How Daniel Tiger helped ‘Veep’s’ Anna Chlumsky in the show’s final days

Anna Chlumsky has earned five Emmy nominations for playing perpetually high-strung political operative Amy Brookheimer in “Veep.” She loves the character and all her neuroses, revels in her relationships with her cast mates and appreciates the “grown-up feeling” a regular source of income has provided her these last few years.

Understandably, then, when “Veep” star Julia Louis-Dreyfus called Chlumsky to tell her the show would be ending after its seventh season, the news elicited some decidedly mixed feelings.

“The first emotion was just profound gratitude and then after I got off the phone with Julia, I pulled the car over and had a cathartic cry,” Chlumsky told The Times during a recent video interview.

That call came two years ago, and provided Chlumsky a window into the emotions she’d be feeling — and embracing — as the celebrated series filmed its final episodes.

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“Veep” star Anna Chlumsky on her emotional state during the show’s final season.

You see, unlike Amy, Chlumsky isn’t afraid to feel sad — she’s watched enough episodes of “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” with her daughters to have a healthy perspective on the value of a good cry.

“Leading up to my last shot, I was just playing Chris Jackson singing ‘One Last Time’ on my phone,” Chlumsky said, laughing at the idea of embracing heartache and mourning. “We were in it! When do you get that moment again? That’s it. That’s the one!”

Meanwhile, in the season’s third episode, we just saw Amy embrace something much less palatable, signing up to be the campaign manager of Jonah Ryan’s insane presidential run.

“She doesn’t have the status and trust of Selina that she used to and she wants to go big or go home at this point,” Chlumsky said.

And while working with Jonah might seem like something of a career comedown, Chlumsky is quick to point out that Amy’s aptitude might not be as strong as some may think.

“She has a really good face of competency, but … a lot of the stuff that she did was really faulty,” Chlumsky said. “She’s always been over her head.”

And now that she’s with Jonah … well, we’re not banking on a Hail Mary this late in the game.

You can watch the full interview below.

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‘Veep’ star visits the L.A. Times studio for her final season interview.

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Twitter: @glennwhipp