T.J. Miller Tells You Why You Should Hit Up the Denver High Plains Comedy Festival This Week
T.J. Miller is an LA-by-way-of-Chicago (by way of Denver) comedian who can currently be seen in HBO’s Silicon Valley, but has also graced the big and small screen more times than you can count. His stand-up is a mix of everything weird and wonderful that defies any other type of description. T.J. spoke with the IBang about the upcoming High Plains Comedy Festival in Denver, CO and why Denver kicks ass.
The Second Annual High Plains Comedy festival includes three nights of shows packed with great comedians from around the country, including Dan Soder, Pete Holmes, Kumail Nanjiani, Beth Stelling, Sean Patton, Andy Haynes and, of course, T.J.. And that’s just a few of the names, you’ll also see Kate Berlant, Cameron Esposito, Nate Bargatze, Howard Kremer, and Sean Patton. There will be shows showcasing plenty of local Denver talent, too. It starts this Thursday, August 21 through Saturday August 23rd. The venues are rock clubs, book stores, and historic buildings. And it doesn’t hurt at all that pot is legal. (Except for maybe last year when a few performers may or may not have had a few too many “weed sodas” provided by one of the sponsors of the festival–but who wouldn’t want to see that?)
Check out the Denver comedy scene, the Denver weed scene, and the Denver music scene with your festival hosts, Andy Juett and Adam Cayton-Holland, and of course, headliner T.J. Miller. Go to HighPlainsComedyFestival.com for all the info.
The IBang: The Festival looks great, killer lineup. Who are you most excited to see there?
T.J. Miller: It is a killer lineup. I’m really looking forward to seeing me, because I know that I’m not going to do very well. I always like to see people fail, so I am the act that I think is going to do that.
The IBang: What’s your favorite part about doing the festival?
T.J. Miller: Well, I’m from Denver! The thing about this festival is that it’s a festival run by comedians and producers. So, the comedians are the ones sort of helping to curate [the acts] and the producers are taking care of the venues and everything making it all make sense. There’s nothing else like that. I mean, Bridgetown is amazing but it’s put on by only comedians. Bonaroo, SXSW, Coachella… those things are great, great, great festivals, but they are run by producers and they are corporate and huge. And this is the perfect symbiosis of those two things.
The IBang: Sounds like you know a lot about the genesis of it, do you know the comedians involved who started it?
T.J. Miller: I don’t know how much you know about the Denver scene, but it’s comics like Adam Cayton-Holland, Ben Roy and Andrew Overdahl, you know The Grawlix group. And we’re looking at Andy Juett and Kayvan from Sexy Pizza, people who love comedy.
The IBang: You tend to be a fun weirdo, do you have any fun surprises planned?
T.J. Miller: We’re doing a party on Wednesday at 10 at Deer Pile. It’s DJ’d by DJ Ktone and he is somebody I went to high school with, man, and now he’s a big hip hop DJ in Denver. And Deer Pile is this place run by the Fine Gentleman’s Club, which is the younger [comedy] crew, and ComedyWorks is involved… every part of the Denver scene has come together to make this a success.
The IBang: Are there any places you’ll be going to that have personal memories to you?
My first big moments in comedy were at The Gothic, at ComedyWorks and doing The Squire open mic, so it’s sort of a HUGE return home for me.
The IBang: That’s awesome. What do you hope they’re all going to take away – both the audience and the other comedians?
T.J. Miller: I think that it’s like Chicago when I was coming up there. There’s a special thing that’s happening in Denver. I mean, The Grawlix is nationally known and The Fine Young Gentleman’s Club is known by those who are in the know and the city is fucking dope as shit. If you’ve never been, you’ll love it. It is a small town with everything you need from a big town. It is culturally superior to anything in its region and, in many ways, nationally, and the bar scene is dope. And you can smoke weed there. Denver is just, “Let’s have a great time!”
The IBang: You should be their Ambassador.
T.J. Miller: I know, well I sort of am, unfortunately for them. I forced it upon them!
The IBang: Mind if I ask a couple of questions that are a little bit tangential or unrelated?
T.J. Miller: Yeah, I mean, if you know anything about my comedy, you know I do not do any tangential stuff, I don’t like being absurdist or anything like that.
The IBang: That exactly leads into my question! You have a very unique style onstage and I’m wondering now that you’ve done all these movies and TV, do you run into that Bob Saget thing where people expect something from you and are surprised when they get there that you aren’t this douche from Silicon Valley or some kid-friendly Yogi Bear thing?
So if people see Yogi Bear 3D and they come and expect something less than greatness, then maybe they didn’t pay attention while they were watching. And you can quote me on that shit, sister!
The IBang: You also co-produce a really awesome show in LA at The Pleasure Chest, how did that come about?
T.J. Miller: Well, so we never imagined it would grow and go to festivals and have a contingent in New York and Chicago. It started with me approaching one of the main comics from the class younger than me, that’s Eli Olsberg. I said, “What if we did a show that was bi-monthly where we didn’t have to answer to anybody? Where we didn’t have to apologize?” And what we found is that not only did it become this thing where headliners drop in and new talent gets an opportunity to perform on a bigger roster, but we were really really pleased when we came to understand, “Oh yeah, to get through the door here, you have to be willing to walk into a sex shop!” So then we had this strangely liberal audience. And then you have this establishment that’s like, “We know we’re a little taboo, but we’re trying to be accessible,” right? The analogy for that is that, “Hold on, with this show we’re trying to put on, we are alternative, but we’re also very accessible.”
The IBang: Anything else The Ambassador of Denver would like to share?
T.J. Miller: It’s Mile High Until You Die! You’re not Mile High for a decade or for as many years as it makes sense, you’re Mile High Until You Die.
Follow T,J. Miller on Twitter
Visit the Website T.J. Miller Does Not Have
Catch Up on Season One of Silicon Valley
Get all the Information on the High Plains Comedy Festival
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