HBO’s Veep is known for its twisted sense of humor, its great ensemble cast and its willingness to look at political compromises in a witty and cynical manner. Now, HBO has plans in the works to amp up one of these qualities for Season 4, adding to its great ensemble cast by signing on a former guest actor for a series regular role. Funnyman Sam Richardson will be around a whole lot more during Season 4.
I know it has been a while since Veep aired, but if you can push your thoughts back to Season 3, you should be able to remember Richardson, who played Selina’s aide, Richard, during three of last season’s 10 episodes. He popped up in the Season 3 premiere while Selina was on a book tour promoting her memoir Some New Beginnings. He’s calm under pressure, but also pretty strange, and he was among the best—if not the best—additions to Season 3. He helped her out on the road, and now it seems they’ve found more room for him to help out as part of her entourage.
Deadline first reported the casting, noting that there isn’t much we need to know about the Season 4 gig, except that Richardson will continue to play one of Selina Meyer's aides. I do wonder if there will be some problems between Richard and Selina’s other aide, Gary, played by Tony Hale. Selina definitely had some issues with Richard during the book tour, but it’s possible he won’t be around in such an adversarial role moving forward, at least with Selina. Really, I don’t care what happens, as long as he continues to coolly toss out phrases like, “Butter doesn’t need to be refrigerated.”
Richardson’s fairly new to the acting scene, but Veep isn’t his first gig. He’s also appeared in We’re The Millers and the TV series Harder than it Looks. Additionally, he popped up in The Office as Athlead Employee Colin. Around Los Angeles, he’s known for being a part of Second City. As anyone who watches Saturday Night Live knows, that’s one of the most fertile breeding grounds for young comedians, especially on shows like this that allow the characters to banter and shoot for clever and sly humor rather than obnoxious and over-the-top humor.
Here’s hoping, even with Richardson’s addition, the show still finds time to add an army of hilarious supporting characters for minor or one-off roles. In the past, Veep has been great about giving us surprise appearances from great character actors. That needs to continue, and with tons of awards and great buzz, there’s no reason to think actors won’t be lined up around the block waiting for their shot.
You can catch new episodes of Veep when it returns to HBO's schedule this spring.
