Let’s get this out in the open for any and all critics that would love to bash these kinds of articles. T.J. Miller is funny, he’s hilarious, and he knows how to do stand up. He also knows how to hit his mark in films as well which makes him one of the best in the business right now. But with gimmicks he’s not really on point. Miller really knows how to throw a joke at the audience and make it funny in many different ways, but trying to be a new wave Carrot Top, albeit a funny one, just isn’t his thing. His acerbic wit and humor are more than enough to make him one of the most popular comics in the world, but stretching the boundaries past that point seem to make him a little less believable.
So once again to the critics, since they love to bash whatever they find offensive, T.J. Miller is a great stand up comic. But his gimmickry needs a little help. Why you ask?
He’s great at stand-up comedy and on film he’s awesome.
Why is this? It’s because he doesn’t need to use any gimmicks to make him that way. It’s understandable that a lot of comics might want to interact with the crowd and get them involved. One can only imagine that it heightens the experience and actually lets the comedian know that they’re listening. But Miller has proven time and again that all he really has to do is talk and tell the story and people will laugh.
A lot of the gimmicks are head-scratchers.
Citing one of the most recent was when he came onto the Conan show as the Iron Throne from Game of Thrones. Now it’s great if he’s a GoT fan and he’s trying to make a funny joke about the show, but the use of the gimmick just really made everyone go “huh?”. The gimmick isn’t the worst to ever come on stage, but it was still enough to make people laugh and even shake their heads as they tried to figure out just what Miller was doing. He seemed a little stiff however in his comedy though he did manage to get a few good lines out. Plus, he just looked miserable for the entire segment. Using gimmicks isn’t a bad idea, but Miller seems a lot better at regular stand-up.
Why use gimmicks when all you have to do is talk?
Don’t read into that wrong, I get the fact that comedians do a lot more than just talk. But Miller can get people to laugh just by telling a story and a few jokes. Why bother with gimmicks that take away a good deal of your time and in some cases are just uncomfortable? He already has a huge fan base and needs to do very little to make people laugh. It seems like he’d be better off just dropping the gimmicks, but then that is his decision.
It almost seems T.J. Miller is at a type of crossroads where he’s really trying to decide just what kind of comic he wants to be. Maybe he’s trying to evolve into a different type of comedy to flex his funny muscles a bit, but at the moment it’s just coming off as awkward. Maybe it will pan out eventually.
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