Is the downbeat on ninety seven to one the Freak. As you know,
we start at six am unless you didn't know, and I just told you
again. Podcast every segment right after the show if you missed the eliminator at
eight, that dack stuff, free agency stuff, the news, we do
it all here. Play a little clip for you right here because joining us
now in the free hot line is our friend. He's been on the show
before. He is funny man TJ. Miller. And here's a clip from
his new stand up special called Smooth Peanut Butter that you can get on the
streaming platforms. My father in law. When he laughs, if something's really
funny, he'll cuss at the end. Damn is that the best? So
you want to do? And the funnier the thing, the harder the cuss.
So something's really funny on all was on the Free Cutline. It's TJ
Miller. How are we doing? Hi? Guys there you teach? Don't
call him T Yevin. Yeah, you can call me teach. My wife
isn't like that. She called me t T, which means going pepe in
the South. I prefer teach, So thank you, you're welcome. T
T Boy is one of Danny Stanny's favorite adult male porn stars actors. Oh,
he's an actor, Mike. You know. I'm glad you guys brought
this up because last night I finished a great session of love making in the
tantric style and it you know, it's just a new experience for me.
It laughs longer. So I went to full eight and a half minutes.
There you go. So I recommend it. Let me put it there.
So you did it twice? Yeah, that's exactly right. I think I
don't know. I capped out about after about six minutes. I'll ask a
question that's related to the clip that we just played. So you talked about
your dad. The element of dad cussing is so funny to me. I
grew up in the seventies and eighties, and yeah, I'm not kidding.
My dad's term of endearment to me was the S word, followed by ass.
I thought I was little s ass from my entire childhood. Yeah,
yeah, it was just normal. You didn't think anything about it. If
you do that now, called CPS on you. Yeah, called child services,
honey. Yeah. What I thought was my father never really cussed.
I only heard him cuss like twice, and one of them was calling me,
uh you little ss, and I I was so scared. I just
remember I was like, well, he's gonna kill me. He's gonna kill
me and the rest of the family and all and just leave the country with
the dogs. But it's my father in law that the joke's about. And
he is so funny, and he cusses not often, but when he does,
it is so funny. So I agree. I mean, I think
it's it's just lost art form by fathers of the world round CEJ. I
imagine you were just respectfully guessing a probably a pan the ass growing up,
you know, loud and thought you were funny all the time. And I
always kind of wonder when you turn out to be a success, Like I'm
in movies, I do stand up? How does that work? Is it
slow with your parents sort of acknowledging like dude, this little idiot look at
him and not to say you're an idiot. Imagine they thought you were smart,
but you know, I imagine you weren't the most well behaved in school,
that sort of thing, Like is there a day when you kind of
look at your parents and you're like, see, see what I mean,
yeah, and then I buy their dinner. I think I think it was
interesting. My parents kind of, I think, thought that I was funny
and they just wish that I would stop misbehaving in class. Later we would
find out that had a lot to do with this brain thing that I had
in ABM, and then I would sort of adhd but also manic because as
I have I had a golf ball size piece my brain removed in twenty ten,
so I actually have less brain matter than most people. I mean,
not Deanna or Mike, but maybe maybe KT but I but yeah, so
I was I did. I got a lot of trouble growing up, and
I think in some ways it was vindicating for my parents to sort of know
that these teachers and said I wasn't worth a D would just kind of feel
like, Wow, I guess we were hard on him, because now everybody
that they know is like, didn't you used to teach TJ. Miller?
Wasn't that right with you and your class? And they have to go Yeah.
And I was always calling his parents saying he's never going to mount to
nothing. And now every time I turn on the television, I see him
in a movie. You're on TV so yeah, I mean I think it
was vindicating for them, and then for me. I think I was just
happy that I could make people laugh professionally, not get in trouble for,
because that's what I was getting in trouble for, was trying to crack up
the rest of the class. That's crazy. This is TJ Miller joining us
here on ninety seven to one in the Freak. TJ. So you're I
don't know that your hometown. I know you're from Denver. Did you go
to like high school in Denver. Yeah. I went to high school in
Denver and then college in Washington, d C. But I came up into
Chicago, SE and that's how I started, was as an improviser and a
stand up comic in Chicago. So I've been improvising. I improvised in Denver
my high school actually, and the first time I did stand up was in
high school because we had this very advanced drama teacher who taught i mean,
you know, really heavy Brecktian theater in Greek tragedy, and then she had
us all do five minutes to stand up. And that was the first place
that someone said, well, not even to do this for a living.
Well maybe TJ, but I went what was the Eureka moment? For sure?
But as I was improvising then and even in my stand up album Smooth
Peanut Butter, I kind of am a guy who, you know, improvises
no matter what, the show goes one place, I go that place.
So it's an improv in the album. But also, you know, just
regular written material and then stories and so yeah, I started as an improviser
in Denver. Now that you put it, you know, I put it
together like that. Are there many comics that you're aware of that don't have
much of an improv background, that pretty much just script their jokes and you
don't have to name names. But it seems to me like by and large,
most of the guys that are that are crushing it and ladies that are
crushing it right now have a really deep improv background, and gone are the
one liner types that don't have a lot of agility on stage. Well,
you said don't name names. I was gonna say, I don't need to
because it's everybody. I think. For the people that actually really are improvisers,
there are very few. So people are doing crowd work and trying to
release that. So that they can do clips. But if you look at
Nate Bargatzi, he would never do any crowd work and he's a big Mark
Norman doesn't really do any crowd work at all. And so I think most
comedians are really focused on scripted stories, scripted bits, and when people interrupt
them, they do not like that. You know, they try and they're
going to shut it down, whereas I'm going to open it up and sort
of use that to go. I mean on my YouTube channel right now,
which is a TJ. Miller. My YouTube channel right now has like four
or five specials, and all of them, except for Dear Jonah, are
basically improvised. You know. I have one from the Stanley Hotel that is
one hundred percent improvised, and that's the hotel that inspired the Shining And then
I riffed an hour in Spokane, Washington, just about Spokane cut that down
at thirty seven minutes. That's called the Spokane Special. So there are very
few people that can do what I do, which is I'll go on stage
and improvise an entire show. I'll do a full forty five minutes to an
hour that is completely improvised, and so you know, to answer your question,
Yeah, almost everybody is scripted and doesn't want to be interrupted. To
follow up on that real quick, When you say fully improvised, are you
talking about you go out on stage, I would think that you'd have to
have some type of jump off point or some template or something to fall back
on. Or do you just walk out there and go what's up and just
start winging at one hundred percent? Or is there some kind of structure?
Well, so here'd be an example. I would go on stage, see
somebody it's not clapping, everybody else is clapping, arms crossed, and I'll
sort of mention that and kind of figure out, you know, what's going
on from there without even talking to them, and then I'll sort of find
my way from that into maybe something that I noticed on the way to the
show, something interesting about the city, or something on Main Street, and
then I'll just start talking about what I thought about the city in the beginning,
maybe my experiences with those types of people. And then if somebody says
something, well, you know, I don't think that's I don't think it's
really like that here, you know, I would say, well, that's
a really polite way to say you know f you we're not liked, and
then I'd kind of say, okay, I bet even when you're at your
most angry, you're at your most polite. And then I would go into
sort of creating situations where that person sort of gets pulled over by the police
or gets upset with a parent teacher conference, and I'll sort of play out
those scenarios as that person, and that sort of builds into more things and
more things, and then when it's time to kind of be you know,
get out of a situation like that, then I'll sometimes go into the crowd
and just say, you know, what's going on with you? Or I
noticed it's value the way that you're dressed or things like that. And so
it's a lot of observation and then if something leads me to a story for
my life, maybe I would put that in there, But that comes up
organically, so I did not have that on the set list, and okay,
I got to figure out my way to talk about this thing. So
yeah, it's it's completely improvised in that manner. Sorry, Budd TJ.
Miller. How do you apply that when you do a movie like you do
or a show Silicon valor or Deadpool whatever, you have a script, but
obviously your style is very kind of I don't know, casual, like honest
how you you know most of your roles are do is it pending the director
if you can add lib a little bit or do they encourage you to do
it always and then you leave them with no choice? Well, all right,
that was better than kind of the verbatim script. That's exactly right.
Well, after a little while, people started to understand, if you hired
me, you're kind of also hiring a writer, because no matter matter what
I was going to improvise. But what you do is you get the ads
written line, you get that done, and then you sort of you get
that done and then you sort of have a moment. I call them joke
slots, where you can try three or four different things. Now, when
it's sort of television or film, you really only get three or four shots,
And if it's Steven Spielberg, you really only get one or two because
he likes to move efficiently and get on to the next thing and he's not
used to really improvisers on set. But if you are a doing voiceover for
animation, you could do fifteen twenty different joke slots, you know, just
trying different lines and so that is I really that's why I love animation,
is you just get to throw everything against the wall and then whatever is the
best, well and there you go and on silk a value a lot.
It's like the writers are so brilliant. But I would occasionally have something where
I give him as written and then I give him something that was funnier.
And occasionally you kind of have a little bit of grinding gears with you know,
the head writers somebody if they come back and say, hey, can
we do the written line again? And I would say, well, I
think we already got the best line, so let's move on to the other
written lines. And that can you know, that's when egos clash. But
from my perspective, it's not about the ego and not about me. It's
like, what is the funniest thing we can do? How do we get
Because if the written line is the funniest, which would happen in Silicon Valley
and happen in Deadpool? I would I would not improvise. I would I
try a couple of things and go, you know what, let's do the
as written again, because that's better than anything i'd come up with. Yeah,
obviously those decisions are subjective though ultimately, and I would assume that the
producer or director would have the ultimate say on what goes in and what is
funny and what's not. How many times have you have you known in your
heart it's like, dude, you pay absolutely the not right line for this,
and you went with it, and you're sitting at home watching, you
know, the final product, going, Man, they missed it. They
missed it. That's gonna happen a lot, right, Yes, it happened.
I don't know that it happened all the time because I've been so lucky
to kind of be in it with you know, just every almost everybody I've
collaborated with, it's just awesome on top of their game. But I think
that, yes, it's it happens a fair amount that I'll see a take
and I'll go, yeah, there is something better. But I don't really
spend much time on that because it's their movie. I didn't finance it,
you know what I mean. Yeah, and you got hot sauce to make.
Yeah, you gotta make hot sauce and peanut butter and peanut butter typically,
Yeah, I got an album called Smooth Peanut Butter, and I've got
actual peanut butter that you can buy on my website. TJ. Miller does
not have a website dot com or on Amazon on And it's the best peanut
butter that you're ever going to taste. I'm sure of that. Well,
tell us why what makes your peanut butter so kick ass? Teage? Well,
there's nothing. Who just said that because I got to do a nickname
prap Okay, Danny, all right, Danny ding Dong, I'll tell you
exactly what, okay, And that's because Danda Danny Whaney. I have the
only peanut butter that is flavored in a way that you can't. I have
three flavors. I have dark chocolate, coconut, that's the ladies, and
then I have cherry. Well come on, I mean, well, I
guess we wouldn't know because there's really no ladies on the air right now.
But the ladies love dark chocolate, they love coconut, and I love cherry
chocolate, which is real dried cherries, milk chocolate and honey roasted peanut.
And then another well, my favorite is toffee crispy with toffee milk chocolate and
rice Krispies. So I don't know if anyone's ever had any flavor like that
in peanut butter, but it's available now from me. It's called TPV and
Jay Peanut Better. Yes, how baked were you when you came up with
these recipes? Dude? You know what's sad is I wasn't baked when I
came up with them, but boy do they go well with cannabis when you
eat this. TJ. Miller does not have a website dot com. Get
some Peanut Butter, Get the new album Smooth Peanut Butter. Got thirty seconds,
TJ, and then we have to let the next show on. I
know you're a Broncos fan. Do you have any thoughts about mister Unlimited leaving
and who's going to be your quarterback? What's going on? Man? I'm
hoping for John Lway to make a return. Yeah, Denver. Right now,
it's all about the joker and the nugget, I mean, so that's
kind of That's what I'm focused on. But the Broncos will be fine well,
TJ. Thanks for the time again. Always enjoyed talking to you.
You're just so nice too. We mentioned in person last time really really uh,
just popped in here. He's like, what's up, man? I
feel like you're our friend even though we've taken you three times on this earth.
No, but I love that and the final quick plug and I can
hook you guys up with this if you want, just reach out. Tatsuit
Dallas is one of the best sushi restaurants in the United States. He's a
friend of ours. He used to work in New York City, was the
best sushi chef in Manhattan. He left for Texas because he wants to be
a cowboy. If you can get reservations, I tell all of your listeners
check out Hotsuit Dallas and Dan Dan Wandom, Danny Many, Sir Mike and
Kevin. If you guys want reservations, I can hook that up, no
problem. Tatsuit Dallas, Tatsoo Dallas Deep Ellum, Hell yeah, all right,
TJ. Thanks, We'll talk to you again soon. Brother. There
he goes. TJ. Miller does not have a webit lo you. He's
a sweet guy guy. So I have will fun upcoming or later in the
week. At eight o'clock on Thursday, we've done it. It's we didn't
get a full shipment but the downbeat singing pot of gold. It's called a
micro run. Yeah, micro run, and we're only selling it at stores
that are green, so Sprouts, Whole Foods, huh, other green stores.
We've learned, the dollar Tree, We've learned it. Don't buy too
many of these. The biggest issue with all of our singing items that we've
we've come made it to market is that virtually none of them sell. Yeah
you can, you can leave the word virtually. That's the hurdle that we
keep running into. But there's something about just the marketplace and business that keeps
me coming back for more. It's not because what we're doing is not great.
That's can't be the issue. It has to be something else. So
what's your point that's the problem with the singing on Thursday? Yes, yes,
yeah, Maybe a little extra giveaway action tomorrow for spring break maybe maybe,
and much more. Uh as always will be back six am. Whole
Show. Sorry about your talk back posted soon. I start with talkbacks today,
but I'm gonna load it up. We're loaded up. Thanks to everyone
who participated in the eliminator. Thanks to TJ. Miller, Thanks to JJ,
to Mike, to Danny, and to Kevin. Thanks. Skin shows
next with Christina and Steve. We've got to speak easy after that, and
fun times ahead on this Tuesday. So everyone have a great day. We'll
see you tomorrow morning at six am. And happy birthday to my cousin Blake.
Hey Blake Birthdays, Happy birthday man. All right bye,