Julia Louis-Dreyfus Says Republican Vice Presidential Nominee J.D. Vance Reminds Her of This ‘Veep’ Character

Julia Louis-Dreyfus says J.D. Vance is most like this 'Veep' character. — (Image credit: Getty Images)

Actress and comedian Julia Louis-Dreyfus says Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance bares a striking resemblance to a certain Veep character.

On Monday, Aug. 19, while appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Louis-Dreyfus reacted to the news that viewership of her hit HBO show Veep has dramatically increased since President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential race and Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee for president.

"I heard that, since Biden dropped out, there has been a 350% spike in viewership of Veep," host Stephen Colbert told the actress.

"I know, how crazy,” Louis-Dreyfus said, adding that she thinks it's a "great thing" that the show continues to resonate with viewers, especially during an election year that has made the television series feel more like a documentary than a fictional comedy.

"Let me explain to you. On Veep, I played a narcissistic, like, megalomaniac sociopath, and that is not Kamala Harris,” Louis-Dreyfus continued. "It might be another candidate in the race..." she added, seemingly directing her remark at former president and Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus photographed on the set of Veep in Columbia, Maryland on March 22, 2013.

While Vice President Harris is, according to Louis-Dreyfus, a far cry from her Veep character Selena Meyer—who coincidentally was a vice president running for president who became the first woman president after her former running mate resigned, who then lost the election before, years later, ultimately becoming Commander and Chief after making more than a few questionable and unethical decisions—she did dish on which character is most like Vance.

"That would be Jonah Ryan," she explained, before referencing a pervasive online rumor about J.D. Vance and furniture.

For the uninitiated, Jonah Ryan—played by the incomparable Timothy Simons—is a power-hungry, morally bankrupt, inappropriate White House staffer-turned-congressman who later becomes vice president of the United States before he is impeached and either was removed or resigned from office.

Since becoming Trump's 2024 running mate, Vance has come under fire for his past (and present) comments about women who either by chance or choice do not have biological children.

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In one unearthed 2021 Fox News interview, Vance claimed the country was "effectively run...by a bunch of childless cat ladies, who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too."

Vance doubled down on his comments, telling former Fox News host Megyn Kelly in a recent interview that it was "obviously a sarcastic comment" because he has "nothing against cats."

In response, Jennifer Aniston posted via Instagram Stories that she "can't believe this is coming from a potential VP of the United States."

"All I can say is... Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day," she continued. "I hope she will not need to turn to IVF as a second option. Because you are trying to take that away from her, too."

Danielle Campoamor is Marie Claire's weekend editor covering all things news, celebrity, politics, culture, live events, and more. In addition, she is an award-winning freelance writer and former NBC journalist with over a decade of digital media experience covering mental health, reproductive justice, abortion access, maternal mortality, gun violence, climate change, politics, celebrity news, culture, online trends, wellness, gender-based violence and other feminist issues. You can find her work in The New York Times, Washington Post, TIME, New York Magazine, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, TODAY, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire, InStyle, Playboy, Teen Vogue, Glamour, The Daily Beast, Mother Jones, Prism, Newsweek, Slate, HuffPost and more. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and their two feral sons. When she is not writing, editing or doom scrolling she enjoys reading, cooking, debating current events and politics, traveling to Seattle to see her dear friends and losing Pokémon battles against her ruthless offspring. You can find her on X, Instagram, Threads, Facebook and all the places.