TJ Miller

- James Mottram

He does stand-up. He hosts a podcast. He released a comedy rap record (The Extended Play EP). And they’re just the things you probably haven’t heard about. TJ Miller is everywhere right now, thanks in part to playing Weasel, the wise-ass bartender in Deadpool and tech entrepreneur Erlich on HBO’s Silicon Valley. This month, he can be heard voicing Gene in The Emoji Movie (yes, they have made a cartoon based on texting icons – at least he’s not voicing the poo emoji, like Patrick Stewart). Gene is a multi-expressional emoji who must seek out normality. As for Miller’s own journey, it’s about to get real – with the upcoming sequel to Deadpool, thriller Underwater with Kristen Stewart and, most excitingly, the role of I-R0k in Steven Spielberg’s virtual reality yarn, Ready Player One. There really is no stopping him from total world domination…

Do you see any similarities between you and Gene?

When they first came to me and said, “You will play the ‘meh’ emoji,” I said, “I don’t know if that exactly matches my comedy.” But once I realised he was manic in his expressiveness, I thought, “That’s perfect.” There seemed to be a lot of comedy inherent in that.

You co-star with James Corden. Were you a fan?