“How have your lives changed since the show started?” Silicon Valley creator Mike Judge asked the stars of his HBO show Thomas Middleditch and T.J. Miller at Vanity Fair’s New Establishment Summit in San Francisco on Tuesday. The answers varied from Miller’s obvious crack (“Elon Musk threatened me personally!”) to Middleditch’s more low-key anecdote about young engineers foisting their start-up-company swag on him. Both stars said they do get pitched on apps from strangers all the time. But when it comes to how Middleditch and Miller prepared for their roles in the first place, their answer is one that’s probably quite common in Silicon Valley: bullying. Middleditch (mostly joking) talked about how “15 years” spent being bullied helped him play the Silicon Valley’s hoodie-wearing bundle of nerves hero, Richard Hendricks, whereas Miller (definitely joking) said it was “15 years of bullying other kids” that led to his portrayal of bombastic Silicon Valley benefactor Erlich Bachman. Silicon Valley will return for Season 3 next spring on HBO.

Photos from the 2015 New Establishment Summit



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