Entertainment
After seven seasons of the most skillfully crafted insults known to premium cable, HBO's Veep is sadly coming to an end this year. Julia Louis-Dreyfus has won a Best Actress in a Comedy Emmy for her work on every single season so far, and it's raked in a stunning number of accolades for everything from acting, to writing, to directing. Of course, the best memes from Veep a shining example of what happens when outstanding writing, directing, and acting collide, and, with all those elements at the top of their game, the series has resulted in some of the internet's most iconic gifs.
The show is best known for its biting and profane insults, and there are countless listicles devoted to rounding them all up. But few things capture the show better than gifs of Selina having absolutely had it with the yokels on her staff, or Sue's calm and reasonable boundaries, or Jonah, Mike, or Gary's withering responses to getting owned by Dan, Amy, or Ben. Truly, there's a Selina reaction gif for every mood, especially if that mood is "narcissistic," "annoyed," or "enraged." The Veep gang is every deranged-with-ambition, yet deeply self-loathing millennial's collective mascot and they'll be missed once they're gone. Luckily, these relatable memes will live forever.
Selina's Best Self-Own
This iconic self-own is my go-to gif when I've just made a complete idiot of myself, particularly to a boss or career-based authority-type figure. It says, "Wow, I really thought I had that and I...did not!"
Selina's Perfect Poker Face
No one panders better than Selina Meyer, and this reaction shot perfectly captures the eye-twitching inner rage of someone who's constantly pretending everything is definitely super fine! Fantastic, even!
Gary...Just, Poor Gary
Gary, the Vice President's body man and an effervescent try-hard, is definitely the Leslie Knope of this group, if Leslie was a hundred times more incompetent and also ruled by a tyrannical bully.
Selina's Pep Talks
We may not all be dealing with stakes as high as those in the Vice President's office, but who can't relate to Selina's desk-pounding frustration here?
Sue Is Office Manager Goals
Sue is one of the most enigmatic members of Selina's team, but we all know everything would fall apart without her — well, more than it already falls apart constantly in every episode.
Selina Meyer: Feminist Hero
Sure, Selina is a largely incompetent Vice President, but she knows when it's mostly the fault of the dudes around her.
The Time Selina Lost The Presidency
Who could forget Selina's perfectly controlled rage when she found out she had lost her presidential seat. Well, perfectly controlled until she quietly excused herself to the office kitchen and went ham on an unsuspecting Keurig, anyway.
Selina's BS Detector Knows No Bounds
Say what you will about her, but Selina has no problem checking DC bureaucrats who underestimate her power or backbone just because she's a woman.
You Didn't Think You Were Getting Out Of Here Without An Insult, Did You?
Are Veep's insults frequently cruel, ableist, racist, homophobic, and otherwise deeply problematic? They sure are. But the characters wielding them literally always end up falling on their faces themselves, which is why it's so fun to laugh at them. So cheers to the show that cunningly punches up at DC politics by expertly displaying what a bad look it is to punch down.
