--- title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus Says Barack Obama is a Big 'Veep' Fan description: Veep star Julia Louis Dreyfus spilled the beans on her show's celebrity fans, including Barack Obama and Mitt Romney canonical: https://time.com/4748512/barack-obama-and-mitt-romney-on-veep/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-20T17:56:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:43:00.691Z og:title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus Says Barack Obama is a Big 'Veep' Fan og:description: Mitt Romney is a fan of the political farce, too og:url: https://time.com/4748512/barack-obama-and-mitt-romney-on-veep/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus Says Barack Obama is a Big 'Veep' Fan twitter:description: Mitt Romney is a fan of the political farce, too twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Apparently Barack Obama and Mitt Romney Are Both _Veep_ Fanboys by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Apr 20, 2017 5:56 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Apr 20, 2017 5:56 PM UTC [_Veep_](http://time.com/4732295/review-veep-season-6/?iid=sr-link1) is starting its new season of Washington drama, political farce, impressive insults, and expletive filled tirades—and Barack Obama and Mitt Romney just might be tuning in. The show’s Emmy winning star [Julia Louis-Dreyfus](http://time.com/4329927/review-veep-mother/?iid=sr-link2) stopped by _Jimmy Kimmel Live!_ on Wednesday night and spilled the beans on some of her show’s fans. “Who is the most famous fan of Veep that you have encountered?” Jimmy Kimmel asked her and she coyly asked, “Does Barack Obama count?” _Veep_ doesn’t just appeal to Democrats, though, as former Obama’s former rival, one-time Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, is also a fan. Turns out that having fans in high places can be very helpful for a show set inside the high stakes political world. For example, when Louis-Dreyfus’s character, Selina Meyer finds herself reeling after a big political loss, the show was able to all upon Romney, who she respects, for insight. “\[Mitt and Ann Romney\] came and talked to us at great lengths,” said Louis-Dreyfus. “Which was really helpful because we really wanted to talk to him about what it was like to lose.” Romney apparently told the show what it was like recovering from [political gaffes](http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/12/13/mitt-romneys-47-percent-gaffe-tops-yales-quotes-of-the-year/?iid=sr-link1), like when he claimed that 47% of the American people “[pay no income tax.](http://swampland.time.com/2012/09/18/five-charts-illustrating-the-problem-with-romneys-47-remarks/?iid=sr-link2)” and then had to explain the comment. According to Louis-Dreyfus, he told _Veep_ writers that “the truth is if you’re running, if you’re explaining, you’re losing” and they ended up putting the line into the show. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4748512/barack-obama-and-mitt-romney-on-veep/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4748512/barack-obama-and-mitt-romney-on-veep/"},"headline":"Apparently Barack Obama and Mitt Romney Are Both Veep Fanboys","datePublished":"2017-04-20T17:56:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:43:00.691Z","description":"Mitt Romney is a fan of the political farce, too","url":"https://time.com/4748512/barack-obama-and-mitt-romney-on-veep/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","jimmy kimmel live","Veep","Julia Louis-Dreyfus","Late Night Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4748512/barack-obama-and-mitt-romney-on-veep/","name":"Apparently Barack Obama and Mitt Romney Are Both Veep Fanboys"}}]}] ```