I saw [Ronald] Reagan. I've watched Jimmy Carter and his selflessness, getting involved in things like votes in African countries, but also putting his foot right into the whole Israel-Palestine crisis. Sometimes into places where people are going, "Why are you doing that?" .

All of a sudden, making a Spanish-American War joke. I think you sort of had to go to probably to an American high school to have remembered that.

I'd like to give every member of our cast a best supporting comedy Emmy.

I think that's part of being a comedy writer. You have to be confident. If you're sitting around worrying about, like, oh my God, what are people going to think, then you're not writing comedy. You have to write what makes you laugh, and then the world hopefully laughs as well.

I'm certainly never going to say that someone is prettier than Julia Louis-Dreyfus, but someone who would make her crazy for being young and good-looking.

I was a Fry & Laurie fan, I was a Blackadder fan, I was a House fan and he [ Hugh Laurie]s a pleasure.

What I loved about it was language-wise it wasn't that finely-tuned-perfect-insult-for-the-perfect-situation that sometimes we try and do on Veep.