‘Silicon Valley’s T. J. Miller Hosts the Critics’ Choice Awards—and Gets Funny Advice From Michael Strahan

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TJ Miller

When Silicon Valley star T. J. Miller won a Critics’ Choice Award last year, he shoved his mouth full of food and delivered a hilarious off-the-cuff speech that became the night’s most memorable moment. So it’s no surprise that he was asked to host this year’s ceremony.

In your acceptance speech, you half-joked that awards are for children. Do you still feel that way?
Yes, of course! I think it would be funny if [for each winner,] a critic came up and just said, “You’re good.”

I’d watch that.
I know! It’s so funny. But for some of these people it’s really important, so that’s something that I have to be conscious of.

Have you done anything like this before?
I hosted the Crunchies, the Silicon Valley Oscars. They got really upset. I said the B-word while I was on stage. They’re really, really strange, terrible people, and that’s why I’m on a show that makes fun of them. But I hosted the Golden Trailer Awards, honoring the people that make the movie trailers, and it was one of the most fun nights of my life. These award shows don’t have to be self-aggrandizing and not very funny. They can be celebratory and hilarious. I think…

When Michael Strahan hosted these awards last year, he stripped off his pants on stage. How are you going to top that?
I saw him at a weird cocktail party at this random hundred-millionaire’s house, and I said, “Hey, I’m hosting the Critics’ Choice Awards!” And he said, “Just try to have fun, because everyone’s a critic there. It’s real. They’re just going to judge you.” He had this hilarious little piece of [unsolicited] wisdom and then he, like, disappeared.

Critics’ Choice Awards, Sunday, Jan. 17, 8/7c, A&E, Lifetime and LMN