6 Things We Learnt At The Silicon Valley SDCC Panel

The Bachmanity has begun! Well, not entirely, but the spirit of Erlich Bachman's season three game-changer was palpable as the cast of HBO's Silicon Valley got together for their first ever panel at San Diego Comic-Con. Cast members Thomas Middleditch, Amanda Crew, Kumail Nanjiani, Zach Woods, writer/director/executive producer Alec Berg and co-creator Mike Judge were in attendance as fans were treated to exclusive extras, some (minor) hints for season four and also got to watch the cast hijack the panel from the poor Entertainment Weekly writer tasked with leading their conversation. Sadly, missing from the panel were T.J. Miller, Big Head himself, who is "off filming some movie with Steven Spielberg" (Ready Player One, for those not paying attention) and Martin Starr, AKA Gilfoyle, who happens to be in Atlanta filming Spider-Man: Homecoming that, "obviously not one person at Comic Con would have any questions about," our moderator quipped. However, fans of the show did not leave disappointed, as they played witness to delightful bits, insight into the gang's incredible improvisation, and so much more. On that note, read on for 5 things we learnt this year at the Silicon Valley SDCC panel! 1) A Lot Of Semen Comes Out Of A Horse When They Have Sex This delightful and informative tidbit was one of the first revelations that Thomas Middleditch explained the crowd, which most definitely included children, when they emerged on to the panel. They went into great detail as well, which incited raucous laughter from those in attendance, about how much semen horses produce during intercourse, which led the cast to start mocking writer/director Alec Berg for his "hatred of animals."Obviously that isn't true, but it was hilarious to see how far they took the bit. 2) The Cast "Spits Gold" While Improvising Improvisation is a big part of Silicon Valley, which means that there are many, many takes that we'll never see and never get the chance to laugh at. Well, unless you’re at SDCC that is, because before the cast and crew came out, fans were treated to a highlight reel from season three that included some of those hilarious moments we’ll never see. From Jared (Woods) cycling through ridiculous ways to tell Richard (Middleditch) how proud he is to Dinesh (Nanjiani) rotating through various ways to tell Gilfoyle that he looks ridiculous in THE Pied Piper jacket, it was clear exactly how funny the environment on set must be. One thing that's been made clear is that whoever's in charge of editing each episode definitely has the hardest job around, second only to actually writing the HBO show. 3) Something Happened With "Butt-Chugging" Possibly the most question-raising part of the panel, and yes I’m including the whole horse-semen thing in this, was when asked about memorable improv that doesn’t get included in the show, Amanda Crew offered up “the part about butt-chugging!” This caused the rest of the cast to look at her with questions in their eyes as the crowd roared with laughter. The point was never elaborated on, but they kept bringing it up during the panel, probably to torture Amanda. Hopefully in season 4 it will become a bit more clear what she was referring to. 4) Thomas Middleditch Can Do Dinesh’s Voice Almost As Good, If Not Better, Than Kumail Nanjiani During another just-as-hilariosu bit which stemmed from another sidebar that the moderator most-definitely did not control, Middleditch started doing Dinesh’s voice from the show and honestly, he’s even better than Nanjiani. Seriously, Nanjiani admitted that whenever he “loses the voice” he turns to his co-star and says, “do it” and then he’s back talking like Dinesh. Not exactly movie magic, but it certainly shows off the talents of the cast of Silicon Valley. 5) The Pied Piper Jacket Was Inspired By Real “Jackets” Made By The Cast Writer/Producer Alec Berg emerged wearing THAT jacket from season three, and I’m so happy he did because we learned a lot about the backstory of how it came to be a thing. First, co-creator Mike Judge and Berg revealed that the jacket was so, ridiculously, incredibly hard for the wardrobe department to make because they kept making it “too nice.” They went through countless iterations of the dress and they kept having to say “no, no uglier, please” until it was the garment that fans saw on the show. After learning this tidbit, Middleditch decided to offer up one of the most amazing stories about the cast’s on-set antics. He faux-smugly stated that they, the cast, “like to think we inspired the jacket” because they ordered jackets (“they were sweatshirt material,” quipped Amanda Crew) for their “fake gang, The Rude Boys.” The jackets (sweatshirts) were bright purple, with the words “The Rude Boys” embroidered on the back, above a pair of dice, and the guys would wear them while “riding around the Sony lot on electric scooters.” 6) Zach Woods’ Donald ‘Jared’ Dunn Has A Lot Of Backstory That We'll See In Season 4 Berg and Judge were extremely tight-lipped about the upcoming season 4, but they did reveal a couple of things. Notably, that to their knowledge, it's still coming in April, though this hasn't been confirmed just yet due to the Game of Thrones premiere being pushed back, which means Silicon Valley may also be bumped as well. While the teasers were minimal, they explained that they “had only just begun” writing this next season, so they couldn’t reveal anything substantial as they still don’t really know where things are headed. However, during another sidebar bit, they revealed that they're looking to do a subplot that would dive into Jared's backstory. Why? Because from what they’ve learned, Zach Woods has built an insane and ridiculous history for his character and it has come almost entirely from Woods’ ability to improv. Though it seems most of the tidbits haven’t made it into the final episodes of Silicon Valley, Middleditch and the rest of the cast/creators said Woods improved these particular gems: - On being racist against Dinesh: “I would never! Some of my foster parents were Pakistani! - On trying to decide which celebrity Gilfoyle’s girlfriend looks like: “She resembles my best friend Gloria’s granddaughter!” To which Middleditch replied, “this implies not only is he hanging out with old people, but one of his BEST friends is a grandmother.” That does it for the panel itself, but it's clear that we've still got a lot to look forward to when Silicon Valley returns to HBO next year.