Background and career
Todd Joseph Miller (born June 4, 1981) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter. He played Erlich Bachman in the HBO sitcom Silicon Valley (2014–2017) and the Marvel Comics character Weasel in the superhero comedy film Deadpool (2016) and its 2018 sequel. Miller took supporting roles in comedies such as Yogi Bear (2010), Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012), and Goon: Last of the Enforcers (2017) as well in action films such as Unstoppable (2010), Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014), Ready Player One (2018), and Underwater (2020). He also voiced characters in the How to Train Your Dragon films (2010–2014) and the television series DreamWorks Dragons (2012–2018), as well as Big Hero 6 (2014), Hell and Back (2015) and The Emoji Movie (2017).
Todd Joseph Miller was born on June 4, 1981, in Denver, Colorado, the son of Leslie Miller, a clinical psychologist, and Kent Miller, an attorney from Chanute, Kansas. He attended Graland Country Day School and graduated from Denver's East High School, where he participated in drama productions. In 2003, Miller graduated from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., with a B.A. in psychology with a concentration in persuasion theory and social influence. At GWU, he was a member of the comedy group Recess. While in college, Miller studied the circus arts at Frichess Theatre Urbain in Paris and attended the British American Drama Academy in London, where he studied Shakespeare for a summer.
After college, Miller moved to Chicago to perform improvisation and stand-up comedy, performing with many local troupes. He toured with The Second City for two years. In 2008, he was named one of Variety's 10 Comics to Watch. In 2011, he released a comedy special, No Real Reason, and a comedy album, Mash Up Audiofile in 2012. In 2015, Miller was part of Funny or Die's Oddball Comedy and Curiosity Festival, a touring show which included Amy Schumer, Aziz Ansari, and other comics. On June 17, 2017, HBO premiered his hour-long stand-up special, T.J. Miller: Meticulously Ridiculous, which was filmed in Miller's native Denver at the end of his 2016 Meticulously Ridiculous Tour. In October 2017, Miller began his Touring in Perpetuity Tour, a self-described "One Man Philosophy Circus".
Miller appeared frequently as a member of the "round table" on Chelsea Lately. He appeared as Marmaduke Brooker in Carpoolers, which ran for thirteen episodes on ABC in 2007–2008. In 2012, he voiced Robbie Valentino on the Disney channel cartoon Gravity Falls. On December 13, 2010, October 28, 2011, and June 14, 2012, he performed stand-up on Conan. On November 15, 2011, his stand-up special No Real Reason premiered on Comedy Central. In 2011, he hosted a special called Mash Up, which was picked up in 2012 for a full season by Comedy Central. He starred in the Fox TV series The Goodwin Games as Jimmy Goodwin. Miller starred in the HBO sitcom Silicon Valley, which was met with widespread critical acclaim and he won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2015. In May 2017, Miller and HBO jointly announced that Miller would not be returning for the fifth season of Silicon Valley. Series creator Mike Judge later revealed that Miller was removed from the show for failing to show up to work, and for coming to work "seemingly under the influence". As a commercial actor, Miller voiced a talking ball of mucus in commercials for Mucinex and starred as Greg the Genie in a promotional campaign for Slim Jim meat snacks. He voiced Gorburger, a giant blue monster talk show host, on The Gorburger Show, which originally aired on Funny or Die and YouTube for two seasons in 2012–13, then on Comedy Central for a third season in 2017 before being canceled.
In Cloverfield, Miller's film debut, he appeared onscreen for only a few minutes, but his voice was heard in almost every scene as the character who videotaped most of the events depicted. In 2009, he played Cessna Jim in The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard and the dim-witted grindcore musician Rory in Mike Judge's comedy Extract. In 2010, he co-starred in She's Out of My League as Stainer, played Brian the Concierge in Get Him to the Greek and appeared in a supporting role in the film Unstoppable. Miller voiced the character Tuffnut Thorston in the Oscar-nominated animated films How to Train Your Dragon and How to Train Your Dragon 2. He also played Dan in Gulliver's Travels, released in December 2010. He played the supporting character of Ranger Jones in the live-action/animated Yogi Bear 2010 film. Unlike his character on the cartoon show, he is "dumb-but-not-in-a-funny-way", according to the Buffalo News. He was cast in the part after two auditions; as a joke, he sent Warner Bros. an improvised video audition with an actual bear, though he had already been offered the part before they received it. In 2011, Miller appeared in the film Our Idiot Brother. He had a cameo as administrative personnel for Rolling Stone in the 2012 film Rock of Ages. He starred in the 2016 film Search Party alongside Adam Pally. In 2014, he appeared in Transformers: Age of Extinction. In November 2014, he was the voice of Fred in the superhero CGI film Big Hero 6. He also played Weasel in Deadpool and Deadpool 2. In 2017, he portrayed the voice of the main protagonist Gene, a meh emoji with abnormal expressions, in the animated The Emoji Movie, which received extremely negative reviews. In late March 2018, he appeared in a supporting role as I-R0K in the film Ready Player One, which was directed by Steven Spielberg.
On September 12, 2011, Miller released a comedy rap concept album titled The Extended Play E.P. The album features comedians Bo Burnham, Doug Benson, Pete Holmes and hip-hop artists Ugly Duckling and Johnny Polygon. In 2012, Miller released The Extended Play E.P. Illegal Art Remix Tape. Also in 2012, Miller released Mash Up Audiofile on Comedy Central Records to mixed reviews. Miller started appearing on Chicago-based comedy podcast Red Bar Radio in 2006 as a semi-regular co-host. He hosts a podcast with friend and fellow comedian Cash Levy, titled Cashing in with TJ Miller, which began airing in March 2012 on the artist Network. He is also a frequent guest on Doug Benson's podcast Doug Loves Movies.
