These guys have crafted the scenarios and 80 percent of the language. These scripts are so…I wouldn’t say tightly written. Scott: That’s a misconception…we do improv a lot, but that’s mainly there to refresh everything or give it a little extra juice.
Paste: So much of Armando Ianucci’s TV work in the past allows for a lot of room for improvisation, but are things with Veep still tightly scripted or a really close framework to play with? So, honestly, my biggest education regarding improv comedy actually came on the job working for My Boys.
And then I did a series called My Boys years ago and so many people involved with the show had come out of Second City or ImprovOlympic, so we just improv’d a lot because it just helped to make it funny. I took it just to have that skill in my back pocket and understand it a little bit because I could see the writing on the wall that this was going to be the future of comedy. I definitely never advanced to where I was on a team or anything like that. Scott: I’d taken some classes at UCB in New York and again at the Magnet Theater and the PIT Theater.
Paste: Had you done a lot of improv work before joining up with the show? I’m so sorry.” It took us a while to give each other the pass of, like, “Dude…just go for it.” We improv a lot of takes, and the epithets that we’re flinging left and right…because Dan is so verbose with his profanity, I’d go in these rants and when they yelled, “Cut,” I’d immediately turn to Matt Walsh or Julia or Tony and be, like, “I’m so sorry. When I started season one…we all did this…there was a lot of apologizing going on. Paste: It must be almost a cathartic thing to explore that side of yourself. But I gotta say it’s such a treat to play because I get to flex my dark side. It’s kind of funny, there are huge parallels between politics and the entertainment industry, so I’ve very much been able to draw inspiration for Dan from actors I know, producers I know, directors I know, agents I know that complete Machiavellian “love for no one” kind of ambition. I’m guessing that this is you playing against type? He’s willing to do most anything to advance his career in Washington. Paste: Dan is such an interesting character in that way. The big question is: who is Selina going to pick as her campaign manager? So, Amy and Dan in classic Amy/Dan fashion are really vying for it. Reid Scott: The third season opens up with the campaign trail solidly underway. Can you talk about where things pick up with season three? Paste: When we left off everyone last season, Selina and her staff were gearing up to run for the presidency. react to-and some times mirror-the characters on the show. With season three on the horizons, we caught up with Scott to talk about his work on Veep and how some people in D.C. It’s a great role that Scott takes to with visible delight, giving as good as he gets with the rapid-fire insults and gamesmanship that goes on with every episode. Although steadily working on stage and screen since the ‘00s, Veep has provided the 36-year-old actor with his breakout role: the vice-president’s deputy director of communications Dan Egan, the type of snaky and ambitious political striver who concerns himself with the world around him only so long as it serves his self-interests. It would take a lot for any actor to stand out amid that talent, but Reid Scott has managed to do just that. The pitch-perfect political satire Veep is cast with a gaggle of comedic heavy-hitters: sitcom vets like Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tony Hale (both of whom picked up Emmys for their work on the show) improvisational dynamos Matt Walsh, Zach Woods and Timothy Simons and great character actors like Gary Cole and Kevin Dunn.