| “ | I mean, hey, you're the old pro here... you're the pro. | ” |
– Dan
| ||
"Fundraiser" is the series premiere of the HBO original series Veep. It originally aired on April 22, 2012.
Synopsis
VP Selina Meyer wants to make the implementation of a Clean Jobs Commission her main legacy, but then a Tweet from a staffer annoys the plastics industry, she makes an offensive joke at a fundraiser, and her chief of staff forgetfully signs her own name on a condolence card for the wife of a senator who just died.
Plot
Still new to the job, Vice President Selina Meyer and her team are off to a rocky start. A tweet sent in her name bragging about the Veep's pet project - the Clean Jobs Commission - and the proliferation of green utensils in Federal buildings upsets the powerful plastics industry. As a result, senators beholden to the plastics' lobbying group skip the Veep's Senate Reform meeting.
In an attempt to get back in the good graces of the plastics industry, the Veep invites the well-connected Senator Barbara Hallowes to join the Clean Jobs commission. Hallowes turns her down flat: "you piss off plastics, you piss of oil," she says. "You don't want to f*ck with those guys because they f*ck in a very unpleasant fashion."
"'Selina, hi. I'm Melting. I'm Melting.' She is such a fucking bitch."
Hallowes suggests that Selina fire the rogue tweeter: "I think that you might have been hoisted by your own ‘retard.' " While leaving Hallowes' office, the Senator's ambitious new spokesman Dan Egan announces that the terminally-ill Sen. Reeves has died. Hallowes recalls "Rape-y" Reeves as one of the most respected perverts in Washington.
Angling for a more prestigious job, Dan, currently dating Sen. Hallowes' daughter and deeply despised by the Veep's Chief of Staff (Amy, whom he once dated), tells Selina what went wrong with her primary campaign.
Jonah, an eager White House aide high on the power of POTUS proximity, informs Selina that President Hughes expects her to attend that evening's fundraiser in his place. The White House doesn't want POTUS to be hit with questions about the Fiscal Responsibility bill.
"It seems like with that cornstarch tweet, we were hoist by our own retard."
En route, Selina asks Amy for an assessment of Dan. Amy dismisses him as a massive and total "shit."
At the fundraiser, the Veep's team discovers that the White House has sent Jonah over to "majorly redact" any mention of oil, plastics or corn starch from Selina's speech - leaving her with "hello" and prepositions.
Quotes
"Who else is confirmed?" - Selina Meyer (first line of the series)
"What about Senator Reeves. Is he dead yet?" - Selina
"Not yet. He's mostly intervenous. He has so many tubes in him he looks like a set of bagpipes" - Amy Brookheimer
"Glasses make me look weak. It's like a wheelchair for the eye." - Selina
"Okay, here comes Dorsey with your coffee." - Gary Walsh
"Gary, I have large moving shapes covered - Selina.
"You should mingle." - Gary
"Mingle? How do you suggest I mingle with this few people? Did Simon mingle with Garfunkel?" - Selina.
"She's mediocre, really. Of all the 'ocres', she's the 'medi'-est." - Dan Egan describing Senator Hallowes
Starring
Main cast
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina Meyer
- Anna Chlumsky as Amy Brookheimer
- Tony Hale as Gary Walsh
- Matt Walsh as Mike McLintock
- Reid Scott as Dan Egan
- Timothy Simons as Jonah Ryan
- Sufe Bradshaw as Sue Wilson
Guest cast
- Kate Burton as Barbara Hallowes
Reception
"Fundraiser" received fairly positive reviews from critics, though the response was more lukewarm than compared to later reviews of the series. The A.V. Club gave the episode an A-.
Trivia
-This episode takes place in 2013, in Selina's first year as VP and Hughes' first year as President.
-Some of the scenes in this episode were filmed in first as a pilot while other parts were rewritten and filmed around episode five.
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