Sam Miller

Early life Miller was born in a military hospital at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Washington. Miller's father, a lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force, died when Miller was 12. As a teenager, Miller was arrested several times for minor drug violations and similar offenses, and was incarcerated in Yakima County Jail. After being expelled from high school, Miller worked for the U.S. Forest Service as a wilderness firefighter in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. He lost the job because of his drug problems.

Career Miller's first public performance was as part of a vaudeville show in Olympia in the mid-2000s, balancing a lawnmower on his chin.

Miller first did stand-up in 2014 at an open mic in Olympia. Much of his comedy deals with issues of homelessness, the prison system and stigmatization of drug addiction. Miller took second place in the 2021 Seattle International Comedy Competition. He was described by a fellow competitor as "like half grizzled sea captain and half someone who works at Build-A-Bear. You don’t know whether to be terrified or to hug him." Miller also won the Seattle-based stand-up competition Comedy on Trial in 2017.

Miller's journey from addiction to stand-up was profiled on the Seattle Times' Outsiders podcast in 2020, which looked at issues around homelessness. He also wrote about his life story in an article for Newsweek in 2023.

In 2017, he created and performed a multimedia stage show, The Jail Letters Project, based on correspondence between Miller and his mother while he was incarcerated in Yakima County Jail for drug-related offenses in 2003. During the show, Miller and his mother read excerpts from the letters and talked about how Miller's jail time and subsequent recovery from addiction had affected them. The project was inspired by a class on prison writing Miller took at Evergreen State College.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Miller wrote 100 new jokes a week, performing via streaming on Facebook, to raise money for homeless nonprofits. He has also guested several times on the syndicated radio program The Bob & Tom Show,

Awards Miller won the Washington Center For The Performing Arts' Achievement in the Arts award in 2024.

Miller also won three Best of Olympia awards in the annual readers' poll of Tacoma, Washington, alternative newspaper Weekly Volcano.

Personal life Miller is married and has two sons.

Miller is an avid magnet fisherman, and was profiled about his hobby in the Seattle Times in 2023.

Miller is heavily tattooed; his tattoos include two important personal milestones in his comedy career: the marquee of Olympia's Capitol Theater,

Discography Round Trip (Stand Up! Records, 2023)

Selected podcasts The Art of Bombing: A Guide to Stand-Up Comedy, Episode 100: "Sam Miller & Loads of Fun" (June 25, 2019) The Vance Crowe Podcast, "Coronavirus Perspective: The Homeless During Coronavirus" (March 26, 2020) Topical Depression with Natalie Holt, November 14, 2019 Outsiders, Episode 5, February 26, 2020 The Parental Compass, November 17, 2021 Revisionary Podcast, January 5, 2022 Fadam and Friends, December 26, 2022 Open Mic'ers Podcast, July 6, 2023 DADennial, "Comedy, Recovery, and Fatherhood" (July 19, 2023) Loose Toss, "Chin Balancing with Sam Miller" (October 31, 2023) Passion Pod, March 18, 2024 The Bob & Tom Show, June 9, 2023; October 18, 2023; April 3, 2024