T.J. Miller Won’t Miss Playing Erlich Bachman on ‘Silicon Valley’

With two episodes still to go in Silicon Valley‘s fourth season, fans are already mourning the imminent departure of Erlich Bachman, stoner entrepreneur par excellence. But T.J. Miller doesn’t seem particularly broken up about leaving the Valley behind. Asked by Yahoo TV during a Facebook Live interview on Monday whether he’d miss playing the character, the comedian — whose new stand-up comedy special, Meticulously Ridiculous, premieres June 17 at 10 p.m. on HBO — replied with a simple, “No,” before going on to explain that time, rather than creative dissatisfaction, is his motivating reason for moving on.

“My schedule is so hectic,” he said. “I’ve been telling Kate [Gorney, Miller’s wife] and a battery of psychological professionals that I’m going to slow down for five years. They had to move production around for me sometimes. HBO was so accommodating, but I, as the character, was sort of going on auto pilot.”

Far from weakening the show’s ensemble, Miller feels that his departure will only make Silicon Valley a better series when it returns next year for Season 5, with the other characters flourishing now that Erlich’s no longer around to distract them. That’s particularly true for Bachman’s main foil, Jian-Yang (Jimmy O. Yang), who has emerged as a fan favorite. In fact, Miller reveals that the Hong Kong-born Yang was one of the first people he called when he made the choice to leave the series. “He and I were developing so much chemistry, and he’s such a funny, nice guy. We were talking about it, and we’re going to do a Chinese action comedy!”

Silicon Valley airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on HBO. T.J. Miller: Meticulously Ridiculous premieres Saturday, June 17 at 10 p.m. on HBO.

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