“Veep” showrunner David Mandel and star Julia Louis-Dreyfus had a lot of fun poking fun at U.S. politics during a panel promoting the HBO comedy’s final season at the Television Critics Association press tour Friday.
In fact, Mandel went all-in on topical jokes when giving his thoughts on real-life politicians, making a quip about Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, who has gained national attention for his admission that he dressed up in blackface in the 1980s.
“I guess there are good politicians, thank God, I will simply say,” Mandel said. “I do think where I’ve bottomed out a little bit sometimes is America. ”
“This is me talking, this is not ‘Veep,’ but you go back whatever eight years ago, and Obama was in the White House and it was like, ‘Yay, Obama is in the White House! We’ve beaten racism!’” Mandel said. “And now I’m the only one without a blackface photo on his yearbook page, so, you know what I mean.”
It wasn’t the first off-color (no pun intended) joke Mandel made during the final “Veep” TCA panel. Earlier, he explained why he “gave Julia cancer.”
Read more from the panel here and the long list of premiere dates HBO announced — including the debuts for “Big Little Lies” Season 2 and the final run of “Veep” — here.