Julia Louis-Dreyfus Confirms Washington Is Just As Ridiculous As 'Veep' Portrays It

Art may imitate life -- and vice versa -- but sometimes HBO's "Veep" feels a little too close to reality for comfort. For example, title character Selina Meyer uses the remarkably vapid slogan "continuity with change" in her run for president. Months later, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull used an almost identical motto.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus -- whose character rose from vice president to commander in chief after the reigning president resigned -- says it's not accidental. She told Time this week that "our show isn't a parody. We create situations that are plausible." And because the show doesn't mention parties, she said that real politicians "all think we're making fun of the other guy."

It's not the first time the show has admitted to being a bit more documentary than satire. Series creator Armando Iannucci once said that sometimes "we’ve come up with the most ridiculous story… and we do it, and then we get a call from Washington where they’ll ask, 'How did you find that out?'"

As Mother Jones pointed out, Hillary Clinton's emails from when she was the U.S. Secretary of State also suggest parallels. At least two times, she showed up for meetings that had been cancelled -- and no one had bothered to tell her (Meyers is often left out of important meetings and otherwise ignored by the president's office.)

Hey, at least Netflix's crazy dramatic "House of Cards" appears to be far from the truth!