Interview with TJ Miller!

Didn't think we'd let the fest come and go without interviewing at least one of our amazing acts, did you? Of course not! Danielle Scherr, one of our awesome festival producers who you'll see running around keeping the magic going, caught up with TJ Miller (Hud from the hit movie Cloverfield and Carpooler's Marmaduke Brooker) for a chat.

Danielle: Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with dccomedyfest, and for giving your fans the chance to spend some time inside the mind of TJ Miller himself.

TJ: Hey Dccomedyfest. Thanks for spending the time with me, and for spending some time inside, in my mind, with me myself.

Danielle: You have worked in a large variety of comedic venues: from live group Improv and sketch comedy - with Recess at GWU, Second City and IO in Chicago - to stand-up across the country, TV roles, and even on the Big Screen, of these many forms of performance is there one that you prefer in particular?

T.J.: No, not really. I prefer interactive children’s theater, but just as an audience member. I prefer sitting with the children. That to me is performance, sitting with children. I’m really interested in how the medium affects the performance, or how the mediums works in different contexts. It’s interesting to see what lends itself better to stand-up more than sketch, or in an improvisational setting, or to racist ventriloquism. It’s also interesting to see how the medium affects the comedy. Shows on TV require a lot less physical exertion as opposed to a live performance. The content to me is most important, not just the medium - if it’s a great idea on film then it’s just as interesting to me as a great stand-up bit. It’s all about what the content is.

Danielle: Sorry about the awkward silences, I’m writing down what you’re saying. This more half bad-date, half interview.

TJ: *laughs* Well I definitely want that mentioned somewhere in the interview

Danielle: In terms of your live performances, do you feel a strong distinction between how audiences receive your Improvisation versus your stand-up routines?

T.J. - That’s the most interesting question of the three, and thank you for interviewing me. Group improv is often giving you a little more lee-way because the audience knows it’s made-up and it doesn’t have to always be funny. While with stand-up the audience tends to be a lot harder on you, they expect, and rightly so, that everything you say is going to be funny. There is a tacit agreement between you and audience that you can talk about anything but, first and foremost it has to be funny. Improv allows for the performer to be dramatic at times and is of course more organic. I try to incorporate improv into my stand-up. The best version of my stand-up is improvising my way to and from the pre-written material, and that all meshes to become my act. In the best stand-up you can’t tell what was improvised and what was written.

Danielle: What was your experience like at Second City?

TJ: It was good. Second City was a great place to work, there is a reason people that work there end up doing well outside of Second City. It’s a place where there is so much performing going on, and talented people. I was touring all over the country, and one Monday a month you can perform at the mainstage in front of a very big hometown Second City audience. It has all the frustrations of any theatre company, but it was a great experience improvising after every show. It gave me a lot of repetition performing, and you work with some of the funniest people in Chicago, they’re really pretty amazing people working in that building. It is comedy university in a way, but you have to have extracurricular activities.

Danielle: What would you say has been your most memorable stand-up experience?

TJ: A lot of them are memorable, but recently I did a show with Andy Kindler in Montreal. It was this big theater show with a lot of people that I really look up to, and suddenly I was performing in a show with them. I think Andy Kindler is one of the funniest guys alive and now I’m doing a show with him which is pretty amazing. Even just performing in Montreal was a really great experience. I’ve been doing showcases and performing etc. but I always wondered about how people get invited to perform in certain shows, and once I got “Variety’s Top 10 Comics to Watch” I just got invited up to do a set. It’s pretty amazing to be a part of a festival that I have always been in awe of. I don’t know if it’s the MOST memorable, but this one was great. Some of the worst performances are just as memorable as the best, and they are all equally valuable for your development as a comedian.

Danielle: As Marmaduke Brooker on “Carpoolers” you play a character whose humor is drawn from his combination of large physical stature and “emotionally stunted and hyper-articulate” personality. Do you enjoy playing characters whose comedic qualities are so clearly emphasized in the show, or do prefer roles based in more subtle absurdity?

TJ: It was a very specific situation, I try to tailor what I do comedically to the context. “Carpoolers” was on a network that was more family friendly and I was this element that was the most outrageous part of the show. I played a character that was very different from myself. While acting in Cloverfield I wanted to play a character that was closer to home and more relatable. In “Carpoolers” my character was written to be played as a stoner/slacker but I said, I think this has been done before, so instead I did a character living at home by choice because he thinks it strengthens the family unit. A sort of a eccentric guy that maybe was brilliant, the character was retarded in some ways but accelerated in others. Hud (from “Cloverfield) is an awkward dude that wants everyone to have a good time, but he has been thrown into a crazy situation: and that’s where he gets his bigness from *Tj dramatically yells “MONSTROUS” at this point in the interview*.

Danielle: On "http://www.tjmillerdoesnothaveawebsite.com/" I found that you have a list of both notable and impressive skills. Such as, fold tongue, juggle and define most words. Could you tell me the best thing you have ever juggled?

TJ: I’ve juggled knives, torches, clubs, and apples; all sorts of dangerous things.

Danielle: What is the best word you have recently defined?

TJ: I feel like I use surreptitious too much. I’ve been very surreptitious about using it in this interview. I like to use it because I can define it using another word people don’t know, which is clandestine.

Danielle: Do you have anything in the works right now?

TJ: OH YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT! I HAVE SO MANY PROJECTS IN THE WORKS I CANT EVEN SAY IT ALL OVER THE INTERNET. It won’t even fit on the internet, but you can try. I’m telling you, it won’t fit. I’m working on “How to Train Your Dragon” a Dreamworks, animated film. Also, “She’s Out of My League” which will be in theaters next spring. I have an incredibly small part in the movie “The Goods: The Don Ready Story” where I am physically attached to Jeremy Piven (WHICH I AM VERY EXCITED ABOUT). I also wrote a short called “Successful Alcoholics” that Lizzy Caplan from “Cloverfield” is in. Also, I’m pitching a TV show which will probably not get picked up, and if not we’ll make it a dvd.

Danielle: Your comedic career has grown very rapidly, what is one of the major goals you hope to accomplish in the future?

TJ: I’d like to take my stand-up to the next level, but not a full next level, just a half a level. I really want to develop and tour more with stand-up. Also, I’d like to get to do something I have more control over. All the things I’ve worked on I’ve just been hired to be an actor in, and although I’ve improvised on those projects, I really want to get to a place where I have more control over the content. Which is why I love sketch and improv and stand-up where I have complete control. It’s your content. Not just your take on the content. It takes a really long time and a lot of credibility to get to that point. For example I play a character named “Stainer” in “She’s Out of My League”. If I had to tell 8 year old TJ that he would be called Stainer in a movie called “She’s Out of My League” I don’t know how he’d feel. He might cry. He might just be really scared and confused about how someone from the future came back to tell him about movies he’d be in. But you have to do this stuff to build credibility. I want to get to a place where I have creative control.

Danielle: What was the best part of being a guest on the “Late Show with David Letterman”?

TJ: Honestly, that whole experience was surreal. The thing that makes me laugh over and over again is when I say “I’m on letterman!”. That was a bit I had prepared, there was more to it. Someone on a comedy blog (thecomicscomic) had actually said I was so excited that I just yelled it out, which is not true. I’m really much more professional and composed than that. If you watch the clip David Letterman has seen it all, and so when some guy yells out “I’m on Letterman this is amazing” he just glosses right over that comment, moves right on to the next thing like a seasoned vet. It also makes me look slightly crazy.

Danielle: Is there anything you want us to make sure dccomedyfest blog readers know about before coming to see you perform this year in the festival?

TJ: Get in there! If you miss the show it’s not something you’re ever going to get back in your life. So don’t face the possibility of regret, it’s something you can’t overcome. Not only is it going to be funny but I’m performing with some incredible acts, it will be a really great show that you’ll regret missing. Regret is really hard to live with.

Take our word for it, don’t regret not seeing TJ Miller live in action. Get you ticket’s now to reserve your seats.