“I’m surprised you’re here,” a colleague who covers the D.C. social scene tells me when I arrived last night at the U.S. Institute of Peace for the local premiere of HBO’s new series Veep. OK, so maybe I don’t do go for these red-carpet shenanigans, but just look at the photos of Julia Louis-Dreyfus above—this will be good traffic!

Also, Veep is one of those shows ostensibly about this town yet filmed mostly elsewhere, in this case on a soundstage in Baltimore, with just a few establishing shots of motorcades barreling down D.C. roadways.

The D.C. Office of Motion Picture and Television Development wanted Veep badly. After production began, Mayor Vince Gray, Councilmember Vincent Orange (D-At Large) and film office director Crystal Palmer went to Los Angeles to press HBO to move more of Veep‘s production to the District. But the show got $1 million back from Maryland’s film incentive program in its first season. The District, it’s well documented, lacks such a program, leaving it to often be portrayed by other cities.

But no one parading down the carpet positioned on the terrace above the Institute of Peace’s white-marble concourse is there to talk about the bureaucracy of film production. A radio crew to my right asks each of the show’s actors if working on a series about the vice presidency had compelled them to seek opportunities in actual politics.

The answer, with one exception (Reid Scott, who plays a turncoat political aide), is a definitive “no.”

Quick synopsis of Veep: Louis-Dreyfus plays Selina Meyer, the first female vice president in U.S. history. When the show was announced, everyone wanted to think Sarah Palin. But Louis-Dreyfus and the show’s creator, Armando Iannucci, were quick to assure everyone Vice President Meyer is not based on the Alaskan fameball. Besides, Tina Fey, Gina Gershon, Lisa Ann and Julianne Moore seem to have Palin covered.

But the cast did their research. Matt Walsh, who plays Meyer’s out-of-step communications director, said he went on late-night drinking sessions with current and former White House press aides. He won’t say which ones, but that one lesson imparted is that people in such roles are frequently told, “You don’t do anything.”

“Hi, I’m Anna.” It’s Anna Chlumsky, whom everyone wants to remember for her 10-year-old turn in 1991’s My Girl, walking up in a billowy fuchsia dress. More questions from the radio team about getting involved in politics. Does anyone else realize she’s the only cast member of Veep to carry over from Iannucci’s last foray into American politics, the hilarious 2009 film In the Loop?

Chlumsky flashes a wide grin when I ask her about working with Iannucci again. In the Loop‘s most memorable character was Malcolm Tucker, an endlessly foul-mouthed communications director for the British prime minister. Chlumskly’s chief-of-staff character in Veep is about as close as the new show gets to Tucker, who spat out phrases like “fuckety-bye.”

The only native Washingtonian in the Veep entourage is Frank Rich, the New York magazine columnist who apparently is also now a gadfly at HBO. Rich, I hope, might be able to distinguish between our Washington and the hoity-toity federal city.

“If you grew up in Washington as a native and your parents were not in politics, as mine were not, it’s like growing up in Hollywood and not being part of the movie industry,” Rich, who grew up in Cleveland Park, says. Promising answer. “Federal Washington is what the tourists see, but they have a romantic view of it. This show is a very unromantic view. The daily life is very petty.” Rich tells another reporter which hotels he likes to stay in when he visits his hometown. These interviews are getting kind of petty.

Finally, Julia Louis-Dreyfus arrives, looking great in a sheer black dress. She tells us she watched the behavior of every recent vice president and vice-presidential candidate for guidance but, like Iannucci, she tries to make clear Selina Meyer is not based on Palin or Joe Biden or Al Gore or Geraldine Ferraro. Still, like some of her costars, she says she consulted with some of her character’s real-world counterparts, but wouldn’t say which ones. Well, there are only four living former vice presidents to pick from. Perhaps she sourced more from Gore, Walter Mondale and perhaps George H.W. Bush, because she insisted her character is not like the most recent No. 2., despite any calculating and ambitious behavior.

“No, not Cheney-esque,” she says. “She’s someone who’s interested in staying alive in politics at all costs.”

The promotional theatrics are nearly over. In the atrium below, so-and-sos are mingling with canapés, and I’m surprised I’ve lasted this long. There’s Wolf Blitzer talking to Richard Wolffe talking to who cares? Start the damn TV show.

Watch the trailer for Veep: