“Veep” has been nominated for Emmys every one of its four seasons, but its latest round of awards recognition is especially meaningful for creator and showrunner Armando Iannucci since it’s also his last season with the show.
“I was very pleased with the season,” Iannucci told TheWrap Thursday. “So I was pleased that was recognized.”
“Veep” has been nominated in nine categories, including Best Comedy Series and three acting nominations, for Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Anna Chlumsky and Tony Hale. Iannucci himself is nominated three times, for Series, Best Directing and Best Writing.
After this season, though, Iannucci is stepping aside and letting “Curb Your Enthusiasm” showrunner David Mandel take over the reigns.
Below, Iannucci talks about how he’s been celebrating “Veep’s” latest Emmy nods, why he decided now was the right time to leave his show and why not even “Veep” can top Donald Trump as a parody.
Congratulations! What was your immediate reaction and how are you celebrating?
It’s dinner time here in the U.K. so I had some nice wine and some strong cheese, and some very nice bread.
Who do you think is going to be your stiffest competition?
I think “Parks and Rec” might have a strong chance. This is our fourth season and we’ve been nominated every season, so you never know, we might have the momentum. I sound like a sports pundit here, but I never think about what might win. I’m excited to get the nomination, the recognition, and delighted for Anna, Julia and Tony and also our crews and everyone, very happy to get the directing one, I think it’s our first. So I think just generally, I was very pleased with the season. So I was pleased that was recognized.
Yeah, that’s really amazing, to start off a show already really strong and then have it get stronger every year — a lot of people are saying Season 4 was actually the best one yet.
Oh, thank you. I felt good about it. As we finished everything up, I felt pretty confident about it. It is my last one, so I wanted to make sure I ended on a solid note. And that felt good.
Why are you leaving?
Practicality reasons. I’m based in the U.K. and I have a young family. It involved a lot of bizarre commuting between the U.K. and America and after four years, you realize jet lag doesn’t get any better. Spoiler alert: It gets worse. I thought under the circumstances, I’d given it my all. It felt like the right time. I’d taken the storylines to where I wanted to take it. It felt like the best thing for the show — it’s going to get a whole new shot of energy. Fresh ideas, fresh people, fresh minds on it. It just felt like the right time to say, “OK, I’ve done this thing, I think we’re all happy with it, so let’s see what else it can do.”
Are you leaving behind a plan for the rest of the series?
No, that’s all up to David Mendel. We chatted about it, we all agree on a basic outline, but I sort of feel it’s important that you step back and you let the new guy feel like he’s in charge. The whole spirit of making everyone feel like they can contribute. Whatever works, whatever makes it the best that it can be. So if that means giving David the freedom to do it, then that’s what it involves. Having had conversations with him, I’m pretty confident about what he wants to do and I look forward to seeing it.
Have you been following the 2016 election? It almost feels like it could be a “Veep” plotline, all these crazy candidates.
It’s the “15 and Counting” candidates. Trump is hilarious, Hillary is hilarious, Jeb is…not hilarious. That’s his strong point, isn’t it? That he’s not hilarious. So I’m watching it as an interested observer this time.
“Veep” doesn’t really do a lot of cameos, but is there a candidate you’d like to see on the show, or be parodied on the show?
Well, everyone’s been saying Trump is a parody of one of our characters. It’s difficult to match him. Maybe this is all David’s plan, maybe he’s already set up a Trump character. Really, all this is just a promotion for Season 5.
19 Biggest Emmy Snubs and Surprises: 'Empire,' Tatiana Maslany, and 'The Big Bang Theory' (Photos)
Snub: "Empire," Fox Drama Series "Empire" skyrocketed to become TV's top-rated drama in its freshman year, but apparently that wasn't good enough for the Academy.
Fox
Surprise: Tatiana Maslany, "Orphan Black," Lead Actress - Drama Tatiana Maslany finally got an Emmy nod, and it only took her playing eight characters on one show to get it.
BBC America
Snub: "The Big Bang Theory," CBS Comedy Series "The Big Bang Theory" has become almost an automatic nomination, and while it's nice to see new blood, we didn't necessarily expect it.
CBS
Surprise: Anthony Anderson (pictured left), "Black-ish" Lead Actor - Comedy Fresh off hosting the "BET Awards," Anthony Anderson scored his first Primetime Emmy nomination for the breakout ABC comedy. To be fair, "Hang Time" was on Saturday mornings.
ABC
Snub: Julianna Margulies, "The Good Wife" Lead Actress - Drama It's 2013 all over again for last year's Best Actress winner Juliana Margulies. The Golden Globes didn't forget her -- what's up, TV Academy?
CBS
Snub: Jim Parsons, "The Big Bang Theory" Lead Actor - Comedy Rough one for "BBT" and its resident all-star Jim Parsons and four-time winner. His six-year nomination streak ends exactly right there.
CBS
Snub: Terrence Howard, "Empire" Lead Actor - Drama Voters showed the love for Taraji P. Henson's Cookie, but nothing for Lucious? Terrence Howard had a super-busy year -- he has two TV shows on Fox alone -- but he's still seeking his first Emmy recognition.
Fox
Surprise: Keegan-Michael Key (pictured left), "Key & Peele" Supporting Actor - Comedy The chrome-domed comic gained fame for playing Luther, President Obama's "anger translator," and now he has an Emmy nod to show for it.
Comedy Central
Snub: Maggie Smith, "Downton Abbey" Supporting Actress - Drama The veteran actress won the award for the first two seasons of the historical drama and earned noms for the last two -- but her Dowager Countess was abandoned after season 5.
Masterpiece
Snub: Mandy Patinkin (pictured right), "Homeland" Supporting Actor - Drama Though "Homeland" returned to the Best Drama race, Patinkin was passed over after getting nominations for the last two years.
Showtime
Surprise: Michael Kelly, "House of Cards" Supporting Actor - Drama The character actor scored his first Emmy nomination for playing political fixer Doug Stamper in Netflix's Washington, D.C.-set drama.
Netflix
Snub: "Survivor's Remorse," Starz Drama Series Starz had high hopes for the LeBron James-produced drama about a rookie NBA player -- but fell short of the rim.
Starz
Snub: "Jane The Virgin," The CW Comedy Series The rookie series earned recognition from the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice Television Awards, but the Emmys continue to have a bias against CW shows.
The CW
Snub: Judith Light, "Transparent" Supporting Actress - Comedy While "Transparent" stars Jeffrey Tambor and Gaby Hoffman both got noms, the Academy overlooked the former "Ugly Betty" nominee who plays the ex-wife of Tambor's late-in-life transgender woman.
Amazon Instant Video
Surprise: Niecy Nash, "Getting On" Supporting Actress - Comedy The actress is the lone nomination for the critically acclaimed but low-buzz HBO sitcom, which is set in a hospital's geriatric care unit.
HBO
Surprise: Gaby Hoffman, "Transparent" Supporting Actress - Comedy The actress scored two nominations, for her guest role on HBO's "Girls" as the sister of Adam Driver's character as well as her role as the dysfunctional youngest daughter of transgender professor Maura Pfefferman
Amazon Instant Video
Snub: Jesse Tyler Ferguson (pictured right) and Eric Stonestreet (left), "Modern Family" Supporting Actor - Comedy Though "Modern Family" scored its sixth straight nom for Best Comedy, several members of its much-honored cast got the could shoulder, including five-time nominee Jesse Tyler Ferguson and three-time nominee (and two-time winner) Eric Stonestreet.
ABC
Surprise: Emmy's new "Two Percent Rule" leads to eight nominations instead of usual six Supporting Actress - Comedy Under Academy rules, the number of nominees can grow if additional contenders are within 2 percent of the votes of the sixth (and final) nominee. So an already competitive category is bursting with familiar names (Julie Bowen, Mayim Bialik, Allison Janney) as well as newcomers (Niedy Nash, Gaby Hoffman, Kate McKinnon).
Various
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The 67th Emmy Awards nominees are in: Here’s who got screwed in 2015, and the names you never expected to hear today