TV-writer producer David Mandel is asked constantly if HBO's Veep is based on real-life politics. But the truth is that real life ends up imitating situations that seemed kinda crazy when he and the rest of the Veep writers made them up. Mandel tells us about overseeing Veep in the age of Trump, keeping track of the show's relentless torrent of vicious insults and how his wife's hands inspired one of the most famous episodes of Seinfeld.
Photo: Hugh Laurie, David Mandel, Julia Louis-Dreyfus behind the scenes of Veep. (Lacey Terrell/courtesy of HBO)