other
Sure
And he was just as miserable as I was and so we sort of bonded over that to be honest and then you know Seinfeld
Happened a number of years later, but during Seinfeld days
I felt like I was working with my friends and we were trying to make each other and laugh and
That was a good thing. It does feel like I mean again not to put words in your mouth
You've almost like constructed this especially in veep this reality where like it's it's a great job
But it's also a healthy happy place for you to live. Oh, yeah
Oh and your executive producer on V Bob from start with Armando at first? Yes
What did you want to create in a workplace in a working environment given that opportunity?
Well, we have a sort of no
Rule. Mm-hmm and maybe that sounds funny
But I actually mean it and the idea was that we are working together as a group
So it's not just like what's my line? What the my give me the funniest line or anything like that?
it's Ensemble, so
And in addition to that we hired people who were exceptionally funny
hugely capable actors who are also generous and
That goes across the board the entire cast that goes across the board
There's there's all this weird collateral effect of being on a show like veep and being a public figure like you where you know
we're all armchair pundits now, but when you're a public figure and you're somebody in a show, like veep, you're like
Well, she should run. Obviously. She should she should run
But those conversations happen, you know that people talk about stuff like that I mean it's not we're living in a new world order
We're like the rock is considered a viable
Presidential candidates right have you ever for a moment entertained that idea?
I've never know my father
Bless his heart was always trying to get me to run for office
He kept telling me to do that, but I'm not doing it as an re daddy
Has anyone ever dragged you into a secret backroom?
Corner in Washington and said we've got a plan we can make this happen for you
We can get you
Well, no not quite like that, but it has come up on occasion and but it's not what I do. You know, I wouldn't
listen, I
I'm not saying that I would be bad at it necessary. But I am saying that I really like to perform
Yeah, and as as a character, and I don't want to enter that fray, that's not my skill set
You don't have to run for office to impact the world. Although I'm not discouraging anybody from doing that
At all, you know if you're a capable thinking person run
We could use them for the hills
One moment where you did kind of add your voice and you can discuss it if you if you want or not is a the
Christine Blasi Ford sure
the Kavanaugh hearings ya letter I did was that a no-brainer for you that you needed to kind of join that cause and give me
Sort of the post-mortem of of justice Kavanaugh sitting on the Supreme Court
How do you well I wouldn't say it was a no-brainer for me, but dr. Ford went to my high school and
I thought her testimony was
Exemplary and
Thoughtful and brave. I thought that
Justice Kavanaugh is you know not to revisit all of this, but I thought he conducted himself
Not the way a Supreme Court justice
Should I you know, it worked out the way it did?
You know move on and we all have but I do believe and I wrote dr
Ford a letter that speaking to this that she did the right thing
On a much lighter note, I think one of the smarter things you guys did on me is you didn't talk politics
You didn't talk a Republican Democrat too much, you know
No, we never talked Republican Democrat
and I think that will
Hopefully make it a show that stands the test of time where it's not state that doesn't have hugely dated references, right?
it's surprising to me in a flipside that Seinfeld which
Is very dated in some ways? Yes that somehow stands the test of time and is clearly
Eminently rewatchable I think funny is funny and it translates. Yeah. Yeah
So when you stumble on a Seinfeld episode does anything make you cringe about
Oh, please everything my look I could die from that with that hair and those outfits. But anyway, whatever
We're new I just recently heard I was at a photo shoot and they said the 90s are coming back
I wanted to hang myself. Oh god, you've got to be kidding me
They were trying to get me into these acid-washed jeans that come up to here and like shoulder pads I could die
At every wedding is it inevitable that somebody is going to get on the dance floor and do the Elaine dance
I
Mean, maybe it does that happen for you. Has it happened for you? That people did the Elaine do in your presence?
No, not at a place where people are dancing
But I'm definitely I'm keenly aware that if there's a dance floor people are watching to see if I can actually dance and yes
I can
You know film is something that that
You've certainly done plenty of work in but TV has obviously been where you've experienced the most the various roles in your career
Yes, so where are the priorities going forward? Well, it's about getting finding good material
I mean in my life doing television worked out really well because for instance during
Seinfeld I I gave birth to my children during that time and
So it allowed me to work and stay at home. Yeah
Film work was that was not the case, you know doing more film
Absolutely. That's a possibility. There is something really nice about the immediacy of television to a certain extent
I mean they're they're always everything has its own set of hurdles. But at the end of the day really what I'm looking for is
Excellent material which isn't you know, like low-hanging fruit, right?
That's the challenge is to find that material. You did kind of the meta reunion for Seinfeld a few. Yes
We did it was the way to do it for something like so yes, I could see doing the every five or ten years revisiting
These characters kind of a thing. Is that something that even when you were saying your good-byes you
Contemplated, you know, it was so challenging to get this final season
Just right that and by the way, we were considering an eighth season, but then the story dictated
Oh, I think seven feels right, right. And so
That's really been the focus
going anywhere beyond that is like outside my
bandwidth right now
Hard enough to nail the landing stick the landing
Correct. Yeah, but actually in fact, I mean I'm still in post-production on veep. We're still cutting and putting these things together
So I haven't I haven't gone there. You know, I want to see how this all feels
Selina Meyer has a book out
How should we remember the legacy of Selina Meyer?
Well, I want folks to look back it at her and laugh at her. I would like them to laugh at her pay
No respect just laugh at her. No, you know, I mean, you know, you can laugh at someone right? You can respect me
Definitely laugh at her right? Okay. That sounds like a bargain. I'll take right
I respect you Julia. Thank you. I will laugh through these last seven episodes Abbi
Thanks for stopping by it's honestly been such a pleasure to get to know you a little bit today, thank you
I appreciate the set that you've put together if you want to just move in here. This could be your new office Jesus God
I think you need a better desk. I gotta tell there are some issues. It's been through some Wars. Yeah, no kidding
I mean it's not like that, you know the resolute desk
Whatever I still appreciate I'm not complaining I'm just noticing I feel like there's still a little Selena still in there
Yeah, I think she's coming out