After appearing in four episodes of HBO’s “Veep” for season three, Sam Richardson was upped to series regular for the fourth season.
The Second City alum plays Richard Splett, the bumbling optimist who entered the series as a temporary handler for Julia Louis-Dreyfus‘s Vice President Selina Meyers during a presidential campaign stop. In Season Four, the eager but incompetent Splett fails upward to the White House where he finds himself an assistant to Timothy Simon’s much-maligned Jonah.
In an interview with TheWrap, Richardson talked about working with his heroes, his Second City background and the difference between sketch and written comedy.
TheWrap: What was the toughest thing you had to do this season? Richardson: The toughest thing was keeping my cool around all these great actors, like Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Hugh Laurie. It’s hard to not act like a fan when you’re in these scenes with your heroes, but you can’t do that because you respect everybody so much.
What was the most fun?
The same thing. I got to play around with all of these brilliant actors and comedians. Also, to get to improvise and riff these scenes was incredibly fun. Because the writers value your input as an actor and as a comedian, it’s incredibly rewarding to get to play these scenes out… The writers would write it and we’d go through a rehearsal period and kind of re-improvise the scenes and the final product would become a mix between the two.
If someone had never seen “Veep,” what would you say to persuade them to watch it?
You are watching very brilliantly written comedy performed by some of the funniest, best actors around. And it’s smart, but not at the expense of its humor. It’s not preachy, it’s just gut-wrenchingly funny.
Other than Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who else on your show really deserves an Emmy and why?
Kevin Dunn was really brilliant this season as Ben Caffrey. He plays with so many levels. He’s a mess. He’s a pill-popping, drunkard mess who’s also in charge of the key staff of a president… And he has some of the best insult deliveries on the show.
Are you a binge-watcher? Or do you like to watch one episode a week?
I prefer to watch once a week. It doesn’t bother me when I have two episodes backed up and I can kind of have a mini-binge, but I prefer the culture of appointment television… When you consume a half hour or an hour of television, you can talk about what happened, as opposed to consuming ten hours of content and then you don’t remember everything you want to talk about.
If you could add any new category to the Emmys, serious or silly, what would it be?
I would distinguish between sketch comedy and written comedy. There’s a lot of brilliant stuff in sketch. It’s a really different muscle, and it would be interesting to see that as its own thing.
TheWrap's Emmy Party: Stars of 'Empire,' 'Silicon Valley,' 'American Crime,' 'Jane the Virgin' (Photos)
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"American Crime" creator John Ridley
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"Silicon Valley" stars Thomas Middleditch and Kumail Nanjiani
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The London Hotel in West Hollywood
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"Empire" star Kaitlin Doubleday
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"American Horror Story" star Finn Wittrock
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Justin Baldoni and Jaime Camil
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"Modern Family" executive producer Christopher Lloyd
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TheWrap's cover star "American Crime's" Richard Cabral and guest with Elvis Nolasco
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"Chasing Life" star Richard Brancatisano
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"Dark Matter" star Marc Bendavid
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"Jane the Virgin" stars Jaime Camil, Yael Groblas, and Justin Baldoni
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"Scandal" star Joe Morton
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"Power" creator and executive producer Courtney Kemp Agboh
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"Justified" star Joelle Carter and Danielle Panabaker
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"The Flash" star Danielle Panabaker
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"The Flash" star Rick Cosnett
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"Rectify" star Abigail Spencer
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"The Flash" Danielle Panabaker and "The Originals" Leah Pipes
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"Modern Family" creator Christopher Lloyd and son Eli
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"The Slap" star Michael Nouri and "Bosch" star Titus Welliver
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"The Night Shift" star Robert Bailey Jr. and Christina Smith
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"American Crime" star Elvis Nolasco
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"You're the Worst" stars Kether Donohue and Desmin Borges
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"American Crime" creator John Ridley and "Being Mary Jane" star Stephen Bishop
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TheWrap Editor in Chief Sharon Waxman, "Empire" star Kaitlin Doubleday, and Executive Editor Joseph Kaspch
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MySpace Founder and present CEO of SGN Chris DeWolfe
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"Survivor's Remorse" Erica Ash and "Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll" star Elaine Hendrix
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Wrap's Editor in Chief Sharon Waxman and executive editor Joseph Kapsch flanked by "Jane the Virgin" stars Yael Grobglas, Justin Baldoni and Jaime Camil
"Complications" star Lauren Stamile and Beth Riesgraf
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"American Crime" star Richard Cabral
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"UnREAL" star Breeda Wool
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"Jane the Virgin" star Yael Grobglas
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"Bosch" star Jason Gedrick
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"Wet Hot American Summer" creator David Wain
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"Power" star Lela Loren
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"Jane the Virgin" stars Justin Baldoni, Anthony Mendez, and Jaime Camil
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Disney Channel "Teen Beach Movie 2" John DeLuca
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"The Expanse" Cas Anvar and "Homeland" and "Blood and Oil" star Shaun Toub
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"Being Mary Jane" star Stephen Bishop
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"Silicon Valley" star Suzanne Cryer
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"Jane the Virgin" Yael Grobglas
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"Ballers" star Donovan Carter
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"Empire's" Kaitlin Doubleday and "Episodes" Mircea Monroe
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"Jane the Virgin" stars Justin Baldoni and Jaime Camil smooch TheWrap Editor in Chief Sharon Waxman
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"Sex&Drugs&RocknRoll's'" Elaine Hendrix, "Better Call Saul's" Patrick Fabian, "Dark Matter's" Marc Bendavid, "Chasing Life's" Richard Brancatisano and "Complications" actresses Beth Riesgraf and Lauren Stamile gather for a group shot
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"The Last Ship" star Travis Van Winkle
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"black-ish" star Jeff Meacham
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"Homeland" star Shaun Toub
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"The Expanse" star Cas Anvar
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"The Fosters" star Keean Johnson
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"Better Call Saul" star Patrick Fabian
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"Ray Donovan" star Kerris Dorsey
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"Survivor's Remorse" star Erica Ash
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DJ Resin Eight
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"The Comeback" star Robert Michael Morris
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"How to Get Away With Murder" composer Rupert Parkes and guest
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Elaine Hendrix and Patrick Fabian
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"Survivor's Remorse" Erica Ash and "Ray Donovan's" Pooch Hall
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TV industry players celebrate the best in television on the rooftop of London Hotel in West Hollywood at 2nd annual event