The 'Silicon Valley' cast reveals the origins of the infamous Pied Piper jacket
On stage at the first ever "Silicon Valley" panel at San Diego Comic-Con, actor Zach Woods slipped on a green and gold jacket, with multi-colored buttons running down the front and rats on the sleeves. A smile broke out on his face.
"The truth is, I actually really like it," Woods, who plays Jared on the HBO show, told the Comic-Con crowd. "I know the joke is that it's ugly, but I think it's just a blind spot of mine.
The infamous Pied Piper bomber jacket debuted on season three of "Silicon Valley," much to the startup's dismay and audience's delight. It is by all accounts, except Jared's, a crime of fashion.
At the panel on Thursday, the show's cast revealed the origins behind the jacket.
Thomas Middleditch, who plays Richard, warned his castmates might deny it, but the jacket was actually inspired by their on-set escapades.
"We thought it would be pretty cool to officially declare ourselves a gang," Middleditch said, half-jokingly. "Our gang name was called the Rude Boys. Of course, any Rude Gang would need a jacket."
The guys found a custom printing company online and ordered sweatshirt-material jackets emblazoned with bicycles on the back, according to Middleditch and Woods. They geared up and rode out into the studio lot on small electric scooters.
"For obnoxious jackets, we needed an even more obnoxious vehicle," Woods said.
Sadly, the gig was up after the group's first outing.
"We were not rude because we were like, 'Let's take these scooters out for a spin on the Sony's Pictures lot because whatever, we're rude.' We started doing it and within 30 seconds, a security guard was like, 'You can't ride those here,' and we said, 'We're sorry, we're so sorry,'" Middleditch said, in his most earnest voice.
The experience made for good inspiration for "something terrible on the show," he shared.
Indeed, it was Martin Starr's character Gilfoyle who said, "If my mother was naked and dead in the street I would not cover her body with that jacket."