Geez. You spend most of 7.5 years out of the country … and homeland cultural references just blow right past.

Until two days ago, I did not know that Bill Simmons‘s new website, The Ringer, had launched. As of June 2016.

Which means it is not new at all but somehow had gone unnoticed by moi. (Or perhaps rarely noted by my go-to websites.) I didn’t tumble to this till The Ringer was mentioned in an ESPN layoffs story on Deadspin.

Which took me to The Ringer (which feels exactly like Grantland but looks a little slicker), which took me to a metric ton of TV and movie commentary/analysis, which took me to the staffer who thought it would be fun to rank the five Silicon Valley stars who have made TV commercials, which took me to a spot made for the 2016 Super Bowl and starring T.J. Miller.

Which also introduced me to a variety of beer, Shock Top, of whose existence I was blissfully unaware, over in France/Abu Dhabi.

And it took me to this amusing Super Bowl-only commercial.

An admission: I think Miller, as Erlich Backman, is the funniest guy on “Silicon Valley”. His arrogance combined with a thin skin, his sense of entitlement, his deep conviction that he is the cleverest person in the tech world and his wandering morality in the workplace … well it’s all fun. Plus, there is something lumbering and ungainly and oversized about him that also is funny.

So, when I see him on the commercial, I’m already all in.

Then, when he begins to exchange insults with a talking tap-beer lever, which is topped by a face made of an orange wedge with a mohawk haircut and wearing sunglasses.

Tap to Miller: “You look like you’re about to get evicted from your parents’ basement.”

Miller: “You look like you’ve recently been evicted from your parents’ orange crate.”

Tap: “You look like you’re on a cleanse that doesn’t work.”

Miller: “Do you realize your sunglasses move when you talk?”

Tap: “It’s kinda my thing.”

Miller: “It’s terrifying.”

Tap: “You look like your pet turtle is the only one you can lean on for emotional support.”

Miller: “Derek’s a good listener.”

Miller again, after a momentary break: “Was it difficult to give up your dream of being a punk-rocker to manage an electronics store in San Diego?”

A few seconds pass, and we are back to Miller: “Do you consider fresh-squeezed orange juice murder?”

Tap: “You look like a toddler who took growth serum.”

Miller: “And you’re a citrus snowboard instructor?”

Tap: “You look like an out-of-work magician.”

Miller: “It’s a hobby.”

Tap: “I feel like you peaked in middle school.”

Miller: “You’re awfully sassy for someone without a torso.”

Tap: “I think your superpower is breathing heavy.”

Miller: “Ha. That would be a pretty good superpower, actually.”

Tap: “People would know you’re there.”

Miller: “Now, your mother was an orange. Was your father medical marijuana?”

Tap: “You look like you broke your yoga mat.”

Miller: “Do you even have eyes under there?”

Tap: “Hey, I got a movie idea for you.”

Miller: “OK.”

Tap: “This loser walks into a bar. It’s called … “Right Now”.

Miller: “Touche. Or is it touch?”

So, consider me caught up on a half-dozen cultural talking points from 2016. Only a thousand or so to go.