Just For Laughs – one of the largest comedy promoters in the world – has today revealed their full lineup for the 2018 iteration of JFL Sydney, a large-scale annual comedy festival that takes over several prominent venues in the city, including the Sydney Opera House and the Enmore Theatre. Among the litany of international names included on this year’s list, one sticks out as not only an incredibly poorly timed booking, but as a boneheaded and moronic decision: TJ Miller.
Miller is included on the lineup that also features the likes of Bill Bailey, Ken Jeong, Iliza Shlesinger, Reggie Watts, Colin Mochrie, Brad Sherwood, Greg Proops, and others. That the initial announcement features one lone woman is a glaring issue in and of itself, but Miller’s booking, given his checkered – to put it very mildly – history is something else entirely.
Just this morning, former Silicon Valley star and castmate of Miller’s, Alice Wetterlund, described her experience on the set of the HBO show as “kind of a nightmare,” with Miller in particular a “bully and a petulant brat” whose abhorrent behaviour was enabled by the males who controlled the production.
Thank you! I hope to not ruin it for you, but TJ Miller was a bully and petulant brat and pretty much everyone who had any power on that (almost all male) set, including the male cast members, enabled him and were complicit in his unprofessionalism. They can fuck off forever. https://t.co/YxGHiSYMrJ
— Alice Wetterlund (@alicewetterlund) July 18, 2018
I’m pretty open about this, and I don’t know if other women on the show had a different experience than me, but it was kind of a nightmare.
— Alice Wetterlund (@alicewetterlund) July 18, 2018
Miller’s latest round of controversy follows his recent reemergence in the comedy scene, with the 37-year-old being free to appear at the famed Hollywood Improv club, and being booked to appear on high profile podcasts like Doug Loves Movies with Doug Benson, leading to calls that prominent (usually straight, white) men in comedy are doing nothing to protect and support the women that Miller has routinely abused and harassed in several widely documented past incidents.
between the rise of nonsensical Hardwick defenses and Doug Benson having TJ Miller on his podcast LAST NIGHT male standups are doing a bangup job of making clear they don’t give two shits if their friends abuse women
— Owen Ellickson (@onlxn) July 9, 2018
Miller’s brushes with shithouse behaviour have followed the Colorado comedian for as long as he’s had a career.
In late 2017, a series of allegations emerged stemming from Miller’s time in college in 2001, detailing alleged violent, non-consensual sexual encounters with women who came forward against Miller at the crest of the #MeToo movement.
Then, in literally April of this year, Miller was arrested after a police investigation into an incident that occurred on March 18th, where Miller called a fake bomb threat on an Amtrak Train. The charges allege that Miller, married and heavily intoxicated, made advances at a woman sitting opposite him. When she rebuked him, a heated verbal exchange ensued, which resulted in Miller calling the bomb threat on the woman. If convicted, those charges carry a maximum of five years in prison.
On top of that, scores of anecdotal evidence from within the industry asserts that Miller has a long and storied history of being abusive and vindictive towards woman – particularly comedians.
Just For Laughs’ decision to book Miller for its Sydney festival – scheduling him for a headline show on November 25th at the Enmore Theatre – is a staggering choice that defies even the most outlandish of beliefs, and it displays a callous lack of care, forethought, and support for women in the Australian comedy industry who are reeling from an atrocious few months.
TJ Miller is a repeated and known abuser who has shown zero public remorse for his well-documented actions.
It is absolutely not on that he be booked for a festival the size of this. In Australia or elsewhere.
