Yardley's Zach Woods on 'Silicon Valley,' and his true feelings for Philly

Zach Woods, the Trenton-born, Yardley-bred star of HBO's Silicon Valley, roused the ire of many a Philadelphian last month when he said Philadelphia is "kind of a racist city" on Marc Maron's WTF podcast. Adding insult to injury, he referenced a mishmash of memories about fan behavior: "When I was growing up and Santa Claus would skate onto the ice around Christmastime at Flyers games, people would throw batteries at Santa Claus," Woods told Maron.

Uh, nope.

"I totally get how I sound like some B-list moron bashing Philly," Woods said about the podcast. "I was trying to be lighthearted and it ended up coming off completely wrong. It was way too serious a thing to say about the city. To be honest, I'm new to doing interviews and having people take what I say seriously. I thought I was just chatting with Marc Maron. It made me shudder. It blew up in every conceivable way. I live in L.A. - it's not like I think where I live is any better."

When alerted to his incorrect Flyers' memories, Woods, who admitted he is a not a sports fan, replied with a long, drawn-out "Nooooo!"

Don't hate Woods for his anti-Philly remarks. Instead, bask in the uber-awkwardness he displays on screen, including his role in Silicon Valley, which runs at 10 p.m. on Sundays, and as Gabe on the later seasons of NBC's The Office. On Aug. 4, he'll return for a few episodes of the lovely USA comedy Playing House.

Woods talkedabout playing the nerdiest of nerds, about Silicon Valley (and Beavis and Butt-Head) creator Mike Judge, and Spy, Melissa McCarthy's new movie, in theaters June 5.

Jared is such a sweet character.

At first, Jared was the hard-nosed business guy, but then he became the nerdiest of the nerds.

Socially awkward men create little nerd families and I feel like he's the delicate maternal figure. We improvised this - and I don't know how much has made it into cuts because I can't watch it, it makes me really neurotic - but he's had a really rough past and he's just so happy to be included.

My favorite thing about Jared is he has a tough time but he's not self-pitying at all. He's just so grateful. So I thought it would be funny that his natural buoyancy was the product of a horrific past.

You can't watch yourself?

There's a lot of circumstances where you're an antisocial weirdo if you don't watch yourself, like cast finale parties.

Have you ever seen a video of yourself? It's so distracting. You have this version of yourself in your head. One of the most difficult acting challenges is not surveilling your own performance.

I know your background is improv and that's so in the moment.

Right! Improv is ephemeral. You do it and it's gone. You don't have time to tinker with it and perfect it. You get immediate feedback, you find out in the moment.

It's a strange thing about television, you make something and then it's months until anyone sees it. It's like if you did an improv show with earplugs in and someone recorded the audience and then you heard the reaction three months later.

But I really trust the guys who write and edit [Silicon Valley].

Mike Judge (of "Beavis and Butt-Head" and "King of the Hill"), who created "Silicon Valley," is quite the legend.

[Mike Judge's] Office Space is one of those movies where you see it and you think, "I didn't know they made movies that are funny in that particular way."

He's a brilliant guy. He'll make fun of people without dehumanizing them. It's a satirical point of view because it draws attention to the ridiculous without humiliating or annihilating the subject.

The guys of Silicon Valley are definitely not the most couth or socially capable - they're dummies in a lot of respects - but at their core they're not bad people.

You're also in the Melissa McCarthy movie "Spy."

I play Melissa McCarthy in that movie.

That must be an Oscar-worthy performance.

It's a complicated role.

No, I'm just in a small part. I get murdered in a really terrible way.

But I got to go to Hungary for it. I went to the opera house and everyone claps in unison. It's so crazy! I was told it was an old Communist thing. There's all these Russian-Turkish baths, too, but even though I was in a different continent, I was too shy to do it.

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