Hillary Clinton emails: Veep star discovers the presidential hopeful is not as big a fan of the show as she thought

Julia Louis-Dreyfus had treasured a fan letter from the former Secretary of State until she was alerted to an exchange in a cache of Clinton emails released by the State Department

Gary Cole and Julia-Louis Dreyfus in season 3 of Veep

When Hillary Clinton sent a fan letter to Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the star of HBO’s hit political satire Veep, the actress took it as a sign that important people were laughing along to her show in the corridors of power. But when a large batch of Ms Clinton’s emails were later made public, it emerged that perhaps she wasn’t such a big fan, after all.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Ms Louis-Dreyfus has revealed that she received the letter in question in early 2013, as Ms Clinton was coming to the end of her tenure as Secretary of State. “Dear Julia,” it read, “Hope you get everything you want as Veep - gun control, immigration and education reform.”

The actress treasured the document, signed by Ms Clinton, until last year, when she was alerted to an exchange in a cache of Clinton emails released by the State Department. Ms Clinton had written to her aide Robert Russo shortly before sending the letter, saying: “A friend wants me to sign something for Julia-Lewis-Dreyfus [sic] for Veep. Any ideas?”

The message – not to mention the misspelling of Ms Louis-Dreyfus’s name – suggested that Ms Clinton was not overly familiar with the series, in which the actress plays Vice President (and later President) Selina Meyer. Mr Russo wasn’t much help. “Let me brainstorm on this one/do some research,” he replied, adding: “I confess I haven’t seen the show!”

Ms Clinton claims to have seen at least some of the series, telling Mumsnet in 2014: “I don’t regularly watch Veep. Occasionally I get to see it.” Ms Louis-Dreyfus – the winner of seven Emmys, five of them for Veep – found the situation so funny that she now keeps the letter and email framed side-by-side in her office. “It’s perfect – just perfect,” she told the magazine.

The mundane, everyday problems revealed in the Clinton emails have often been compared to the comic situations encountered (or caused) by Selina and her staff in Veep. Ms Louis-Dreyfus told the New York Times last week that Ms Clinton’s recent struggle to swipe her New York subway card constituted “a perfect Veep moment”.

Ms Louis-Dreyfus was also asked for her advice to the Democratic front-runner on how to deal with such situations. “She’s got to try to have a sense of humour about it,” said the former Seinfeld star. “I suppose you can make a self-deprecating remark. But it has to be innate. The minute there’s any falseness in your behaviour, that will be picked up on.”