T.J. Miller is the breakout star of HBO's tech satire Silicon Valley, stealing scenes
as the obnoxiously aggressive—and aggressively obnoxious—Erlich Bachman:
"I know that you look at me and see a guy who has it all figured out.
And for the most part you're right."
"Argh!"
"Ya, know half of the yogurt's gonna go unused because one quarter of the jam can't come
out!"
He's hitting big at the movies, too, with a major role as Weasel in the blockbuster
Deadpool.
Here's a look back at where you might have seen Miller before.
Carpoolers
Miller's first major role came via this short-lived ABC single-camera comedy.
Created by The Kids in the Hall's Bruce McCulloch, it followed the lives of four guys connected
only by their daily carpool.
Miller played the son of one of carpoolers, a gigantic but soft-spoken man-baby named
Marmaduke who still lives at home, doesn't work, and spends most of his time entertaining
his own flights of whimsy.
"Hey Bob!"
"Father, I'm no longer Bob.
Although, on some level I did feel closer to you as Bob, there's just too many things
going on on the planet to be ignored."
Cloverfield
Very little was known about Cloverfield before it hit theaters—including the cast.
Miller plays a bro named Hud in this J.J. Abrams-produced, found-footage style science-fiction
thriller about a group of college-age friends having a party in New York City—until they're
terrorized by a Godzilla-type monster creature and its horrifying minions.
"I don't know, something else!
Also terrible!"
While you don't see Miller's face through most of Cloverfield, that's only because his
character is the guy holding the camera and narrating the movie the whole time.
In the end, though, things just don't work out too well for old Hud...
(screams)
Chelsea Lately
Carpoolers was cancelled after 13 episodes and the star of Cloverfield was the monster,
so Miller still had some career climbing to do.
Undaunted, Miller turned to stand up and sketch comedy and made more than three dozen appearances
on Chelsea Lately, Chelsea Handler's talk show on E!, showing up to do panel and also
appearing in sketches:
"T.J.
I don't see any stuffed animals."
"Well, Brad I don't know what to tell you, ok?
I don't know what your prescription is, I don't what the, ya know-"
"What, what are you doing?"
"It's a facial mist ever heard of it?"
He even guest-hosted the show a few times:
"I mean have you ever seen something like that little golden rhino?"
Extract
This comedy was written and directed by Mike Judge, who also made Beavis and Butthead and
Office Space, and is built around the owner of a flavor extract company desperately trying
to cheat on his wife.
Miller plays Rory, a dim worker at the extract plant.
"What are we gonna do?
I got car payments, they're gonna take away my Geo, they've done it before.
We gotta act fast!"
It's a bit part, but it introduced Miller to Judge, who would later cast him on Silicon
Valley.
Yogi Bear
The 2010 big screen version of Yogi Bear was meant to appeal to kids largely ignorant of
the more than 50-year-old cartoon character.
The movie's notable for Miller's portrayal of Ranger Jones, a role he secured with an
unhinged audition video.
"Hey, hey Yogi what are you doing?
Ya that's what I thought, have you been stealing picnic baskets?"
(bear growl)
"You have?
Now you've been told not to do that, where's Boo Boo?"
(bear growl)
"Well tell him to come back here!"
Miller sent Warner Bros. a video of himself dressed up like a ranger and running lines
with a bear he rented for the day.
Method acting at its finest.
"Ranger Smith, I just wanted to say I'm sorry, I wanna be in charge so badly, no no, hold
on now..."
The Goodwin Games
During a short lived Fox sitcom called The Goodwin Games, Miller appeared as loveable
slacker Jimmy Goodwin.
Through a series of videos left by their late father, three estranged adult siblings return
to their small town thinking they're going to inherit their father's millions…but it's
really just a plot to bring them closer together.
Created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, who also created How I Met Your Mother, The Goodwin
Games had its initial order cut to just six episodes, which aired in the summer of 2013.
Transformers: Age Of Extinction
How do you know you've really made it in Hollywood?
When you're cast as the comic relief in a Michael Bay action movie.
"Ok!
Ok!
Alright!
Ok!
Alright!
I was wrong!"
In 2014, Miller appeared in Transformers: Age of Extinction as Lucas Flannery, mechanic
and best friend of Mark Wahlberg.
"Get in here!
Lock that door!"
"It doesn't have a lock."
While it's kind of a tall order to compete with dinosaur robots and a metal samurai,
Miller still managed to offer some standout moments.
"What kind of cars are those?!
They're so scary!"
Of course, that made his character's "death by robo-grenade" all the more tragic.
(epic screaming)
The Crunchies
Also called the "Oscars of Silicon Valley," the tech industry hands out awards to itself
at each year's "Crunchies."
Because of his role on Silicon Valley-
"My wife picked these out."
"Then you married poorly."
-Miller was asked to host in 2015, and organizers thought he'd bring some fun to the proceedings:
"Bring him!
Does he not have a way to come?
Tell him to get an Uber!"
He did...but he also spent a lot of time making fun of Gabi Holzwarth, a violinist who plays
tech industry parties…who is also the girlfriend Uber founder Travis Kalanick.
Holzwarth and Miller got into a shouting match, and Miller made some ill-advised comments
before moving on to mock the many venture capitalists in the audience.
"Come on!
Get into it!
Act like you mean it!"
Thanks for watching!
Subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch more videos like the one you just saw.
And leave us a comment to let us know which T.J. Miller appearance is your favorite.