There are almost too many political shows circulating for you to watch. Some want to inspire you with passionate speeches about democracy (The West Wing), others want to scare you with sinister conspiracies (House of Cards), and others just want to cheer you up (Parks and Recreation). But one show manages to capture the absurdity, chaos, and ego-fueled nonsense of politics better than any other: HBO’s Veep.

If you haven’t already binged it, you’re missing out on some of the sharpest writing and funniest satire of the last decade. In a time when American politics often feels like a TV show itself, Veep is incredibly relevant. Here are five reasons why you should stop doom-scrolling and start watching Julia Louis-Dreyfus hurl insults at her staff.

1. Julia Louis-Dreyfus Delivers the Role of Her Career

You probably already love Julia Louis-Dreyfus from Seinfeld or Arrested Development, but as Vice President Selina Meyer, she reaches another level of unseriousness. Not only is she funny, but she also inhabits Selina as a perfect blend of self-absorbed ambition, crippling insecurity, and genuine insanity.

Selina Meyer is not inspirational. She’s not noble. She doesn’t even seem all that interested in public service. But she is real, and she is raw. Her desperate scramble for approval, her obsession with power, and her inability to remember the names of her own staff could be ripped straight from a headline about an actual politician. Louis-Dreyfus’s performance is both outrageous and unsettlingly realistic. She also racked up six consecutive Emmy wins for the role, breaking records and proving that Veep is one of the best comedies ever to be aired on TV. 

2. The Insults Alone Are Worth It

Imagine the most savage, psychotic roast you’ve ever heard. Now multiply it by ten. That’s every single episode of Veep.

The writers have an otherworldly ability to craft insults that are both horrifying and beautiful. Selina and her staffers, especially the cruel communications director Mike and the venomous assistant Sue, skewer each other at lightning speed. Watching them verbally abuse each other is like watching a pair of gladiators fight to the death, except they’re petty, suit-wearing sycophants.

You’ll find yourself pausing just to rewind and rehear an insult that’s too perfect to process in one go. Every jab they throw at Jonah (White House liaison to the Veep’s office) is perfectly curated to make your jaw drop. Jonah might be one of TV’s greatest punching bags, and he deserves every bit of it.

3. It’s the Most Accurate Political Show Because It’s the Most Ridiculous

What’s incredible is that Veep often feels more like real American politics than “serious” political dramas. When the show first aired in 2012, critics called it “absurdist satire.” Fast-forward to the last few election cycles, and suddenly the “satire” feels prophetic.

In Veep, politicians don’t actually care about policy. They care about polling numbers, photo ops, and avoiding blame. Sound familiar? Selina Meyer’s team scrambling to spin disasters, botching press conferences, and backstabbing each other could be mistaken for today’s political reality. 

Former Obama staffers have even admitted that the show captures the mood of D.C. better than more noble portrayals. The takeaway is both funny and deeply depressing. Politics is about egos, and Veep makes that bitter pill go down with the sugar of comedy.

4. It’s the Perfect Binge Show for the Short Attention Span Era

We’re all tired and have the attention span of a goldfish (I know I do). Committing to a ten-season prestige drama feels impossible when you can barely study for ten minutes without taking a break. That’s why Veep is the ideal binge.

Episodes are short (around 30 minutes), packed with fast-paced dialogue, and almost never drag or have filler episodes. The stakes are always high, but the chaos is so ludicrous that you never feel stressed out watching it. It’s basically a form of sadistic stress relief.

Unlike other comedies that fizzle out due to repetitiveness, Veep gets better as it goes. The disasters escalate, the insults get sharper, and Selina’s ambition becomes increasingly deranged. You’ll tell yourself “just one more episode,” but then suddenly it’s 2 a.m. and you’re halfway through another season.

5. It’s Weirdly Comforting in Today’s Political Chaos

Current politics is unpredictable. Every day, the news cycle serves us heaping portions of pure anxiety. But Veep offers a strange kind of comfort. It reminds us that politics have always been messy, absurd, and driven by egos more than ideals. Watching Selina Meyer flail her way through D.C. is cathartic. If the people in charge on TV are this incompetent, then our actual leaders can’t be much different. And if that’s true, well, at least we can laugh about it.

Plus, it’s nice to be able to process political absurdity in a safe, scripted environment where the worst consequence is Selina embarrassing herself in front of the entire world. Laughter may not solve our problems, but it sure beats laughing (and crying) about the political state of our country.