Jonah Ryan [played
by Timothy Simons]: “I was…” [Stammering] “Sorry, ma'am.”
Selina: “God damn, why
are you even here?”
Jonah: “Oh, I came here
to tell you that you're a meme, ma'am.”
Selina: “I'm a meme
ma'am? What are you talking about? Speak English, boy.”
Jonah: “A meme, an
Internet phenomenon.”
Amy Brookheimer [played
by Anna Chlumsky] [confirming this at her computer]: “Okay, yes.
There are Photoshopped versions of this springing up all over Twitter.” [Images
start flashing on her screen of Selina typing on her cellphone.] “You at the
Declaration of Independence... Oh, my God: With Mary Magdalene at the
crucifixion…the 2004 tsunami….”
Gary Walsh [played
by Tony Hale]: “If there was a tsunami, you'd be genuinely looking at your
phone 'cause you'd be checking the weather.”
Selina: “You know what? I
don't need you to talk.” [Gary looks abashed. Then, Selina, back to the
whole staff]: “How do we stop this ‘meme ma'am’ shit?”
Jonah: “No, it's just a
meme, ma'am. Not a ‘meme ma'am.’” [Selina is stupefied.] “And usually they flame out after about 48
hours, but sometimes they blow up and become a super meme like Downfall or
Gangnam.”
Gary: “I love Gangnam.”
Selina [turning
on him]: “What did I just say?”
Jonah: “If it gets on
Reddit or Tumblr, that can happen.”
Selina: “Yeah, okay.
You've got to get out of here, okay? Take all these meaningless syllables with
you and just get out.”— Veep,
Season 2, Episode 4, “The Vic Allen Dinner,” original air date May 5,
2013, teleplay by Simon Blackwell and Armando Iannucci, directed by Chris
Addison
Selina’s acute embarrassment over becoming an object
of Internet ridicule was just a small preview of what befell Chris Christie
four years later after an ill-advised trip to the beach, or Andrew Cuomo a month ago as he walked outside the governor's mansion in Albany wrapped in a blanket. (At least Bernie
Sanders was able to turn all those mitten memes to political gold by helping to
raise $1.8 million for charity.)
The latest politician to suffer meme mortification: Matt Gaetz. (The best ones I’ve seen of the belligerent and beleaguered Florida congressman
have likened him to a Sixties sitcom character—or, as my good friend Rob
put it: “He’s like Eddie Munster, only older and more dangerous.”)
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