Important lessons from the award-winning political satire series Veep, ahead of the actual Vice Presidential debate in the US.

There’s more to learn from Veep than creative new ways to insult traffic wardens. HBO’s fiery political comedy — following the cockeyed misfortunes of Vice President Selina Meyer, played by ex-Seinfeld star Ms Julia Louis-Dreyfus — is a fascinating peek behind the curtains of the White House. With the US Vice Presidential debate looming, current VP Joe Biden should take heed of writer/director Mr Armando Iannucci’s masterfully researched TV saga, which landed the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series this autumn. Fortunately for Mr Biden, or whoever replaces the poor lamb this November, we have compiled the five lessons Veep taught us about life as vice president.

In Veep, politicians are the spume that collects at the corner of a horse’s mouth. Not only are they repeatedly dealt bad hands, they’re mocked and derided for their misfortune. It’s like being arrested for being punched in the face — or in Selina Meyer’s case, shouted at by a round table of political advisors for being sexually assaulted. In one particularly cruel sequence, the VP is advised to keep schtum about being fondled by the husband of the Finnish prime minister — for fear the incident will come to “define” her tenure. Those of you with your eyes on a career in politics might want to click elsewhere right about now…

Cast your mind back back to 2009, when Mr Justin Timberlake trotted out for a snack with then-girlfriend Ms Jessica Biel sporting a shiny new pair of glasses. As if by magic, Mr Timberlake’s new look transformed him from pock-faced dancer to bookish auteur. Indeed, if glasses really can be used as PR fodder in the rose-tinted celeb world, they can, according to Veep, ruin everything for a politician. “Glasses make me look weak,” Selina scoffs in series one. “It’s like a wheelchair for the eye.”

Nathan Barley’s “geek pie” haircut, Tobias Fünke’s blood-soaked hair transplant in Arrested Development, Abbi Abram’s new Soviet Bloc ’do in Broad City: if TV has taught us anything, it's to pick a hairstyle lane and stay in it. In season three, Selina saws off her auburn curtains and faces a tsunami of verbal from her co-workers: “It's the worst use of scissors since my failed vasectomy,” says her director of communications Mike McClintock, before comparing Selina to an elf, and the type of short person frat boys toss around like a football at parties.

They say that you should always hire people more clever than you: you learn more, and they end up recruiting you when their career takes off. Never, however, hire someone more popular than you — and especially if they are certified national treasure Mr Hugh Laurie. Mr Laurie plays haughty flirt-bag Tom James, a political aid whose popularity in the press overshadows the VP's presidential campaign. James is the kind of guy you catch frantically searching his own name on Twitter, and blowing his salary nominating himself for awards.

A wee dram of Dutch courage before an exam, a speech, or a conversation with your mother can really do the trick. Mixing your medication before a meeting with the media, however, is not a good look. In season two, Selina trips out after walking through a window and dosing herself with industrial-strength herbal meds and anti-depressants. She flops into the press lounge looking like Mrs Doubtfire in the scene when her prosthetic face starts to peel off.