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Comment by henrik_w | Hacker News Reader

Interesting story on the making of Silicon Valley (the show) from the New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/how-silicon-va...

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“Some Valley big shots have no idea how to react to the show,” Miller told me. “They can’t decide whether to be offended or flattered. And they’re mystified by the fact that actors have a kind of celebrity that they will never have—there’s no rhyme or reason to it, but that’s the way it is, and it kills them.” Miller met Musk at the after-party in Redwood City. “I think he was thrown by the fact that I wasn’t being sycophantic—which I couldn’t be, because I didn’t realize who he was at the time. He said, ‘I have some advice for your show,’ and I went, ‘No thanks, we don’t need any advice,’ which threw him even more. And then, while we’re talking, some woman comes up and says ‘Can I have a picture?’ and he starts to pose—it was kinda sad, honestly—and instead she hands the camera to him and starts to pose with me. It was, like, Sorry, dude, I know you’re a big deal—and, in his case, he actually is a big deal—but I’m the guy from ‘Yogi Bear 3-D,’ and apparently that’s who she wants a picture with.”

This scenario cracked me up. It's difficult for me to mentally separate TJ Miller from his character, Erlich. I'm imagining this playing out on the show, with Erlich Bachman paying a woman to pretend that she didn't know who Musk was, all so he could somehow build up hype for Pied Piper.

I love TJ Miller and particularly liked what he did at the Techcrunch awards. But that's a silly anecdote.

If you didn't know who Elon Musk was years before 2014, and your proud of being in some mindless film, I can't take you serious as a critic of culture. What do people pay attention too?

It's fine to be dismissive and sarcastic to people who deserve it but you can't just wantonly dismiss everyone without facts when you apparently spend most of your time mesmerized by pop culture, sports etc.

I interpreted the anecdote a little differently. It seemed like TJ Miller was acknowledging that the woman definitely should have preferred to have a picture with Elon Musk, but for some reason there are many people who are more interested in entertainment than in anything Elon Musk is working on. I think he name dropped Yogi Bear 3D to highlight how ridiculous the celebrity worship is, not because he was proud of being in the mindless film.

As for him not immediately recognizing Musk at the party, I was thinking Musk might have looked a bit different from his photos when seen in real life. By the time the woman handed Musk the camera, Miller had already figured out that the person he was talking to was a very big deal.

"It's kind of weird--the values. Jonas Salk invented the polio vaccine. I'm probably worth a lot more than Jonas Salk. That's pretty weird. I didn't cure polio; this guy did. I walk into a bar and a whole bunch of people know who I am. Jonas Salk probably can't even get laid. Now, figure that out."

- Billy Joel

I looked up a picture of Jonas Salk, and I can guarantee you that man got laid.

i wouldn't take everything he says so literally. i'm sure he was aware of what a tesla is. so what if he wasn't intimately familiar with who elon musk was? he was the star of 'yogi bear 3-d' after all

i think the assumption in the article is he probably _knew_ what elon musk did/had done, but just not what he looked like specifically.

Being exceptionally, unreasonably proud of being in "Yogi Bear 3D" is a recurring joke in TJ Miller's schtick. He's almost certainly being facetious.

"you're"

I wouldn't be so quick to not take a person seriously because she recognized an actor from a film you didn't like or see.

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