T.J. Miller Claims ‘People Need A Villain’ Before Taking Swipes At Louis C.K. And Aziz Ansari

why tj miller leaving silicon valley

HBO


T.J. Miller pissed a lot of people off when he announced he was leaving HBO’s hit comedy Silicon Valley after four seasons of being one of the show’s most intriguing characters. To add insult to injury, Miller bashed show runner Alec Berg on the way out the door and implied co-star Thomas Middleditch angled for more and funnier lines. If you think that’s petty or malicious, he doesn’t give a shit.

Miller left the show to allot room for his other projects–namely his Comedy Central project The Gorburger Show, as well as The Emoji Movie, Deadpool 2, and creating another standup special.

In a recent tense interview with Vulture, Miller took a break from patronizing the interviewer to say he has absolutely no qualms with being the bad guy in the public’s eye.

“People need a villain, and I’m occupying that space. After the election, I realized that there was a gap. Nobody right now is publicly the Lindsay Lohan–train wreck–but–not–quite person. If I’d just said it was an honor to work on ‘Silicon Valley’ and was thankful to Alec Berg, I would have disappeared. Instead, by being just a little authentic, I infected the news cycle.”

“It’s more important to be polarizing than neutralizing,” he continued. “That’s my position.”

Miller then changed the tide of the interview to ask Vulture’s David Marchese if he believed he was good at his job. When Marchese said “I don’t think I’m great at it,” Miller replied, “I agree.”

The 36-year-old also gave his opinions on fellow comedians, claiming Pete Holmes and Patton Oswalt are his inspirations, but having harsher opinions of Louis C.K–“He doesn’t say anything surprising anymore” and Aziz Ansari–“He’s very good at what he does … like Dane Cook.”

Then Miller, who has his fingerprints on several projects in movies and television, ironically claims he doesn’t give two shits about movies or television.

“I know it’s hard for people to understand, but I don’t really care about movies or TV. Stand-up is always going to be the foundation of what I do. If Hollywood fired me tomorrow, I would be like, ‘Finally, I can relax.’ ”

When asked why he doesn’t quit Hollywood altogether, he said “Contradiction is something to pursue rather than avoid.”

The 36-year-old comedian has made a career of being an off-the-wall dude who doesn’t abide by the conventional norms of a normal human. But I couldn’t help to think when reading the interview in full, Miller was being a dick just to be a dick.

Cool dude. You’re a funny, talented guy. Please don’t make me hate you.

[h/t Page Six]

Matt Keohan Avatar
Matt’s love of writing was born during a sixth grade assembly when it was announced that his essay titled “Why Drugs Are Bad” had taken first prize in D.A.R.E.’s grade-wide contest. The anti-drug people gave him a $50 savings bond for his brave contribution to crime-fighting, and upon the bond’s maturity 10 years later, he used it to buy his very first bag of marijuana.