Markup View

Author: jamespolk

Apr 18th 2013 at 11:25:42 AM

[[AC:Comics]]
* ZigZagged in ''TheBoys'': Vic the Veep is incompetent, borderline mentally retarded and doesn't even hide that he's a Vought Corporation puppet through and through, but that doesn't make him harmless. For example, as the President is about to give the order to [[spoiler:shoot down the 9/11 airliners before they hit]], Vic knocks him out with a fire extinguisher (everyone else had been staring at the screens), as Vought Corporation wanted their supers to save the day as a PR move.

[[AC:Film]]
* The Vice President attends the historic launch of the first manned mission to Mars, Film/CapricornOne.  Doctor Kelloway notes this, and regards it as a sleight by the White House, a symbolic vote of no confidence in Kelloway's leadership at NASA.
* In the movie ''Film/MyFellowAmericans'', Matthews is really dumb (a NoCelebritiesWereHarmed mock version of DanQuayle). [[spoiler: This turns out to be partly ObfuscatingStupidity, as he is essentially the BigBad.]]

[[AC:Literature]]

* Perley Beecroft in Sinclair Lewis's ''ItCantHappenHere'', a novel about a [[DayOfTheJackboot fascist takeover]] of the United States.
* Harley Hudson in ''Literature/AdviseAndConsent'' is ineffectual and not terribly bright, and generally ignored by the administration.
* In the ''{{Timeline-191}}'' series of AlternateHistory novels, Donald Partridge, the second vice president of evil Confederate Nazi President Jake Featherston, is chosen for that office specifically because he is an ineffectual cipher.  Featherston's first Vice President had tried to assassinate him.  Partridge doesn't do much more than hang out with society ladies and tell jokes. 
* In the 1964 novel ''A Feast of Freedom'', Vice President Boysie Taylor visits the island of Omo Levi on a goodwill tour, and is eaten by cannibals.
* In Jeff Greenfield's satirical novel ''The People's Choice'', the President-elect dies just two days after winning the November election.  His dopey vice presidential running mate Ted Block, chosen for the ticket for his pretty face and described as "a step or two slow out of the cognitive gate," seems poised to become President.  But after Block picks one of his even dopier buddies to be his Vice President, the Electoral College members realize they are not obligated to vote for him and in fact can vote for whoever they want (the Electors are the ones chosen in November, and they officially elect the President in December).  Chaos ensues.

[[AC:Live Action TV]]

* In ''Series/{{Community}}'' Joe Biden makes an appearance ([[TheFaceless sort of]]) while on a Vice Presidential Tour that was going to stop at Greendale. This trope is referenced when he wakes up from a nap and says he had a dream about being a REAL President.
* The HBO series ''Series/{{Veep}}'' is about an ineffectual, bumbling Vice President, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who is ignored by the President and mocked by the media.
* In the American version of ''[[HouseOfCardsRemake House of Cards]]'', Vice President Jim Matthews is a spineless stooge, easily manipulated by protagonist Francis Underwood.
--> "I didn't get my pen!"
* Both of President Bartlet's veeps in ''Series/TheWestWing''. Bartlet and Hoynes personally dislike each other and Bartlet barely involves Hoynes in anything important, which Hoynes resents. Bob Russell is widely known as a bland political hack and was the only VP nominee that could get through a hostile Congress, but he tries to make himself more notable for his inevitable presidential campaign.
* In ''Series/JohnAdams'', Vice President Adams is chagrined when George Washington excludes him from Cabinet meetings (see RealLife below).

[[AC:Music]]
* Played for laughs in Music/TomLehrer's song "Whatever Became of Hubert?" regarding LyndonJohnson's VP Hubert Humphrey.  The first line:
--> Whatever became of Hubert? Has anyone heard a thing?

[[AC:Theatre]]

* Exaggerated in ''OfTheeISing'' with Throttlebottom, who is a perennial victim of RecognitionFailure.