Silicon Valley: Making the World a Better Place | SXSW Convergence 2016

HBO’s Emmy-winning and Golden Globe-nominated comedy series SILICON VALLEY has been lauded for its hilariously spot-on depiction of Silicon Valley tech culture by audiences and critics alike. What has the feedback been from the tech community itself? How has the reaction from that community impacted the show and its cast? Going into its third season, SILICON VALLEY cast members Thomas Middleditch, Josh Brener, Martin Starr and Zach Woods, joined by executive producers Mike Judge and Alec Berg, return to SXSW for a discussion moderated by writer and filmmaker Steven Leckart.
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[@sleepyazathoth5238]

Holy crap I can't believe how bad the host is, good thing this is a comedy show with funny guys saving the host on every awkward pause.

[@AlliasEllie]

No wonder they didn't like him the first time...

[@nug7894]

yea i end up watching in 1.5 speed

[@Chalor.]

The gay race is very funny, but not comedic funny...or good with interviews.

[@jordanrioscreations]

Middleditch and Woods are so quick-witted. They made this worth watching.

[@vincentsmith4521]

Not only is the interviewer not doing his job, when he actually does open his mouth he seems condescending. Feels like he just doesn't want to be there and doesn't respect his guests

[@TryMyMartini]

"I do this for a living, guys. This is my deal. I could ask questions all day long" Really? Cause I just see you sitting there awkwardly most of the hour.

[@neil340]

I think this host often forgets that he's the interviewer.

[@diddliewinks3486]

This should be shown in a mastercourse of how NOT to do an interview.

[@mannydiaz1483]

Seriously. This show gets crappy interviewers.

[@diddliewinks3486]

***** The interviewer gave them nothing to work with. They were just improvising up there.

[@diddliewinks3486]

***** You're one of those autistic people who have no sense for how humans interact. The comments section overwhelmingly agree with me. Just shut up and go with it.

[@diddliewinks3486]

***** blah blah insult blah. Cool story.

[@diddliewinks3486]

***** I'll take the compliment. Thanks. You sound like the interviewer. :)

[@717paddy]

Zach's joke about "not wanting to go into the segway issue because its too incendiary" went over so many people's heads haha

[@dudewatt]

Including mine

[@TryMyMartini]

He's referencing the hoverboards, which have a reputation for catching on fire.

[@eddyb1596]

@@TryMyMartini that's hilarious. I had no clue either.

[@AntonQvarfordt]

I'm not sure it was THAT sophisticated a joke.

[@shailysangwan7138]

"their sexual magnetism is only exceeded by their intellectual felicity" Zach Woods! way to go my man!

[@yessopie]

I like how he just abandoned whatever he was going to say to commit to that bit.

[@austenc3036]

This interviewer blew it in every aspect possible

[@dexy122]

Holy shit, these guys can improvise. They shouldn't even bring the host and should have just let Thomas and Zach start talking. They would easily fill 55 minutes with their rambling. They basically did that here. 25 minutes in and the host asked two questions, both bad.

[@Avarice176]

Good god how can you as a host just sit there and let the awkward silences build and build

[@btp248]

Right and Middleditch called him out on it and gave him so many opportunities to take it over and he never did!

[@Krisp717]

The interviews favourite show is Big Bang Theory 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@Chalor.]

Cause they were thinking too much about gettin' some dick? Crossing their legs like only a woman can to hide the boner?

[@Potenti4lz]

When the audience asks tenfold better questions than the host lol...

[@KeatingThomas]

Except for the uninformed, overly-woke nonsense ones. Wait-those were all of them. They played good defense though.

[@htfcm]

I read some comments before I watched and thought everyone was whining about the interviewer until I started to watch. Every single one of you are one hundred percent correct. PLEASE NEVER EVER have him interview EVER AGAIN!!!!

[@MikeRLloyd73]

htfcm how man people have any of you interviewed? ....yeah great

[@spitraptor2455]

Zach Woods is a real gem, the only way a comedian can survive these days is by being incredibly thick skinned or not being on social media as they put them selves out there all the time, every move will be scrutinized. He is very intelligent and quick, I hope his self awareness/deprecation, doesn't effect his career as people will want more of him as his talent is realised especially during the Silicon Valley series

[@danepotmo2513]

+Spit Raptor Yeah, he's special. He keeps playing these ingratiating, optimistic kind of people in shows, but he's a brilliant, self-aware, quick witted kind of talent. He's Jason Bateman (the person in interviews) in this lanky, dorky body....but he's fully aware and fully comfortable with being a gangly looking weirdo. I thought he was a douche in The Office, but seeing some of his improve deleted scenes, and his interviews? This guy is so incredibly talented, sharp...the most talented of that bunch. I don't think he'll ever get the credit or proper showcase though, because he's so dorky looking.

[@spitraptor2455]

+Dane Potmo wow THAT is a perfect summary of him! Yes i have seen some of his improv, it's exactly how you describe it, and yes that last sentence - probably won't see his full potential unless you get to see one of his live improv shows

[@jamiecal11]

agreed with both of you guys - I've only seen him in a couple things and I'm always drawn to him. Great actor and a great guy. Hopefully there will always be good roles like Jared.

[@soupman1919]

i love you spit raptor!! you are so right

[@boohoo2948]

+Dane Potmo I think zach woods is pretty good looking.

[@saram6626]

Holy shit Thomas is so chill on stage unlike Richard... Thats living proof of good acting.

[@OdourlessAunt]

+07 shiro He's an incredibly funny guy in person, check out him in this group interview / improv with rest of SV cast - soundcloud.com/comedybangbang/416-thomas-middleditch-martin-starr-kumail-nanjiani

[@ryanmcfayden8679]

I can forgive a host being off his game but this guy seemed smug and arrogant about it

[@AsifIcarebear3]

+Ryan Mcfayden Richard even gave him helpful nudges, like: "so was the plan just for this to slowly peter out?". Any interviewer worth his weight in shit would've jumped _at least_ at that. And then he fucking says: "I could go on all day". I bet, when he barely even says anything.

[@AvastarBin]

Interviewer : "I do that for a living so I can ask questions all day. So... What is your favorite food?" Do I need to comment on that or I've made my point?

[@ian9outof10]

You made your point perfectly. Shame the host had literally zero clue.

[@placebo5466]

I love how all these interviews are the cast just shitting on the interviewer.

[@DirtyPoopers]

Would be great if next season has a terrible interviewer character

[@mischa0719]

My family money is from Grinder 😂

[@dwildhockey24b]

Funniest cast on television. TJ, Thomas, Kumail, Martin and Zach are all hilarious. Zach especially. I think he's possibly the most hilarious under-the-radar comedian out there.

[@projectnoon]

35:55 "I do this for a living boys, this is my deal, so, I can ask questions all day long." .....alright. "what's your favorite food?"

[@KeatingThomas]

That's him trying to own the criticism by being awful IRONICALLY, which tells you exactly who he is. You know the cast walked out of this and went, "Whew, that was brutal." Nobody enjoyed themselves. That poor audience.

[@jennbeth1]

Zach Woods is the funniest out of all of them.

[@shreyapalodhi5268]

Wow! Somehow the incompetence of the horrible interviewer made this interview one of the best interviews I have seen in my life. Oh my God! What the hell was this? These guys are extremely talented. P.S. Martin Starr is looking hot in this interview and is surprisingly ripped. That woman was not wrong.

[@arod1017]

every single comment on this video is about how terrible the interviewer is. you know his career ended just as soon as the panel started

[@mauricioberlanga]

I love that it turned into a Stand-Up Show type of thing.

[@tystermeister]

jesus. get rid of this host guy

[@mobunnie]

this guy is a terrible host/interviewer, it's painful

[@solongsucka]

+mobunnie Cant understand why they choose these assholes who cant even speak properly. It is not charming.

[@spitraptor2455]

+mobunnie what i do like about him is that he gives this cast free reign to shine, they are all great comedians in their own right, rare for a series usually, in this interview none of them really took over the stage but we got some good laughs and Mike Judge and Alec Berg gave some valuable input as well

[@777Mikos]

but SO MUCH SILENCE...He let them flow but didn't give a thing to work with

[@raymondmorehouse]

The problems with SanFran is the lack of skateboards? How clueless is this host?

[@SlyMaelstrom]

Great host... ...

[@tomwhite9128]

+Bill N pretty terrible

[@hipnhappenin]

I truly love Zach. Haha that comment he made about Grinder and old money is both hilarious and depressing.

[@9danny81]

the only thing that interviewer guy did was rant about his neighbourhood or something and even that wasn't quite comprehensible lol what a disaster, the cast handled it perfectly though

[@HazeMotes]

Thomas knocked it out of the park at 34:23. That was hilarious.

[@thomasmurphy9429]

I have a question for the interviewer: What drug did you use to make your boss hire you?

[@julienraffaud5110]

"San Francisco is such a weird fucked up place - you never see a regular skateboard anymore" - cringgge

[@mikekennedy172]

zach woods is hilarious!!

[@MultiFreelover]

Interviewer is doing a bad job at the second half

[@ttdtpooter]

and at the first half.

[@boltonsgreyjoy9861]

Lmao josh brener was hilarious the whole interview and no one really payed attention to him

[@robynd4546]

i think he should've been a part of more interviews and panels, he's great!

[@osoascam]

23:16 It's like they are helping the host to MOVE ON AND HE DOES NOT. 24:22 He's like yelling what I have been thinking for several minutes. I stopped at 30, it was so awkward.

[@SeanGatchell]

The audience made it. Should have been just them questioning.

[@Asiosky211]

how did this guy get the job as an interviewer. there should never be a moment where the people you're interviewing repeatedly have to tell you that you aren't asking anything.

[@matthewdawdy9896]

He is AWFUL. OMG. The cast freaking carried this entire interview. I mean, when they say how they improvise some lines, and the writers agree, why in the hell would you not ask..."can you give me an example?"

[@raphiquebarakat7584]

I've been waiting for something like this.

[@RIJU9285]

What an awesome interview!

[@cynthiaschultheis1660]

The graphic intro to show is so cute of all companies buildings and logos.👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@cincomilarboles]

wtf is the host doing? was he forced to be there? The cast literally had to just improvise anything for 15 minutes bc he wasn't saying anything

[@BozhenaOrekhova]

this was my favorite talk!!

[@tribaltroll]

Mike Judge always sounds like he's about to slip into his character voices

[@savannahgeorgia5759]

Martha should've gotten up on that stage and finished the rest of the interview. She was actually interested in what they had to say and had great remarks back to them. We love Martha.

[@gable]

Come on man, if you're gonna interview, do it right! And if you're not gonna do it right, at least go down swinging and not awkwardly sitting there like a damn fool!

[@gable]

Oh my goodness, I was only 20 minutes in when I made my first comment..what quietly unfolds into the 24 minute mark is just so cringeworthy. Someone below deemed this terrible feeling "douchebumps" and that is 100% how I feel now.

[@joshlightner5370]

This should be titled "How to moderate a panel by asking the same question repeatedly in different ways"

[@nosferatu5626]

I liked the part where the funny guy said the humorous thing, still... would've been so much better if he was half black, half woman and passionately disliked hoverboards.

[@nixtoshi]

Just watching them talk is almost as good as the show lol. These are really great comedians : )

[@themysoreguy]

it took me 18 mins to realize thomas had a pied piper hat

[@anshulchoudhary556]

Thomas tried so hard not to laugh at his own jokes xD

[@Chalor.]

23:45 - 🤣...oh god, that's great! Not what they said (the audacity), but the reply they got. This shit gets better and better. Probably the absolute best SDCC-like interview/pannel whatever you call it I've ever seen.

[@julienraffaud5110]

host looks like he'd fit in a buzzed video about manspreading

[@pb_and_nutella]

I really enjoyed the "thirsting after Martin" portion of this interview (38:19)

[@harishsharma2974]

WE WANT ERLICH, the founder of... Aviato

[@TwistedShrapnel]

the host really sucks at ... being a host.

[@wombat7961]

Where is Kumail Nanjiani and TJ Miller? also the show should incorporate the PandoDaily thing and have an angry blogger bring bad publicity

[@manuelbevand6366]

The one dislike this video has comes from Galvin Belson.

[@KosmiskRevolution]

Now there's seven dislikes. He made the Nucleus developers do it before he fired them.

[@crowaloh7899]

Now there are two more, apparently from Russ and his tequila bottle.

[@Ihavetoreturnsomevideotapes]

matt Ross is a great actor

[@versydonkux728]

DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE I CAN GET THOMAS'S HAT FROM!!!????

[@Badmanpuntbaxter]

Thomas actively begging the host to do his job but trying to keep it funny is such a mood.

[@noname-xd6vh]

Big Head is adorable, why people in comments so mad about him

[@jordanrioscreations]

The interviewer forgetting to interview actually turned out to be great and it led to some funny moments.

[@abrahamjos9348]

The super jaw kick by Zac to such a stupid question by tat amateur!

[@MrJatinkathiriya]

Gilfoyle is staying in character here.

[@jacobcritch2406]

Anyone notice how it erroneously says ‘Silicon Cowboys’ under the header when someone speaks

[@vicknikkole]

I LOVE MIKE JUDGE

[@violetnoire8253]

Man, I saw all the comments about the inept host and I thought, just get over it, these guys are awesome, but no, the host is so powerfully terrible you can't ignore it :/ I can't believe the cast had to resort to improv anf crowd work cause he had no idea what to do.

[@georgehuxley5254]

the best show today.

[@LVSHBEATZ]

Phenomenal.

[@Voltra_]

"Do you have any really good ones" lmao burn

[@conornutt]

"i do this for a living boys" hmmm...you should probably be better at it then.

[@caitlinw8351]

middleditch was really on top of this one hahaha

[@grubbymanz3928]

i love this show

[@doublemarvellous5525]

Mike judge is the man

[@Deedubau]

I think the guy who lived in the roof at Microsoft for 4 years is the ceo of zappos after reading his book :)

[@moneeraarabic]

20:56 I Laughed so hard 😭 the interviewer’s douche-ness is both annoying and funny 😂

[@SoilentGr33n]

Zach Woods is so fucking funny.

[@speshiled220]

a giant music festival should have better audio for this video

[@andreagondova9211]

Wow, that interviewer, I feel really bad for everyone there- him, guests, and public! :DD

[@trevorwilliams6362]

They don't need a host! They're fucking killing it!!!

[@SilentGloves]

Zach is totally Gilfoyle IRL.

[@bodgertime]

4:12. Little Lord Fauntleroy allusion.... a rarity

[@the1theonlyseth]

I feel like baghead tried too hard lol when he spoke there was a lot of awkward tension... But he's hilarious in the show

[@julienraffaud5110]

interviewer so painfully tone deaf

[@moneeraarabic]

The interviewer’s horrible-ness made this awesome somehow

[@yesanything4668]

Who was that awful moderator?

[@doctorwhodavid5058]

Is that Gabe?!!!

[@robynd4546]

yup, zach woods is gabe from the office!

[@showiproute]

I wish someone had normalized the audio in this video. The volume levels are all over the fucking place.

[@thisismodonov5317]

Where is Dinash ?

[@2050techgeek]

Conan would have torn apart the host for just sitting there awkwardly just like he did at Google.

[@noobsearth7436]

Thomas looks like Mark Zukerburg here

[@symplegg9817]

i want that hat Richard Aka Thomas is holding

[@btp248]

I read the comments before watching the video and they were straight on haha. Thomas and Zach are the reason the interview was good and the host was terrible. He kept re-asking the same questions and being so unresponsive.

[@garrysekelli6776]

lol how did I never hear about this show and am just learning now? Idiocracy was the best film everrrrrrr.

[@iloveMyGirlShesMyBoy]

Josh Brener is actually pretty funny. Who knew

[@mutantlabor]

Wish Middletech would chill, he’s trying to be the funniest guy on stage. I’d like to hear more from Mike Judge and Martin Star.

[@TavgaHawramy]

impressive disussion..good job

[@virgohottie7018]

Zach woods is so funny