Home Featured Content

10 Times Veep’s Ridiculous Antics Mirrored Real Life Events

HBO's Veep is one of the funniest shows on television, an absurd parody depicting the day-to-day operations of a vice president and her staff. The West Wing this is not; our main characters don't deliver inspiring speeches about the nature of democracy or hold impassioned debates over the future of the country. Instead, they spend their entire day discussing what flavor of frozen yogurt Selina Meyer should eat during a photo op or dealing with a small blemish on the VP's face.

5) Redoing The Oath Of Office

Recommended Videos

Veep Oath of Office

In the season 3 finale, Selina suddenly ascends to the highest office in the world, but she runs into some difficulty during the swearing in. After taking the oath of office in the first act, she’s informed that she is technically not the president because she did not say “preserve.” As she was speaking, Mike almost knocked over a lamp, and so a distracted Selina only got the first syllable of “preserve” out. Without that one word having been fully uttered, the whole ceremony is invalid. While in New Hampshire campaigning, the new president has to fly all the way back to DC to be sworn in a second time just because Mike was being clumsy.

A president having to redo the oath of office because of a ridiculously minor slip up? That’s an insane scenario, right? Actually, this is exactly what happened to President Obama back in 2009. During his swearing in, Justice Roberts stumbled a few times, at one point saying “I will execute the office of President to the United States faithfully” rather than “I will faithfully execute…” This led to a less than smooth event, and so just like in Veep, the ceremony ended up being performed a second time the following day.