Subtitles section Play video
-Oh, my gosh. -Hello.
-Thank you so much for being here
and talking to me tonight.
I really -- I want to get into so many things.
I think you're... -Yeah.
-...doing so much good work right now.
But... -[ Breathes deeply ]
-Now, we're taping this
before the final presidential debate airs.
-Yeah. -But if you could look
into the future, what do you think your reaction
will be to tonight's debate?
-I think I'm gonna be in the other room,
screaming into the TV room, "What's happening?"
Because I am getting --
I'm so anxious about all of this.
It happened in the last debate, too.
That fool started screaming and talking over everybody,
and I had to walk out.
It just made me too upset and anxious.
-That was one of the worst things --
I just kept going, "How we doing? How we doing?"
-Yeah. -And then I just stayed out.
And that's what I'm gonna do tonight, too.
-'Cause, obviously, I have to watch him
because we have to make jokes about this,
you know, afterwards. -Right.
-And it's like, just --
I still have a crick in my neck from that.
'Cause it was like watching two people get into an argument
for an hour or two -- or two hours?
I go, "This is the worst thing I ever had to watch."
I go -- just -- -It was bad.
-It stressed me out.
I'm so happy this is the last one tonight.
-Yeah, me, too. -But you've gotten to know
Vice President Biden personally over the past few years.
-Yeah. -When did you first meet him?
-I first met him --
I first really met him when I was doing "Veep."
And we were in D.C.,
and he invited me to the White House for lunch.
-No. -And -- yeah.
And I have to tell you, it was so --
I was so excited and so -- I had such butterflies.
And I got there -- and it was in his office, by the way.
It was in his office. -Oh, my gosh.
-And so -- I know. And then the waiter came in.
-Yeah. -And he said,
"What would you like?" and he presented with a menu.
And I -- I mean, I couldn't eat
'cause I was so overcome that I was even there.
Right? -Of course.
-And so I said, "Okay. I'll just have that sandwich."
You know, I'm not really thinking.
And then Joe goes, "Oh, no.
You should get the crab cakes, too.
Bring her the crab cakes, too."
And then, the next thing I know,
I've got these two huge plates of food,
and it's just me and Joe Biden sitting there.
And I need to make a dent in both of these meals.
And I had no -- I was like dry mouth, you know?
That kind of nervousness. -How cool is that?
-But he couldn't have been nicer.
Yeah, it was crazy. And then he had to go
to some meeting after this, and he says,
"I got to go to a meeting. I'm gonna go in the motorcade.
Do you want to ride in the motorcade?"
I was like, "Yeah, I want to ride in the motorcade."
-You're kidding me! -No!
-You were in the car with him? -I think I took a --
I took a picture of it. I think you guys may have it.
But anyway, yeah. -Oh.
-Yes! That's the motorcade.
-How cool -- -That's the motorcade.
Isn't that neat? -At the DNC --
You got to speak at the DNC, which is --
Talk about pressure right there. -No kidding.
-You told the story about the time that Vice President Biden
called you after your cancer diagnosis.
-Yes. I got -- I was diagnosed with breast cancer,
and this is, I guess --
Geez, I guess it's a little over three years ago now.
And he called.
And, of course,
his beloved son Beau... -Yeah.
-...had struggled with this disease.
And so he was very well connected to doctors.
He knew this hospital and that group
and this research team, and blah, blah, blah.
And so he was calling me to talk to me about
who my doctors were and how could he help
and should he put me in touch with this, that, and the other.
And it was just so beyond the beyond,
in terms of kindness, for real.
It was just -- It was astoundingly thoughtful.
-Wow.
-And I couldn't get him off the phone, by the way.
-Yeah. -I mean, I was like,
"You've got to -- Don't you have to run the country?"
-"You have things to do, buddy." Yeah.
-Yeah, totally. -He's that amazing.
-But I mean, he really wanted to talk to me about sort of
my medical plan and how I was gonna do it
and blah, blah, blah. It was incredibly sweet.
Needless to say, that's certainly not the reason
he has my support.
But it is emblematic of the thoughtfulness and the kindness
that is a part of his personality,
which is sorely missing right now in the White House.
-You know, there have been countless comparisons
between the current presidency and your show, "Veep."
But I think I agree with you.
I think I know what you're gonna say.
But it's almost like what's happening
couldn't even be written in "Veep."
'Cause it's too ridiculous.
-Well, yeah. I mean, I got to tell you,
it's one of the reasons we ended the show.
Because, uh... -Is that right?
-The -- Yeah. Because the Trump administration
was sort of out-"Veep"-ing us at every moment.
They were sort -- They were doing a better version
of our show, except that it wasn't even remotely funny.
-[ Laughs ] -But they really were.
And I mean, I can tell you that if my writers
had put into a script some of the shenanigans
that this guy is up to these days,
I would've said, "Guys, not plausible.
Nobody's gonna believe it. It's too broad."
-Yeah. -"It's too cartoony."
-Exactly. -You know.
-So many things, you go, "There's no way this is real."
But, yeah. -I know.
-If you wrote it in a script, you go, "That's too farfetched."
-Oh, too farfetched, for sure. -You had a great tweet after --
There was a video of Trump dancing
at a rally that went viral.
And he was doing this thing. And you said,
"First of all, he stole 'Veep,'
now he's stealing from 'Seinfeld.'"
[ Laughter ] -Yeah.
-So good. By the way --
-Melania deserves an Emmy
for acting like she's attracted to this.
-How did you come up with that dance, by the way?
I know everyone probably asked you about this, but how?
Is it -- it's the funniest thing I've ever seen.
-Well, this is how it happened. This is how it happened.
So, the writers wrote the script.
I got it the night before the table read, right?
And it said, you know, "Elaine dances weird,"
but they didn't say how or anything.
So I thought, "Uh..."
So I got in front of the mirror,
and I tried out a couple of movements
that I thought looked horrible. -Yeah.
-And then, I came down to the kitchen.
And my husband was there.
And my mom was visiting at the time.
And I said, "Okay, guys, tell me which one of these is worse."
-[ Laughs ]
-And I did it for them, and they chose that one,
and that's the one that I did in the show.
And the thing that most people don't know is that, of course,
there's music playing when you watch the -- that episode.
Elaine is dancing to music. But when we actually shot it,
we couldn't play music because, all of a sudden,
those hurky-jerky movements would have been to the beat.
I couldn't separate it.
You know what I mean? -Yeah, yeah.
You would be too on rhythm. Yeah -- oh, gosh.
-And it had to be completely off-rhythm.
And that's just a way of me defending myself
so you don't think that I really dance like that.
I actually do have a little bit of rhythm.
-Oh, yeah. -Not tons, but I've got it.
-Well, that must be --
Do people ask you to do the dance all the time?
Like, "Hey, do the dance. Come on."
-Yes, they do. Yeah.
And I don't do it. I don't do it.
-Of course not. -But I can tell you if I go to,
like, a wedding or something where there's dancing,
and I hit the dance floor, I feel all eyes on me.
It's a very self-conscious thing.
And so there's massive pressure to really move...
-"That was a bit I did, guys." - -...like I know what I'm doing.
-And then you go, "This is not fun."
Everyone's staring. Oh, my gosh.
Speaking of "Seinfeld," you're planning a mini reunion
for a fundraiser happening tomorrow night.
-I want to talk about that when we come back.
Is that cool? -Great.