Miller told those in the nearly sold-out club that he didn’t like political comedy, saying it was one of the reasons he left his fan-favorite role on HBO’s “Silicon Valley.” Then, in rapid succession, he unloaded a synopsis of what has happened to him since a woman accused him of sexual assault in December 2017.

He referred to his accuser as a “stalker from college” with mental health issues who believed “Kate (Kate Miller, the comedian’s wife) stole her life.” He accused the media of saying whatever it wanted without Miller being able to take recourse. He described darkness taking over, substance abuse and a subsequent breakdown.

At the end of the rant — which was met with applause — Miller finished his joke, a jab at the current administration.

This isn’t the first time Miller has addressed the during sex, which he and his wife have already denied. But it apparently was the first time he did so on stage in his hometown, a city that initially showed support for the comedian before  once allegations became public.

And if the standing ovation at the end of the first show was any indication, Denver is home to plenty of fans ready to embrace Miller again.

Miller’s “Touring in Perpetuity” set included his usual absurdist humor. He quickly gained favor with shout-outs to his alma mater, East High School, praise for Denver and regional inside jokes that could only land in Colorado. He also launched into a vaudeville-inspired act of juggling, trombone-playing and use of ventriloquist dolls.

But the tensions of 2017 were a soft undercurrent throughout the evening, which included occasional digs at “clickbait” and the “trash pile media.”

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A man heading to the restroom was temporarily the brunt of Miller’s jokes before the comedian ultimately encouraged anyone who had to use the restroom to go ahead and do so.

“Nothing I say is funny enough for you to be uncomfortable,” he joked. The audience responded with stunted laughs and awkward silence, a stark departure from its typical full belly laughs, seemingly unsure of how to interpret the joke.

Miller also promoted a line of $20 hot sauces he created, saying, “I’m selling these outside. They’re autographed, so that means they’re worth less.”

This wasn’t Miller’s first return to a Denver stage since the allegations. In March 2018, he sold out a show at the Comedy Works, adding a second one. On Sept. 17, 2018, Miller dropped into Colfax’s Lion’s Lair during an open mic night.

Writing about the experience in , comedian Byron Graham said he and co-host Roger Norquist decided to not confront Miller directly, but rather on stage with jokes like “The proper way to apologize is saying, ‘I’m sorry!’” and “Give it up for a comic you won’t be reading about in Jezebel.” Eventually, Miller left.

Miller’s first major breakout role was on “Silicon Valley” in 2014. He also had a 2017 animated series called “The Gorburger Show” on Comedy Central, and has appeared in “The Emoji Movie,” “Deadpool” and “Ready Player One.” He’s scheduled to appear in an upcoming movie, “Underwater,” alongside Kristen Stewart.

In December 2017, the Daily Beast reported allegations that Miller . The woman, who remained anonymous, said the comedian assaulted her multiple times. Miller and his wife released a statement denying any wrongdoing.

“Sadly she is now using the current climate to bandwagon and launch these false accusations again,” the statement read. “It is unfortunate that she is choosing this route as it undermines the important (#MeToo) movement to make women feel safe coming forward about legitimate claims against real known predators.”

Later that month, an adult film star tweeted that Miller had while filming Comedy Central’s “Mash Up.” A film critic and former friend of Miller also accused the comedian of sending a .

I was harassed by both Tj Miller and the director Jordan Vogt-Roberts shooting for Comedy Central’s Mash Up. I’ve been saying Tj was an asshole for years. So there you go.

— Dana DeArmond (@danadearmond)

In April 2018, Miller was arrested at LaGuardia Airport and accused of calling in a from an Amtrak train, for which he faces federal charges.

A few months later, actress Alice Wetterlund, who played Carla Walton on “Silicon Valley,” called Miller “a bully and petulant brat” in a Tweet.

“It is definitely time to rehabilitate TJ MIller’s career!” she wrote sarcastically in another Tweet. “We can’t afford to lose talent at a time like this, we need more — not less — comedic hijinks such as *checks notes* calling in a fake bomb threat.”

Yes! It is definitely time to rehabilitate TJ Miller’s career! We can’t afford to lose talent at a time like this, we need more—not less—comedic hijinks such as *checks notes* calling in a fake bomb threat

— Alice Wetterlund (@alicewetterlund)

Miller denied Wetterlund’s accusations while on , dismissing her criticisms as an attempt to get headlines. Instead, Miller said the actress was the one who was hard to work with.

“It was not my experience that anyone was bullying her or being mean to her,” he said.

In 2016, Miller was arrested for allegedly assaulting an Uber driver who had differing opinions about Donald Trump. That case was settled out of court.

Wende Curtis, owner of the city’s Comedy Works clubs, said she turned down an offer from the disgraced comedian last month after reaching out to one of his alleged victims.

The woman’s emailed response provided a link to an article, Curtis said, and then ended with, “I won’t say anything more.”

“I read it and said, ‘Wow,’ ” Curtis said.

Curtis declined to cite the article in question, saying she wanted to protect the identity of the victim.

Louis C.K publicly admitted more than a year ago to , but has attempted in recent months to wiggle his way back into the stand-up scene. It hasn’t gone too well. A  from a December show on Long Island set off a new round of criticism after the comedian was heard seemingly mocking the survivors of the Parkland school shooting for testifying before Congress.

“Cause you went to a high school where kids got shot, why does that mean I have to listen to you?,” C.K. says in the clip. “Why does that make you interesting? You didn’t get shot. You pushed some fat kid in the way and now I gotta listen to you talking?”

“I don’t think he’s there yet,” Curtis said. “It doesn’t appear to me that he’s paid his penance.”

Hearing from one of the comedian’s alleged victims helped solidify her decision, she added.

“It was important to me to get the perception of someone who was involved, who was victimized.”

Four days after the initial email, she told C.K.’s assistant that the dates wouldn’t work on her end. But she wouldn’t rule out hosting the comedian sometime down the line.

“I’m rooting for him,” Curtis said. “Because I think a man with that much talent, that much success and pull … I would love nothing more than for him to get on the other side and make a difference.”

Curtis admitted that the backlash of hosting someone like C.K. did play a factor, although it was secondary, she said. And Curtis is no stranger to controversy: The Comedy Works came under fire in December 2017 for its decision to host Denver-native T.J. Miller, after a woman accused him of sexual assault during college.

“Clearly those were very different,” Curtis said. “Louis came out and admitted it.”

She said the decision to say “no” to Louis was ultimately not a difficult one.

“My gut instinct was it wasn’t going to happen.”

Somewhere between the set at Casa Bonita, embattled comic and Colorado native , and the countless travel guides that have routed tourists through its kitschy corridors, Casa Bonita’s cliff-diving reputation has taken on mythic proportions.

Now every manner of limber, slightly crazy person can petition to join the Casa Bonita Dive Team and become one of those bodies sailing vertically into a 14-foot-deep pool of improbable weekend entertainment.

According to a , the Casa Bonita Dive Team is holding auditions for new members. The qualifications are as follows: you must be not only 18 (and up), you must be “willing to sword fight as a pirate atop a waterfall, get fake-stabbed and plummet 30 feet into the pool.”

If that sounds like the perfect outlet for your inner cosplay-swimmer, wait until you hear the rest: “Auditions will include front 1 1/2 somersault dive, inward dive, swan dive and back layout dive. Must be available to work Friday, Saturday and Sunday.”

We confirmed with the Lakewood restaurant that the position is indeed open, and we are waiting on some tricks of the trade to help your audition.

Ready? Call 303-232-5115 to schedule an audition. And good luck.

Federal prosecutors in Connecticut say Miller was released on $100,000 bond following an initial appearance in federal court in New Haven on Tuesday.

The former “Silicon Valley” actor and comedian was arrested in New York on Monday.

Prosecutors say Miller called in the false bomb information on March 18 after getting into a verbal confrontation with a woman on a train traveling from Washington D.C. to New York. The train was stopped in Westport, Connecticut, where it was searched. No explosives were found.

The public defender who represented Miller on Tuesday did not return a call for comment.

Federal prosecutors in Connecticut say Miller was released on $100,000 bond following an initial appearance in federal court in New Haven on Tuesday.

The former “Silicon Valley” actor and comedian was arrested in New York on Monday.

Prosecutors say Miller called in the false bomb information on March 18 after getting into a verbal confrontation with a woman on a train traveling from Washington D.C. to New York. The train was stopped in Westport, Connecticut, where it was searched. No explosives were found.

The public defender who represented Miller on Tuesday did not return a call for comment.

The Denver native, former “” star and “Deadpool”-er posted to his Instagram last night: “‪DENVER. I’m home; town. Shall I do a show?” A very long link followed.

The link sent his followers to the Comedy Works page where a show is listed for the downtown location on Thursday, March 29, at 10 p.m. for the 280-person venue.

Susan Collyar, director of marketing at Comedy Works, said she found out about Miller’s plans at 7 last night and put the show together from home while battling a cold.

“This one was easy because he wasn’t asking us to cancel anyone else’s show,” she added. “We just added a 10 p.m. show to an otherwise regular schedule.”

Miller’s last Denver shows at the Paramount were filmed for his first HBO special, The comic, who graduated from East High School and got married at the ,��received a Critics’ Choice Award for his role on the HBO comedy “Silicon Valley,” and has been in many films, including “Deadpool,” “Cloverfield,” “Get Him to the Greek” and “Office Christmas Party.” He also lent his voice to “The Emoji Movie” and “How to Train Your Dragon.”

“I feel so many things,” Collyar said about getting a big name like Miller wanting to perform in the space at the last minute. “We’re one of the top five clubs in the country. We feel so honored and so privileged to have these acts that just want to drop in. They’re usually working new material, trying out new things. They love the Denver crowds”

“People like Chappelle, like Joe Rogan, just the fact that they love Denver audiences so much and continue to want to come here, it’s an honor,” she added.

This will be Miller’s first Denver show after  were made against him from a woman he knew in college. He in February.

Reminder: Comedy Works has a strict no-cellphone policy and uses Yondr cellphone bagging.

Actor and comedian T.J. Miller headlined a sold-out Belly Up on Monday night in one of the Denver native’s first returns to stand-up since allegations of sexual assault were made against him in December.

Miller didn’t directly address the allegations in his Belly Up set, which ran just over 90 minutes and stuck largely to local material that played well to a receptive Aspen crowd.

He discussed his recent turmoil only obliquely. During a bit about how falling asleep is the best part of any day, he quipped: “Have you ever had a nightmare that’s better than your real life? That happened to me recently for like a month.”

Performing in a camouflage onesie ski suit with a bow tie beneath and wearing Sorels, the 36-year-old comedian made a handful of jokes about how much money he’s lost recently. Sipping from a paper cup throughout the evening, at one point he asked a bartender to refill it, saying: “Can someone bring me another gin in a paper cup? I like to look homeless while I become homeless.”

The accuser, who opted to remain anonymous, told the Daily Beast she began dating Miller in 2001 after meeting in a George Washington University comedy troupe.

She said he assaulted her multiple times throughout their relationship, including one incident in which he allegedly violently shook her and punched her in the mouth while they were having consensual sex.

The accuser said she confronted Miller the next morning after she awoke to a fractured tooth and bloodied lip, and was told that she drunkenly fell.

The woman said she was booted from the comedy troupe days later, and that Miller again became violent shortly after and choked her during sex.

“We started to fool around, and very early in that, he put his hands around my throat and closed them, and I couldn’t breathe,” she told the Daily Beast. “I was genuinely terrified and completely surprised….as someone who had only begun having sexual encounters, about three months earlier, I had no awareness this was a kink, and I had certainly not entered into any agreement that I would be choked.”

She said that after her roommates, who heard her choking, came to check on her, she dismissed them and he penetrated her with a beer bottle without her consent.

Her roommates at the time told the Daily Beast she emerged from her room the next morning with notable bruises on her body.

Miller and his wife Kate denied any wrongdoing in a statement, and instead placed the blame on the victim, who they say began spouting nasty rumors after they took their relationship public.

“Sadly she is now using the current climate to bandwagon and launch these false accusations again,” the couple’s statement read, referencing the #MeToo movement. “It is unfortunate that she is choosing this route as it undermines the important movement to make women feel safe coming forward about legitimate claims against real known predators.”

Miller and his wife also claimed the victim was asked to leave the comedy group because of “worrisome and disturbing behavior,” and that she grew angry and attempted to take her anger out on Miller and Kate’s budding relationship.

“She attempted to break us up for over a year before making contradictory claims and accusations… She became fixated on our relationship, and began telling people around campus, ‘I’m going to destroy them’ and ‘I’m going to ruin him,'” the statement read.

The victim, who took the assaults to campus police one year after they happened, denied the claims from Miller and his wife.

Miller, 36, is a rising star in the comedy world who left his breakthrough role on the HBO sitcom “Silicon Valley” earlier this year.

He appeared this year in “The Emoji Movie” and is slated to star in Steven Spielberg’s upcoming “Ready Player One.”

Well, probably not, since he admitted to with his “The Emoji Movie” and “Silicon Valley” interviews, but that’s what he just said in a Yelp review that he posted of the Denver bar today.

This was not his first, he’s actually picking up  these days.

“You don’t have to be a thin man to drink here, you can be any size,” he wrote in his lengthy piece.

Well, thank you, T.J. Thank you for setting the record straight.

Miller was in town last week for the , so he may have stopped by the bar for a “red wine beef braised cookie crumb stuffed chicken” as he listed in his review, or he may just be reminiscing about his hometown.

He hopes the review is “as helpful as it was a bag of hot corn at a county fair where the swinging pirate ship ride is broken.”

So, you be the judge.

Read ‘s of on

Those are just a few of the criticisms that were lobbed at the wild-eyed, sandy-voiced actor and comic after a summer of attention-getting Q&As with The Hollywood Reporter, Huffington Post and New York Magazine.

But was the 36-year-old Denver native toeing the line between political activism and unhinged ranting, or was it a calculated bit of performance-art trolling?

“Most people at least understood I was sort of stunting or (messing) with the press a little bit,” Miller said via phone from New York this week. “I was fascinated by what it meant to break the news cycle and make headlines for that three-day period, and then just disappear.”

Indeed, it’s no accident that Miller’s outbursts coincided with one of the busiest summers of his career.

Miller’s first HBO special, the Denver-filmed “Meticulously Ridiculous,” debuted on June 17 — about a week after the end of his Comedy Central series “The Gorburger Show,” and a week before the finale of Season 4 of “Silicon Valley” (also on HBO), where he co-starred as tech entrepreneur Erlich Bachman. All of those landed a month before the July 28 release of his latest voice-acting role in a big-budget animated film, “The Emoji Movie.”

The East High School alum has also shot guest spots for the truTV sitcom “Those Who Can’t” (created by and starring Denver’s Grawlix trio), and is filming the sequel to Marvel’s “Deadpool,” which quickly became the in box-office history last year, while preparing for the release of next year’s Steven Spielberg-directed “Ready Player One” and “Underwater,” starring Kristen Stewart.

In advance of his latest homecoming gig at the Paramount Theatre on Aug. 26, as part of the , Miller addressed all this and more.

Q: So you moved to New York recently. How’s that going?

A: It’s not L.A., which is one of the many things I love about it. The funniest thing is that I don’t really have any friends here. All my friends I’ve met out here are through (Miller’s wife) Kate, because every comedian I know lives in L.A.

Q: True, but it’s not exactly like you moved to Montana.

A: It actually is sort of like moving to Montana because I’m starting from scratch as far as my social network and experiences. I’m trying to get in at the (Comedy) Cellar right now and trying to meet the bookers of different clubs, and figure out where I can go up on stage. On a full night I’m doing six sets in a night, which is why I moved here. It’s Kate’s world, since Kate’s a mixed-media artist who is well-known in New York City. It doesn’t work for her in L.A. or even Denver.

Q: You often talk about how close to your heart .

A: I do. We talked about living there, but there’s not enough stage time. It’s very weird now to now be a New Yorker. I live in Greenwich Village, and in New York you really do live in a neighborhood. It’s not as big as it feels like when you visit.

Q: So let’s talk about your summer. Do you feel like you burned any bridges with some of these interviews?

A: If bridges were burned it’s because those bridges had been out of service for years and needed to be cleared in order to build new bridges. … The vitriol that came at me about “The Emoji Movie,” for example, was very funny and interesting and strange. I’m beginning to understand why there was so much anger with (leaving) “Silicon Valley.”

Q: How so?

A: I’m going to talk about this in Denver a lot this weekend, but people got really mad about that. Imagine if you’re an elderly person and this really kind fellow who’s really funny and silly looking is promised to come to your house every week for 10 weeks every year. And then imagine if one day I show up and say, “I’m never coming back again.” That was a really weird thing I never considered. You always think as a comedian: “You don’t have ownership over me. When it’s time for me to leave the show, I’ll leave the show. I’m doing all this for you. I’m sort of a public servant, but allow me to try to keep creating new and better things.” You forget life is such a (crap) storm right now, and some people took fairly serious offense to the idea of me abandoning this thing they love, and them.

Q: Some of the interviews you gave didn’t exactly clear things up.

A: If you give the press an inch, how much of a mile would they take with clickbait? And how much will they manipulate your words? In the case of they will totally change the context. But that explodes. It’s a shock bomb on the internet. It seems we have a “meter” right now, which is figuring out how to infect the news cycle. It’s a way to get a lot of people to pay attention, for good or bad reasons. But that’s why I said I’m OK occupying the space of a villain. People didn’t really understand how to contextualize it. “Why is he being a (jerk)? Is it performance art?” I’m creating a lot of confusion, which is really a welcome distraction for a lot of people, and is fun and funny.

Q: What was your endgame for all this?

A: What I meant was: It’s OK if you’re mad at me for leaving “Silicon Valley.” It’s OK if you want to hate “The Emoji Movie,” which didn’t get any good reviews — but check the worldwide box office. (Note: The film has grossed with a budget of $50 million.) Kate gave a recently where she said we’re just starting to learn it’s OK to be misunderstood.

Q: Can you elaborate on that?

A: We’re learning how to make headlines, or let people make what they want out of it. The Hollywood Reporter article was a . What people thought was, “Oh, my God, that wasn’t graceful.” But a graceful, poised, and politically correct, perfectly worded statement along the lines of, “We’re all like family. It was wonderful. We’ll always treasure the moments!” That would have disappeared in the ether. That type of talk doesn’t work anymore, as we learned in November.

It’s a positive thing, and as Dave Chappelle has been talking about a lot in his act, people crave authenticity. They’re really interested in a person, even if they’re horrible. They’d rather know that they’re up-front. And that’s a big thing that Kate and I pursue is transparency, honesty and authenticity. As far as that whole kind of stunting went, it was both an experiment and a way to have fun and be distracting and all that.

Q: You’ve certainly been showing some of the absurdist aspects of your act to Denver audiences for awhile.

A: And you get that. But the problem I had with even “Meticulously Ridiculous” is that a lot of people were confused by it. I read on (“Late Night with Stephen Colbert”) about “Miller admits he spent $73,000 last year on carnival games alone, a bit of an insight into his tendencies … .” That’s my act! (Note: The line about carnival games appears to have been removed from the review.) I’d have to be following carnivals cross-country all the time, 20 hours a day. I’d have to be playing carnival games 24-7 because they’re $1 a piece.

Q: I’m guessing at this point you could afford to buy Lakeside Amusement Park.

A: It comes with its own gang members!

Q: Do you feel people are often taking you too seriously?

A: I’m trying to create something confusing enough that it will continue to be interesting and it won’t be predictable. I don’t want to stay on “Silicon Valley” and have people say, “You’ll always be Erlich to me. I knew you’d stay and do nine seasons since you’re just in it for the money. And now you have a boat!” I wanted to do something both unexpected and loathed by hipsters that hated “The Emoji Movie.” I’m finishing “Deadpool 2” right now, I’m in Steven Spielberg’s “Ready Player One,” which started as a beloved book, and finishing “Underwater” with Kristen Stewart.

I’m doing all these things to remain on multiple platforms, and also possibly furthering my career as a TV actor and stand-up. I want to cultivate more progressive and interesting stand-up. I want to give more time to “Gorburger” and grow that property. There’s so many other great things to do, and I don’t want to run myself ragged. I just work so much that even “Silicon Valley” was having to move production around for me. If you spread yourself thin, then everybody feels like they’re getting the least of you.

Q: As someone who has interviewed you a few times, it was interesting watching the reaction to the press over the summer — and speculating how much of it was earnest on your part.

A: It was a cavalcade of chaos with the press. You have to at least have an—inkling of allowing people to think, “Has he gone insane? Has he suddenly lost it?” That’s one of the things that’s fun about me, comedically. And it’ll be fun to have people come and see me at High Plains, since I’ll be bouncing around Denver all week, and people there have a good sense of humor about me and my absurdity.

Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.