HBO's "Silicon Valley" | Talks at Google - VoiceTube: Learn English through videos!

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]MUSIC PLAYING]
[APPLAUSE]
KUMAIL NANJIANI: You'd think Google would
have a better room than this.
I thought there would be, like, an awesome movie theater,
and most people are on the floor.
Great.
Google.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: That's how we roll.
That's-- you know, we gotta--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: You want to stay grounded.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: We need server space.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: I get it.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Kumail just read--
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Kumail just read "The Game,"
and started off with, like, a hard neg up top.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Yeah, man.
This is Google.
You've gotta show them who's boss.
I bing, so I don't know what--
[LAUGHTER]
JK, nobody bings.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: I webcrawl.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: This would be the shortest talk
in the history of-- you're out of here,
like, all right, gotta go.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Yeah.
I went on Bing by mistake once, and it said, you--
just go to Google.
[LAUGHTER]
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Did they give up?
Was that just it?
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Yeah.
My computer got on fire.
[LAUGHTER]
Yes?
ZACH WOODS: Go ahead.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: No, no, no.
ZACH WOODS: Oh, no.
This is-- my question cannot support this level
of attention.
I just was curious if you used the phrase got on fire.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Yeah, he did.
ZACH WOODS: That was it.
Thank you.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Yeah.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Got on fire.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: I mean, this is going on the internet.
It could be the next, like, slang term.
Everyone will be like that's got on fire.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Got on fire, it's gonna get on fire.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: There we go.
It'll be like a self-fulfilling prophecy?
Is that what that becomes?
ZACH WOODS: Yeah.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: I'd love to know,
we just saw the first episode of season four.
What do you think the biggest shift in reaction
has been to the show?
KUMAIL NANJIANI: For season four?
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Yeah.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: We haven't heard any of the reaction yet,
so we don't know.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Oh.
Well, let's give them the reaction for season four.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Yeah, how do you--
AMANDA CREW: Reaction.
[CHEERING]
Whoa, big--
ZACH WOODS: I would say, just based on that,
the reaction is much more coerced this time around.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Oh, yeah, they hated it.
They hated it.
They're being paid to do that.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Can I say, this is a very diverse crowd.
It's white people and Asian people.
[LAUGHTER]
I see my people.
This is great.
Look.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Yes, it's all the peeps.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Does this feel threatening to you, white man?
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Yes.
It's not my America.
[LAUGHTER]
I want to see everybody's H-1's right now.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: I bet there's a few here.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: You bet there's a few H-1s in here?
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Hey, man, I was an H-1 until I found--
tricked someone into falling in love with me.
AMANDA CREW: And then made a movie about it too, right?
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Yeah.
AMANDA CREW: Yeah.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: I was an O-1.
It's for artists of, um, extraordinary ability.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Yeah, it was made for people like Einstein
and then, you know, these people.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Not L-1s.
That was made for talentless hacks like myself.
Let's get into a strong visa debate right now.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Let's.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: I'll go anti, just to stir the pot.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: [LAUGHS]
DANA HAN-KLEIN: This ends in me being fired, I feel like.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: You haven't--
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: All of us.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: --done anything wrong.
We have.
Sorry, Dana.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: I am out of questions.
No, how much did you know about the goings-on
of Silicon Valley, like this area,
before you started the show?
KUMAIL NANJIANI: I didn't know anything about it.
I remember-- I feel like the world outside Silicon Valley
has become much more aware of the goings-on of Silicon
Valley in the last four years.
Not because of our show, but I remember the show--
when we did the pilot, I would tell people I'm gonna do
a pilot-- a pilot is just, it's just the first episode--
called "Silicon Valley."
And they were like, oh, is it set in the '90s?
And I was like, no, there's crazy shit happening
there right now.
And people-- it wasn't as much in the mainstream consciousness
as it is right now.
So I knew nothing about it, really.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: I had approached tech in general
just as a consumer, as, like, a primarily a gamer.
So, like, however it was going to improve
my gaming experience, that's usually where I checked in.
And I would say my horizons have broadened a little bit.
And it's been interesting to know, like--
well, to find out just the business elements of it
all, just how much money is flying around.
It really does sort of feel like this tech, nerdy Wild West.
Everybody's shooting each other with infrared laser
beams instead of pistols.
ZACH WOODS: I hadn't even really engaged
with tech as a consumer.
Like, I was so frightened of tech just in my daily life,
I used my father's email address in high school, because--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Which was zachsdad.
ZACH WOODS: Yeah, zachsdad.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: At aol.gov.
ZACH WOODS: We have ego boundary issues between the two of us.
But I was too-- it felt too daunting to set up
a Gmail account, so that was my relationship to tech.
AMANDA CREW: I remember when I--
MARTIN STARR: It felt too daunting?
ZACH WOODS: Daunting, yeah.
I was intimidated by it.
I, like, went to the login, and it asked me my name,
and I was like, fuck this.
[LAUGHTER]
AMANDA CREW: When I set up my first email account,
I didn't understand what it was.
So when I shared my email address with my friend,
I was like, yeah, it's www.cucumber_cutie@hotmail.com.
And--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Oh, I'm so sorry, a couple questions.
Cucumber cutie?
ZACH WOODS: That feels both suggestive and infantile
at the same time.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Yeah, it's like a child trying to be sexual.
ZACH WOODS: Oh, no.
AMANDA CREW: I'm--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Cucumber?
AMANDA CREW: Cucumber_cutie@hotmail.com was
my email address.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Why?
AMANDA CREW: And it was because I was in the ninth grade,
and I was in the computer class when I was making it,
and there was a poster that said, cool as a cucumber.
And I was like, yeah, cucumbers are cool.
So that was--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: That is adorable.
ZACH WOODS: Although I shouldn't give you--
Kumail shouldn't give you shit, because his first email was
dildoteddybear.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: (LAUGHING) I know you have questions.
I will answer them.
Dildo teddy bear.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Why teddy bear?
Dildo I get.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: It was dildoteddybear--
ZACH WOODS: This is the most-- like, it's--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: It was dildoteddybear2--
ZACH WOODS: Yes.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: --because someone got to the--
ZACH WOODS: Because your dad had dildoteddybear1.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: My dad was original dildoteddybear,
and I was dildoteddybear Jr. And that's still
how we call each other?
Hi.
Does that answer your question?
ZACH WOODS: Does this count as sexual harassment,
since we don't work here?
DANA HAN-KLEIN: This answers my question more
than I ever wanted, I think.
ZACH WOODS: Sorry.
It's gross.
Sorry for saying that.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: It's a safe space.
We're learning a lot about each other, apparently.
Has working on the show made you, like, at all
more inclined to learn about this?
Or are you just like, eh, I'm good.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: No--
ZACH WOODS: It's interesting, it's not--
I mean, we're not-- at least for me,
I'm not going on any, like, giant research expeditions
into-- but like, if I'm listening to the radio
and a show about tech comes on, I'm
more likely to understand some of the, like, basic vocabulary
of it, or like articles I'll read
that I wouldn't otherwise read.
But yeah, I feel like it's made me a little bit more
familiar with tech.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: I've definitely pursued it,
just because the show's gotten some sort of direct lines
not only to investors, but developers, as well.
And I always-- like, talking again about games,
my favorite booth at E3 is always
like the new, like, rendered grass
that Nvidia has, as opposed to, like, the latest modern warfare
game.
So like, I-- I kind of like the elements and the pieces of LEGO
that go into building the bigger picture.
And just with the show and kind of like--
I mean, as crass as this is, like,
the little bit of extra spending money that you
get by being on TV, there's just some opportunities to kind of--
to explore, just based on if you have an interest
in a certain thing--
me, it's games and the environment--
I think there's opportunities to explore here in the Valley.
And it's been interesting.
ZACH WOODS: Tommy's been heavily investing
in bringing back Tamagotchis.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Yeah.
Yeah, Tamagotchis.
But I'm calling them "Tommyguccis."
KUMAIL NANJIANI: And they're, like, little versions of you.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Yeah.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: And you gotta feed 'em.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Yeah, you gotta feed these guys.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Gotta feed these guys.
AMANDA CREW: And you've got to play with them.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: You've gotta feed these guys.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: It's gotta be compliments.
You feed it compliments.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Yeah, they always
have just super low self-esteem, and you have to pick them up.
ZACH WOODS: But weirdly, the more you praise them,
the hungrier they get.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Yeah.
Yeah, it's a real sad relationship
you have to develop with these Tommyguccis.
In Canada, gucci is--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: What?
Don't say it.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Yeah, just wanna--
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Um--
[LAUGHTER]
DANA HAN-KLEIN: This is, like, the most R-rated thing
we've had.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Good.
We want to challenge you.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: What else have you had here?
DANA HAN-KLEIN: I don't know, we've just--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: So when you were
saying that you guys get big movies here,
this is where you fucking show 'em?
[LAUGHTER]
This?
[LAUGHTER]
MARTIN STARR: On two tiny screens?
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Yeah, you bring in a bunch of chairs
from somewhere?
ZACH WOODS: Why don't you just have one person
hold their iPhone while 300 people--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Oh, no, hold their Google phone.
ZACH WOODS: Sorry.
Google phone.
MARTIN STARR: Yeah, yeah.
ZACH WOODS: Sorry.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: This is where you--
MARTIN STARR: You could have one big screen, at least,
on this wall instead of two tinier ones.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Well, where would we put the logo--
AMANDA CREW: Separated by the logo, Google.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: They don't watch the movie, or the show,
they just look at their own logo--
[LAUGHTER]
--and they just smile and cry, and all the emotions.
And at some point the credits roll and we come in and--
ZACH WOODS: It's on both screens simultaneously?
MARTIN STARR: Is there usually a partition down the middle
and you watch two different things?
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: There's a delay.
The one screen is 30 seconds behind.
It's a nightmare to watch.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: --3D projecting in the world.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: (LAUGHING) Yeah.
ZACH WOODS: It feels like a passive-aggressive attack
against epileptic employees if it's both simultaneously.
Isn't that triggering?
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Do you guys forget where you work?
[LAUGHTER]
Why do you have to constantly be reminded?
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: As soon as they walk in, oh,
I'm in the wrong place, damn it.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Oh my god, it says AltaVista.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Shoot, not today.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Google.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Google.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Yeah.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: That's one of the things
your show gets so right.
It's just all the weird quirks, obviously,
somebody was paying attention to it.
Because all the Hooli stuff, like the Pied Piper,
"swag, schwag, schwag" is such a thing.
Like
It's just fascinating, I think, for us
to watch because it's like looking in a mirror, a very
scary mirror sometimes, but it's definitely a fascinating thing.
So it's interesting to see how you guys approach it
because you're not in tech you're actors--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: We would read the scripts
and we would think that this is so exaggerated,
and then we come here and we're like, oh, we underplayed it.
[LAUGHTER]
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Yeah.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Why does it say Google on the wall?
You guys know where you work, look at your badges.
[LAUGHTER]
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Yeah--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: It's funny because when
we're shooting our show it does say, HBO really huge,
and then we have to CG it out later.
CG is-- I don't know if you guys know computers, but--
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: I think that's
a testament to the writers, Mike and Alec and the whole team
there, they come up here constantly
and mine for stories.
And whenever-- Alec said this-- whenever they're
in a narrative corner, when they've backed themselves
into what happens now, they usually
call someone up and say what would normally
happen here and then get their answer out of that.
Their "solve" out of that.
ZACH WOODS: It also seems like people don't mind--
you're really pleased with "solve."
No, no, don't--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Hey, you're really good.
You're really good on the show.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Pling!
KUMAIL NANJIANI: There you go.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Pling!
[LAUGHTER]
Points, points.
ZACH WOODS: It feels like people don't
mind being made fun of as long as they feel known,
as long as you pay attention, and then people
will tolerate a high degree of mockery,
or even enjoy it, because it feels
like the compliment of careful attention has been paid.
And so it's nice when tech people don't bristle
even though it's pretty I mean.
It's nice because it feels like, well,
then we must have got some of it right.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Yeah, it can be mean,
but it's also from the point of view of the inside.
It's not like--
ZACH WOODS: Oh, yeah--
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: --five super aggressive alpha dudes
came to Silicon Valley and was like,
look at all these dweebazoids!
That's not the show.
It's this.
ZACH WOODS: That was the working title for the first season,
"Look At All These Dweebazoids."
[LAUGHTER]
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: (LAUGHING)
KUMAIL NANJIANI: We're dweebazoids too.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Yeah.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Were they worried
that "Look At All These Dweebazoids"
wouldn't fit on a shirt?
And they're like, we'd have to--
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: It does, you just do a smaller font.
[LAUGHTER]
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Problem solving.
I like it.
But I find it so interesting when you guys get grilled
about tech questions, and it's like, that's not
your background.
What's your instinct to do in those moments?
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Literally say, that's not our background.
[LAUGHTER]
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Right.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: We don't know.
We're all just consumers of technology.
People are always like, so what's your billion dollar app
idea?
I wouldn't tell you if I had one,
also I don't have one because I'm an actor.
I'm pretending to be what you are.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: It's a bit like inviting an actor who
played a doctor on a medical procedural
to give a speech at a medical--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Or perform surgery.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Give me a 100 ccs of gigabytes, is where we're at.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: We are.
That's the most technically--
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: We have to have an consultant on our show
on-set at all times because we'll get these monologues
of like, [INAUDIBLE] and all this--
I didn't even say it right then--
and he has to come in and-- or it could be a she--
he or she has to come in and--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: He or she, but it is a he.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Thank god.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: On our show it is a he.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Yeah, I mean--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: But he or she.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: It could be a he or she.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: This is a great mix, by the way.
It really is.
MARTIN STARR: It actually is.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: It's a good--
MARTIN STARR: I thought you guys were saying Hiroshi.
[LAUGHTER]
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Hiroshi does come in.
There's a big language barrier, but Hiroshi does come in
and tell us what's going--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: He's not a H-1B1.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Direct him for us.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: It's OK.
Look at me, I can't be racist.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: It's impossible for you to be--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: It's impossible.
ZACH WOODS: But you'll put it to the test.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: I have been.
Here's my observation about Mongolian people.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: (LAUGHING) Mongolian people.
ZACH WOODS: Wow.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Why?
Why?
ZACH WOODS: He goes hard at the Mongolian people.
He's has a whole bit about their barbecue.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: They love Popsicles.
I make up stereotypes and I double down.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Commit to it.
That's the true internet way.
Yes, It's true.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Oh my god.
Mongolians and their Popsicles.
ZACH WOODS: You could be president one day.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: No, I can't.
I wasn't born here.
Ugh.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Of Mongolia.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Of Mongolia I could be, yes.
They're very relaxed rules.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Yeah.
Kumail Nanjiani starts feud with Mongols.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: (LAUGHING)
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: I don't think Mongols is a PC term.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: I don't think so.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: I don't think that's good.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: We'll check it later.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: It's just short for Mongolian.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: No, don't do it.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: But it sounds weird--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Yeah.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Me even saying
Mongolian sounds like I'm being mean, but I'm not.
Mongolian.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Yeah.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: I'm Mongolian.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: As long as you're not saying like--
yeah-- "whore" after it.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: In a history context.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: In a history context.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: If you're listening to Dan Carlin's--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Yes.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: History--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: "Hardcore--"
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: "Hardcore History," you
could talk about Jengis Khan, as he says.
What the fuck is going on right now?
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Hey.
Wait.
Yeah, I'm lost.
Where are we?
Oh, OK.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: You're-- yeah.
[LAUGHTER]
This is why we have the signs.
This season seems to be a lot about status changes
within the group, and you guys are all in very different roles
and having to deal with that.
What was the most fun part to explore about that?
Because we're seeing these different sides
of these characters.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Up until this point, as the group,
they've seen obstacles come at them from the exterior,
but I think after the first episode
you gather that the group dynamic is being challenged.
And as a result, I would say over the season,
there's a little bit more emotional anchor points
to kind of latch on to, not to say
that the show's going to become like "Girls" or anything
like that.
It still is Mike Judge's sentimentality level
which is small, he has a low threshold for that stuff.
But it's been nice to latch onto that
and see this interplay between the characters
in terms of what this sort of like dynamite stick being
thrown into the group has been.
ZACH WOODS: Yeah, because once you've
been doing a show for a while the dynamics get locked in
and it almost becomes predictable where you're like,
oh, OK, Jared's going to be mothering to Richard,
there's going to be homoerotic jousting between Gilfoyle
and Dinesh--
[LAUGHTER]
--and you sort of know what's coming, and then--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: [INAUDIBLE]
ZACH WOODS: But when you mix it up,
when there's internal strife, or internal drama,
it's nice because it gives you a chance
to throw all those dynamics up in the air
and see where they land, and I thought that was fun.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: No one doesn't play their character
in that process, it's just like those characters
get put in a slightly different circumstance, which is nice.
ZACH WOODS: Yeah.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: And this season there's
a bit more of a civil war aspect to it where--
MARTIN STARR: It's actually called "Silicon Valley--
colon--
Civil War."
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Yeah, I'm Captain America.
Why?
You have a problem with that?
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Yes.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: What's the problem?
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Accent.
Just the accent.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Man, this is what America looks like now.
Get used to it, Canadian.
[LAUGHTER]
Yeah, there is divisions within the group, as Thomas
was saying, and so the season--
It's fun to take sides with different people
than you've done before and we're
put in very heightened different situations.
So it's cool to see these characters that we've
been with for three years--
a new side of them because they're
in a completely different situation than they've
been in before.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: What do you admire
most about the characters that you're portraying?
KUMAIL NANJIANI: That's an interesting question.
You're doing a great job.
These questions are great.
Seriously.
It's true.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Thank you.
AMANDA CREW: And she can handle our jokes.
Not everyone can.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Keep coming after the logo
though we're going to have a problem.
[LAUGHTER]
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
KUMAIL NANJIANI: I admire my character's resolve.
He gets defeated all the time, but he's always
very optimistic.
And he thinks like, you know what, this next one's gonna
work, and he always falls flat on his face,
but he keeps going.
He's like Wile E. Coyote kind of,
and I think that's a very hopeful, optimistic way to be.
ZACH WOODS: I think I like Jared's reckless love
for Richard.
I like the idea of completely unself-protective adoration,
maybe to a pathological degree, but I
think I wish I could do that more readily.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: I like, I guess
you could see it as a negative trait about Richard--
I like the negatives more than the positives in a character,
they're funner to play.
The tabs versus spaces thing is the perfect encompassing
of that where a casual statement is made,
and then Richard just is like, tunnel vision, can't not
think about it, like, I'll hang onto that one later.
And it just bubbles in him and, obviously, spews out
in all kinds of ways, that sounded gross.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: What do you mean bubbles spew out
in all kinds of ways is gross?
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Who knows?
But it's just fun to play.
It's something, just from a character point,
and also comedically that you can really latch onto.
Yeah.
MARTIN STARR: Amander?
AMANDA CREW: She's a bad ass bitch, Monica.
She smokes, so she's cool.
In a James Dean kind of way.
But no, I really love her heart.
Because in a world where everyone's just
doing what's best for their company
and making money and moving their way up,
she really believes in Richard and what
he's doing and sometimes does things that don't benefit her,
but she knows is going to help out Richard.
And I admire that.
I admire that a lot.
MARTIN STARR: I think.
Gilfoyle doesn't give a shit what anybody else thinks
about him or otherwise.
That's an admirable trait.
[LAUGHTER]
DANA HAN-KLEIN: I would ask who's
most like their character, but I think I just got my answer.
[LAUGHTER]
MARTIN STARR: I'm in character year round from the moment
we did--
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Very method, very method.
You're getting ready for Season 5 hopefully.
This is random, but who holds the "always blue" record?
Does anyone hold the "always blue" record?
MARTIN STARR: There's a rubber band in that thing.
We tricked you all.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: But we did do it without--
MARTIN STARR: We did it originally--
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Why that came about is actually we were
messing around in between takes--
this is the very first episode we ever shot--
messing around doing that game and they put that into the--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Mike was like, just do that on camera.
And it became a recurring thing.
It was literally us killing time between takes goofing around.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Yeah, that's happened a couple of times--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: And then, I read
a thing that was this huge thing on Reddit that was like,
this is what the "always blue" means, it's
a thing about how when you're making code
it could be red or blue.
And it's this whole thing and people are like, oh my god,
that scene in the show's so genius.
Meanwhile it's totally random.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: It's us being full-blown timewasting
jackasses.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Yeah.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Oh, the jacket is a thing
that they incorporated--
MARTIN STARR: Yeah, that's real.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: You get downtime in between set ups
and you have some time, we all sit around and goof
off and the idea--
ZACH WOODS: We shoot the show on a studio lot and Martin
got us these scooters, these electric scooters,
and so we thought it would be--
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: We called ourselves "The Rude Boys"
because--
ZACH WOODS: "Rude Boys On the Lot."
We got these stupid jackets that said, "Rude Boys On the Lot."
MARTIN STARR: And we were going to be a biker gang
with these EcoReco electric--
ZACH WOODS: Tiny electric scooters
and our purple jackets.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: With the dice on the back.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Yeah, they had dice on the back.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: And so we were all wearing them
to the set thinking, this is cool,
but we get this is silly also.
And next thing you know, two episodes later Jared
walks in with that Pied Piper jacket,
and we're like, oh, touche, writers.
You've called us and raised us and we fold.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: --a lot stuff from our life
that ends up on the show.
The gold chain thing that I had?
That was from my life.
In high school I was like, I'm going to wear a silver chain
and I'll be cool.
And it's that thing, as soon as you get to school you're like,
oh no, this is horrible.
ZACH WOODS: When Jared speaks in German in his sleep
that actually has some basis in reality,
but I never speak in German in my sleep.
I guess, this is a little bit of a strange thing to talk about,
but I'm Jewish, I'm from a Jewish family,
I have great respect for my people.
But my freshman year at college I woke up
one morning and my roommate was like, hey, man, you all right?
And I was like, yeah, what are talking about?
And he was like, I was up late writing a paper last night
and you fell asleep, and then in the middle of the night
you sat up and made eye contact with me and went,
I hate the Jews, and then went back to sleep.
We celebrated Hanukkah every year,
my sister's studying to be a rabbi.
I'd just like to reiterate, not reflective of my waking
feelings about Judaism.
But I told one of the producers that, and then
he started yelling in German in his sleep.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Ha.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: That's terrifying.
ZACH WOODS: It's scary.
Sorry.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Well, don't worry.
I mean, even Hitler didn't use chemical weapons so you're OK.
[LAUGHTER]
DANA HAN-KLEIN: We'll take a few audience questions in a second
if anyone wants to line up.
I'd like to know, what's the last game y'all played?
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Like a video game?
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Yeah, like a video game or not--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: I've played "Zelda."
DANA HAN-KLEIN: OK.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: And I'm playing a game called, "Horizon Zero
Dawn" that I really love.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: I found that as time goes on
I've been less about playing as many games as possible and more
like, I got a couple of standbys that if I have time I play.
I play this very intricate flight
simulator called, "DCS"--
"Digital Combat Simulator"-- where
you don't press a button to start up a jet,
you click all the little buttons.
And that's so my dream, is a steep learning curve
where you have to study.
And this game called, "Legends of Grimrock 2," which
is pretty fun.
I like those weird obscure PC games.
Amanda, what are you playing?
AMANDA CREW: Oh, so much solitaire.
[LAUGHTER]
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Anything with 52 cards, I'm in.
AMANDA CREW: I'm still waiting for the cards
to completely cover the screen when I win
and it always misses the one corner.
So I'm still playing.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: I've also found
a pretty good pen-and-paper group that I love playing.
I like "D&D" and "GURPS" and all that kind of stuff.
AMANDA CREW: "Werewolf."
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: "Werewolf."
I lead you guys in a "Werewolf" game.
So I think, yeah, those kind of things are good too.
AMANDA CREW: Zach, what are you playing?
ZACH WOODS: Doing a lot of "Pride and Prejudice"-themed
word searches.
[LAUGHTER]
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: When we started filming actually
and Kumail and I and Martin were talking about video games
and stuff, and we're like, Zach, did you ever play video games?
He says, oh, well, I remember one of the games
that I played as a child, it was on some CD
and it was essentially an interactive jazz game.
ZACH WOODS: My first-- the only video game
I had when I was a kid was a jazz video game where you just
wander through the history of jazz.
[LAUGHTER]
And you can't really get points, you're
just a passive participant as jazz happens.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: It was like "Zork" meets a jazz museum.
ZACH WOODS: Yeah.
You just walk into like, and now you're in New Orleans,
and now you're in Chicago, and oh, there's Billie Holiday.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Click on the picture to find out more.
ZACH WOODS: Yeah.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: I mean, what a dweebazoid.
ZACH WOODS: What a dweebazoid.
Look at all these dweebazoids.
AMANDA CREW: Martin, what are you playing?
MARTIN STARR: I think the last time I played video games was
probably playing "NBA 2K" whatever with y'all boys,
and lady.
You've never played.
AMANDA CREW: I didn't play.
ZACH WOODS: Sometimes they'll play video games
and I'll just sleep.
And then we'll all go to one trailer and--
MARTIN STARR: He'll be at our feet laying--
ZACH WOODS: Like a dog.
[LAUGHS]
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Yeah.
Yeah.
I could talk about games forever,
but that's totally boring.
ZACH WOODS: Look at all the questions.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Waiting.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Sir, go ahead.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Sir!
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Sir, what's your name?
AUDIENCE: Sergey.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Sergey, nice to meet you.
ZACH WOODS: --so they got it right.
Yeah.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Sir Sergey, nice to meet you.
AUDIENCE: You're welcome.
Yeah.
But I had a question, what are your guys'
real-life inspirations in Silicon Valley?
What do you do actually to get a real sense of--
ZACH WOODS: That's offensive.
[LAUGHTER]
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Sir!
ZACH WOODS: That's offensive.
What's our inspirations?
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: You know, I feel like a bad actor
when I say I didn't do any character studies.
Essentially it's an amalgamation of myself
and all the kids I went to LAN parties with as a teenager.
I've picked up pieces here and there throughout life.
Although very recently, I met [INAUDIBLE] Richard Hendricks
who talked 4,000 miles a second and got immediately
into the weeds about something that you're like,
I don't understand you at all.
But I said to the guy who introduced me
I was like, why didn't I meet him before?
But, yeah, what about you guys?
MARTIN STARR: For me it was on the page.
The character was kind of a conversation
that happened after the pilot had been written.
And I think an evolution of the show
came when they found Kumail and myself,
and these side characters.
They hadn't really fleshed out the full group off the jump.
That's a basketball term because you start the game
with the throw the ball--
the referee throws the ball up, and then two guys jump for it.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Martin Starr's a big Clippers fan, so
watch out.
MARTIN STARR: You guys, what do you--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: They're Warrior fans.
MARTIN STARR: --up here?
KUMAIL NANJIANI: They've been Warrior fans for two years.
Their whole lives.
They have loved the Warriors as far back
as they can remember, 2014.
MARTIN STARR: You guys started winning
and now you're all dicks.
[LAUGHTER]
Congrats.
So I think they've figured it out as they went along.
But we were lucky to be a part of the spawning of it.
And inspired them and they inspired, clearly,
the characters because they wrote them.
But a lot of it was on the page.
ZACH WOODS: I kinda think of it archetypically almost.
I watched some documentaries and read some books
about Silicon Valley, but I think of it
as a family where Erlich's kind of the belligerent dad, Jared's
kind of the passive mom, Tommy's like the favorite son.
I feel like Dinesh is the baby, Gilfoyle's
the cat who kind of like--
Monica, I feel like is the grown-up next door neighbor.
I don't know.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Or the fun aunt.
ZACH WOODS: Yeah.
Yeah.
Like responsible.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: But she smokes.
ZACH WOODS: Yeah.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Yeah.
AMANDA CREW: She's a bad influence.
ZACH WOODS: See?
I think of it more like that, like how
it fits into the family as opposed to trying to draw
from a specific tech person.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Amanda?
AMANDA CREW: It's on the page, man.
Mike and Alec, they do the research,
they do all the hard work, heavy lifting, we're puppets,
we just read what's on the page.
ZACH WOODS: Right.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Thank you, Sergey.
ZACH WOODS: Thank you.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: What are you working on, Sergey?
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Do we have to sign--
AUDIENCE: I work in Business Operations Strategy team.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: What is it?
AUDIENCE: Business operations strategy.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Cool.
Good luck.
[LAUGHTER]
Hey, Sergey, fascinating.
I don't actually know what that means.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: I work here and I don't know what that means.
I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: He doesn't work here.
Nobody knows that guy.
MARTIN STARR: And he got back in line to ask another question.
[LAUGHTER]
Hi.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Hi.
AUDIENCE: Hey.
Thanks for coming today.
My question is, in your--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: What's your name?
AUDIENCE: My name is Connie.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Connie, nice to meet you.
AUDIENCE: When you guys visit the area,
have you guys encountered any ridiculous real-life
situations?
MARTIN STARR: Yeah.
[LAUGHTER]
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Sometimes you'll--
AUDIENCE: Like in the context of Silicon Valley.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Sometimes you'll go to a screening
and you'll think it's going to be a great movie theater,
but it turns out--
ZACH WOODS: It just looks like a Radio Shack that just closed.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Yeah, it's like a closed Radio Shack
and all of them staring at the name of the company
that they work for.
ZACH WOODS: Once-- well, this isn't an at Silicon Valley,
but there's a big Silicon Valley contingent at South
by Southwest, and that's where we premiered the show.
And I was eating in the lobby of the hotel right
before a premiere and I heard a guy, in earnestness say--
he was pitching his app and he said to the other guy,
he was sitting across from, he's like,
it is like the Mahatma Gandhi of apps.
[LAUGHTER]
To be fair, it was an app that overthrew British imperialism.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Something along those lines,
when the first season-- we went up to TechCrunch in New York
to help, I don't know, either, I think it was just to promote
or something like, that, and a guy comes up to me and T. J.,
who unbeknownst to him, how would he know,
we're quite militantly atheist, and he goes, OK, you're
from the show, OK, great.
I've got this app that like it prays for you.
And we're like, what?
I guess you select your religion and it prays on your behalf?
KUMAIL NANJIANI: That sounds great.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: And I just saw
T. J., who barely keeps it together 24/7,
just like the fire like--
and I was like, we gotta go!
[LAUGHTER]
You're gonna eviscerate that boy.
ZACH WOODS: I hope it's like Tinder where
they show you Jesus and you have to go left or right.
Obviously, no photo of Muhammad, but whatever the next one is.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Right, it's just a bright circle.
That app, don't choose your religion.
You should choose all the other religions,
so you're covering your bases.
So you do--
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Or just tick all.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Yeah, just be like, whatever
you got, some on that side.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: I mean, if that ever
gave anyone peace of mind, you're doing it wrong, I think.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Thanks.
We have time for one last question.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Oh.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: But what about all these people?
ZACH WOODS: We could just speed round.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: They can all four ask a question,
and then we'll answer all of them and it'll be so great.
So hi, just ask all your questions really quickly.
ZACH WOODS: Yeah, real quick.
AUDIENCE: My name is Lisa.
I'm a game designer.
This is related to a previous question.
And I know a couple of you guys have played "D&D."
I was wondering what kind of tabletop games you're into?
KUMAIL NANJIANI: OK, and then the next guy's question.
Lisa, what tabletop--
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: --questions?
KUMAIL NANJIANI: We're going to get the questions,
then we're gonna answer all of them together.
Go, dude.
AUDIENCE: --just in line to represent one of the people
from your place, so--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Get out.
AUDIENCE: I'm kidding.
My question was--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: What do you mean from my place?
[LAUGHTER]
AUDIENCE: KGS, bro.
KGS.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: KGS!
AUDIENCE: Whoo!
KUMAIL NANJIANI: No.
AUDIENCE: Bro, that's why green and white.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: You really-- we went to the same high school,
he says.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: In Hachi Chachi Karachi?
AUDIENCE: About 10 years later though.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Ten years?
[LAUGHTER]
MARTIN STARR: Wow.
ZACH WOODS: Oh, shit!
Oh!
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Damn, you old, son!
You old!
ZACH WOODS: Shots fired!
MARTIN STARR: Sit down, grandpa.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Ah, ah, my back.
AUDIENCE: The question was, an alternative search engine,
that you mentioned, you know, you started using it
and it caught your computer on fire.
I used to work for that before this
and I just want to make sure I didn't write any bugs.
Could you tell us the repro steps?
[LAUGHTER]
KUMAIL NANJIANI: The what?
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Go fight him.
Just go fight him.
ZACH WOODS: All right.
OK.
And last question.
What is it?
AUDIENCE: I don't know if I can follow that.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: --there's two--
ZACH WOODS: You definitely can. (LAUGHING) Yeah.
AUDIENCE: Yeah, I just wanted to know
about any more moments of improv or something
that someone said on-set.
Last moment scripting things between just actors on the set
and if they ended up in the show and what those were.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: OK.
ZACH WOODS: All right.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Is that all the questions?
ZACH WOODS: "D&D" is first.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Wait, you have?
AUDIENCE: Nope, I'm all good.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: OK.
All right.
ZACH WOODS: We should also get Sergey's second question.
[LAUGHTER]
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Business and strategy development.
Look, he's sitting there like a king like, I nailed it.
[LAUGHTER]
What tabletop games do you like?
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Oh, yeah, "D&D,"
"GURPS," "Call of Cthulhu."
I like some board games like "Mansions of Madness"
and that "Battle for Westeros" game.
But as long as there's a character sheet, some dice,
and your imagination, I'm into it, yeah.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: The second question was impenetrable.
He made fun of me being old.
[LAUGHTER]
Third question?
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: (LAUGHING)
MARTIN STARR: There is improv, but I'd
say 95% of what you see on screen
is either the exact words as they were written
or we've played with them a little bit
to make them feel our own, or feel fresh, from take-to-take.
There is a lot of improvisation, but most of all
it just keeps us happy.
It keeps us fresh and enjoying the experience because you
do it so many times, and the writing is so good,
so you really want it to feel fresh when you say it.
And so we play around and enjoy having fun and making
each other laugh.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: They're so good at writing for us
that most of the stuff that you guys might think
is improvised is all written.
They're just great--
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: The improv approach to this show
is less about recreating the scene in "a better way,"
it's more so finding a moment with the character.
Or if we think a particular joke on page is funny
we usually maybe go on a tangent to see
if we can build on that even if it just gets cut
or they pick one thing from it.
Yeah, it's more a beat, an extra joke here and there,
but there's very few instances where they come with a scene
and be like, hey guys, help us.
MARTIN STARR: Although I will say that a lot of the Zach
moments from season 1 and 2, especially,
guided the writers towards this underlying sadness that
has become Jared.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Jared's backstory of pure hell.
MARTIN STARR: When I was-- like all of the orphan improvs
in the first two seasons were really--
or like how gaunt and shadow-like he is--
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: The wasting disease.
MARTIN STARR: --like a ghost.
Yeah.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Just a really freak of--
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Multiple foster families.
ZACH WOODS: Yeah.
Well, one thing that's nice is--
Alec Berg and Mike Judge who are the guys who run the show--
Alec Berg wrote on Seinfeld-- ran Seinfeld for a while,
Mike Judge, obviously, has this crazy resume.
And they could be real auteurs and kind of dictatorial
in the way that they run the show,
but they could not be less egoless,
they are so collaborative.
And that's really, I think, unusual.
You hear all these stories where people are like,
it has to be to the syllable, and those guys
it's just best idea wins and usually the best idea's
their idea.
But you never feel like you're under foot or something.
I think it's good.
MARTIN STARR: And I remember when we were doing the pilot,
I forget what the exact line was,
but I was saying something a particular way
and it wasn't how it was written and Mike came up to me
and said, hey, could you say this?
And I said it in front of him back to him
and I was like, oh, yeah, that's way better than whatever
the fuck I was doing that was like fucking up
what you had written perfectly.
AMANDA CREW: And then he beat you.
MARTIN STARR: Then he took his belt off and he--
[LAUGHTER]
ZACH WOODS: It's a very corporal punishment heavy set.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Yeah, yeah, we run it like a ship.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Yeah.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: I feel bad, Mr. KGS, what's your name?
I didn't ask your name.
AUDIENCE: Usman.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: Usman.
Right.
[LAUGHTER]
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Look him up in a yearbook.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: I was like, maybe he's lying
and I was like, nope, that's a pretty deep cut.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: (LAUGHING) Deep cut.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: My very last question for you is,
pie-in-the-sky, unlimited time, resources, whatever,
what project or role would you like to explore outside
of the one you have on "Silicon Valley"?
KUMAIL NANJIANI: I want to be Captain America.
I truly think we're ready.
Put me in, it's not like President.
I don't gotta be born here to be Captain America.
This is what it's like.
Just like a tiny Pakistani Captain America.
[LAUGHTER]
Thank you so much.
ZACH WOODS: Weirdly, I want to play Malala, so--
just kidding.
KUMAIL NANJIANI: An actual tiny Pakistani.
ZACH WOODS: An actual hero. (LAUGHING)
KUMAIL NANJIANI: I did have this interaction
yesterday with someone who was like, you're actually
from Pakistan?
I said, yes, and they were like, do you know Malala?
And I was like, yeah, we see each other at the meetings.
[LAUGHTER]
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: Over at Pakistani headquarters.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Pick up the Pakistani phone
and just call her up.
Cool.
Well, thank you so much.
Season 4 of "Silicon Valley"'s out.
ZACH WOODS: Thanks, guys.
THOMAS MIDDLEDITCH: April 23rd.
April 23rd.
[APPLAUSE]