Selina and her staff scramble to avert a major internal crisis; Amy is angry with a new advisor.
Convention chaos reaches 81.2 with 64 jokes—Selina's damage control spirals fastest here.
Directed by Stephanie Laing · Written by David Quantick, Sean Gray
WAR
131.1
Wins Above Replacement
“Convention” ranks #48 of 65 Veep episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 92.1 — Elite. The episode packs 88 scored jokes at 2.3 per minute, averaging 7.6 on craft and 7.4 on impact, with Selina landing the most laughs. Every joke is ranked below with its individual craft and impact scores.
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Top Jokes
Tom James · Selina: Tom James's fake-out acceptance: 'I'm afraid, with deep regret... That I'm going to have to accept.'
Amy: 'The fact that you are a woman means we will have no more women presidents because we tried one and she fucking sucked.'
Amy Dark/Subversive Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Furlong · Teddy: 'I want you to use your dirty hands, clean out your desk. You're fired.' / Teddy: 'Everything I have done has been to serve you.' / 'And that goes double for fondling Jonah.'
Amy: 'You are the worst thing that has happened to this country since food in buckets and maybe slavery.'
Amy Dark/Subversive Escalation ★ Rewatch Selina: Selina mimes a gunshot: 'And you never know. Someday somebody might just...' (imitates gunshot)
Selina Dark/Subversive Character Comedy ★ Rewatch All Jokes — 88 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ Furlong: Roger Furlong quotes Scripture — 'Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them' — as self-aggrandizing introduction at the convention
Furlong Irony/Sarcasm Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Selina · Catherine: Selina coaching Catherine on how to say 'I love you, Mom' like she means it, then immediately saying it in an even more forced way
Jason: Jason asserting he's clearly a man because he hasn't been carded 'for years. Like, three years.'
Jason Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Mike: Mike describing Karen: 'I cannot take Karen anymore. It's been weeks and she has yet to speak a declarative sentence.' / 'Like living next to a highway.'
Mike Observational Character Comedy Selina: 'It sounds like you've been kidnapped by the Taliban.'
Selina Dark/Subversive Character Comedy Karen: Karen's response 'Exactly' to the Taliban kidnapping line — as if it were a reasonable, measured point
Karen Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Ian (Zucchini Farmer): Zucchini farmer: 'If you eat a zucchini anywhere in mainland North America, there's a 20% chance it's one of my zucchini.'
Dan: Dan: 'I practically photosynthesize.'
Dan Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Sidney Purcell: 'A Rolodex as crammed as a drug mule's poop pocket'
Ian (Zucchini Farmer): 'Probably not fucking zucchini, right?' — the zucchini farmer laughing at his own joke about not eating zucchini
Dan: Dan's only contact is Jonah Ryan: 'You ever hear of Jonah Ryan? No. Old buddy of mine. We go way back. Love that guy.'
Dan Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Selina · Amy · Catherine · Jason: Kiss rehearsal: 'Which part?' / 'All of it.' — Catherine and Jason's on-stage kiss is terrible and the whole team watches in horror
Amy · Karen: 'All sciences are precise. That's what science means.' / 'That's open to interpretation.'
Amy Karen Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Selina: 'Ugh, sounds good' — Selina's immediate positive reaction to hearing there's a death row execution problem
Selina Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Ben · Mike: 'He's been half-acuted' / 'Like being decapitated but surviving. Happens to chickens a lot.'
Selina: Selina: 'Yes, but a statement that can be repurposed if things change. He dies, he doesn't die, or whatever.'
Selina Character Comedy Dark/Subversive Furlong: 'Dead kids... That never sounds good unless you're a stressed-out single mom.'
Furlong Dark/Subversive Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Furlong: 'There's only one midget I'm gonna let tell me what to do, and I'm gonna go tell her that I'm done.'
Furlong Character Comedy Dark/Subversive Furlong: 'What's she gonna do, pin a dick on Gary and give him the job?'
Furlong Character Comedy Dark/Subversive Furlong Character Comedy Wordplay/Pun Selina: 'She's fucking ethnic! This is Latinageddon.'
Selina Character Comedy Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Selina: 'I wish I was that guy on death row. Apparently he's vomiting black bile.'
Selina Dark/Subversive Callback ★ Rewatch Callback Selina: 'He gets sexy Mexi. What am I stuck with? Doyle? Steve Martin's boring older brother.'
Selina Character Comedy Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Selina: 'That would totally fuck up that fiesta of theirs, wouldn't it?'
Selina Character Comedy Dark/Subversive Ben: 'It's like Christmas except happy.'
Ben Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Mike · Selina: 'Now they can kill him properly. God, you'd think they could do that right. Death row... the clue is in the name.'
Mike Selina Dark/Subversive Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Callback Dan · Sidney · Jonah: Dan being sent to get coffee for the zucchini farmer and Jonah — he's become the coffee boy
Ben · Doyle: The prostate cover story exchange: 'You have prostate problems.' / 'I'm not gonna say that.' / 'That's embarrassing.' / 'Exactly. That's what makes it more real.'
Dan · Jonah · Richard · Sidney: The coffee machine is claimed to be 'on the fritz' but Dan was told it worked fine earlier — Jonah obliviously orders a soy cappuccino anyway
Jonah: Jonah: 'I'm the wheel-greaser. I'm the puppet master. A man of many nicknames. Poonslayer.' (phone buzzes) 'When I'm online. Video games?'
Jonah Character Comedy Escalation ★ Rewatch Jonah: Jonah describing himself: 'I'm the wheel-greaser. I'm the puppet master. A man of many nicknames. Poonslayer. When I'm online. Video games?'
Jonah Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Dan · Richard · Jonah: Dan claims Amy and he are 'closer than two fat guys in an elevator'; Richard immediately claims he 'used to date' Amy and knows her 'inside and out'; Jonah says he'll call her too because 'Ames' is actually 'long for Amy'
Selina · Ben: 'What did I do in a past life to deserve Karen? / I think you must have given the go-ahead for Pearl Harbor.'
Selina Ben Setup/Punchline Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Selina: Selina laughing reflexively at Chung's story: 'I love it when you tell that story. It's so funny.' — clearly performing
Selina Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Chung: 'And my Bible. Although she is my Bible, so that's two Bibles.'
Chung Character Comedy Absurdist Selina: 'Well, you take as many of the 15 minutes available as you need to make this decision.'
Selina Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Selina: 'Well, you take as many of the 15 minutes available as you need to make this decision.'
Selina Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Selina: 'Oh, that's nice. Fuck off, I'm busy.'
Selina Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Furlong: '30 years as a senator and your asshole's getting more screen time than your face.'
Furlong Character Comedy Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Furlong: 'I understand you've been twirling Jonah's balls like they're some kind of exotic stress reducer.'
Furlong Character Comedy Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Furlong: 'I wish someone would sexually assault my staff. And by staff I mean penis.'
Furlong Character Comedy Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Furlong: 'I mean, which of us hasn't gotten off in some guy's junk? Just for a laugh?'
Furlong Character Comedy Dark/Subversive Furlong · Teddy: 'I want you to use your dirty hands, clean out your desk. You're fired.' / Teddy: 'Everything I have done has been to serve you.' / 'And that goes double for fondling Jonah.'
Doyle: Doyle watching the Teddy scandal unfold on TV: 'Have you been watching this? This is a fascinating show.'
Doyle Irony/Sarcasm Character Comedy Selina: Doyle's prostate diagnosis on live TV: 'which is not good. Sounds like you might die.'
Selina Dark/Subversive Character Comedy Selina: 'What, are you knocked up? What's the real reason?'
Selina Character Comedy Dark/Subversive Selina: Selina mimes a gunshot: 'And you never know. Someday somebody might just...' (imitates gunshot)
Selina Dark/Subversive Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Selina: 'The shitty, two-faced, fat fucking turd said no.'
Selina Character Comedy Escalation Selina: 'I'm supposed to walk out on stage and then keep walking till I fall off the other side?'
Selina Character Comedy Observational Ben: 'I like Tom James and I hate everyone.'
Ben Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Gary · Selina: Gary suggests asking Doyle back — everyone stares. Gary then suggests Maddox. 'Everybody stop having ideas.'
Sue · Mike · Selina: Death row inmate update: 'He died.' / 'Oh, finally, right?' / 'Death row... the clue is in the name.'
Maddox: Maddox: 'I'm a fiercely ambitious man. And I know how to get things done. Not that you don't. Though people say you don't.'
Maddox Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort ★ Rewatch Selina: Selina getting the Ben phone call and ejecting Maddox from the room mid-meeting with 'I've got to... He just closed the door, so I'm gonna have to head out'
Selina Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Selina: 'Well, that was then, and this is not then.'
Selina Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Selina · Ben: 'He's got a drinking problem. Yeah, shoe polish and he never even shared.'
Selina: 'Are you trying to blow up the universe now? Who's gonna go for two women on the ticket? I guess we could all eat pussy all day long, too, right?'
Selina Character Comedy Dark/Subversive Selina: 'Yeah, that's why we 86'd him, Mike. The candidate needs to live up to and through the election.'
Selina Wordplay/Pun Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Tom James: Tom James working the convention floor: 'Hey, Natty. What a cool guy. You shit ice cubes and you piss snowflakes, right?'
Tom James Character Comedy Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Amy: Amy's resignation speech: 'I have bitten my tongue so long it looks like a dog's cushion.'
Amy Character Comedy Observational ★ Rewatch Amy: 'You have two settings... No decision and bad decision.'
Amy Character Comedy Setup/Punchline ★ Rewatch Amy: 'I wouldn't let you run a bath without having the Coast Guard and the fire department standing by, but yet here you are running America.'
Amy Character Comedy Escalation ★ Rewatch Amy: 'You are the worst thing that has happened to this country since food in buckets and maybe slavery.'
Amy Dark/Subversive Escalation ★ Rewatch Amy: 'The fact that you are a woman means we will have no more women presidents because we tried one and she fucking sucked.'
Amy Dark/Subversive Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Selina: 'Well, that was clearly about me.' (laughs) / 'She's just one of those women who resents powerful women.'
Selina Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Selina: 'She's just one of those women who resents powerful women.'
Selina Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Callback Selina · Karen: 'What do you think of Tom James?' / Karen: 'What do I think of him? I think there's a lot to think.'
Selina: Selina's 'Ank you' to Karen — a thanks so abbreviated it's basically contempt
Selina Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Dan · Jonah · Richard: Dan discovers Amy has quit via mass text — 'Holy shit, Amy's gone' / 'Holy shit, that's insane. Wow, I'm getting the same thing, guys. Maybe we're getting the same text message. Oh, yeah, we are.'
Dan: 'All right, bottom line, we cannot let Mr. Zucchini the human vegetable find out about this.'
Dan Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Callback Dan: 'I have a little black book, okay? I have numbers the NSA doesn't even know about. Have you heard of Mike McClintock?'
Dan Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Tom James: 'Best one in four years.' — Tom James on the convention
Ben: 'He has one skeleton. You're looking at her.' — Ben about why he didn't want to suggest Tom James
Ben Setup/Punchline Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Tom James · Gary: Tom James arrives at the door: 'Room service.' — Gary nearly has a heart attack
Tom James: 'I could murder and make a lampshade out of a Manhattan.' — Tom James ordering a drink
Tom James Character Comedy Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Tom James · Gary: Tom: 'I could murder and make a lampshade out of a Manhattan.' (All laugh) Gary immediately: 'I would like something to drink. Bourbon, neat.'
Selina · Gary: Selina dismisses Gary to get bourbon, then tells him to go straighten her room — two separate menial tasks in quick succession while Tom James watches
Tom James · Selina: Tom James's fake-out acceptance: 'I'm afraid, with deep regret... That I'm going to have to accept.'
Tom James · Selina · Mike: Tom James retelling his own joke to Mike — 'Again?' / 'Yeah, definitely tell him. Please. Can't wait. It's hilarious.'
Mike: 'This is the best announcement since all those pandas got pregnant.'
Mike Absurdist Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Tom James: Tom James: 'Oh, it is with deep regret I must work.' — reprising his own joke immediately
Tom James · Selina · Kent: Tom James reveals he wants to sit down with Amy Brookheimer — Selina covers: 'Kent. Roger that.' — Kent's immediate, robotic 'Roger that' to his new role
Kent: Kent firing Karen: 'Your champagne's been laced with polonium. I mean, not really. It's just to lighten up the moment a little bit. But she definitely wants you to go.'
Kent Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Karen · Kent: Karen's response to being fired: 'I don't know what to think.' / Kent: 'Precisely. You can just use that... the door right there.'
Karen Kent Character Comedy Callback ★ Rewatch Callback Selina · Tom James: Convention stage: Selina and Tom bump teeth on their big kiss. Selina tells the crowd: 'It's funny because we actually bumped teeth there... we have our whole lives to practice that.'
Selina · Tom James: 'You leave this man alone, okay? Precious cargo right here.' / 'Well, he's my cheerleader.' / 'Yeah, I've got to get him pom-poms.'
Tom James · Selina: Tom: 'Do you ever get tired of this?' / Selina: 'Really tired of it, yeah.'
Selina · Tom James: Final line: Tom: 'Do you ever get tired of this?' / Selina: 'Really tired of it, yeah.'