Penny and Sheldon

Jim Parsons on The Big Bang Theory by Abbie Bernstein

There is a theory, not entirely without basis in fact, that when actors become successful,they can quickly become fed up with giving interviews. More, when these actors have achieved their success through comedy, they can sometimes become downright cranky.

Jim Parsons is a living refutation of this concept. An Emmy nominee and Television Critics Association Award winner for his role as the intellectually brilliant but socially challenged Sheldon Cooper on CBS's comedy hit The Big Bang Theory, Parsons is cheerful, candid and cordial at a party thrown by CBS for the Television Critics Association at the Langham Hotel in Pasadena.

Parsons grew up in Texas, where he worked extensively in theatre. "It's funny," he muses. "When I was in Houston doing theatre for very little to no money, I worked all the time. There was one play after another, rehearsing one during the day, performing another at night, and then when I turned professional, after school and all that stuff, you don't work nearly as much, because you're not working for free any more. And I missed working – it really is a muscle that has to keep going. And so I don't feel that I've changed – I feel [that with the continuous work of a TV schedule] like I've gotten back to something."

A CBS publicist comes by and asks if Parsons would like something to drink. Parsons requests a Diet Coke with a polite thank you. This is how success has changed him, he jokes. "I order people around to get me drinks now, that's what's changed. No – I have more money and I have had a job for longer than [previously]. I'm more comfortable at things like this [doing a succession of interviews] than I used to be, because until you do it a few times, it's just a mystery until you get it done."

Were events like this and Comic-Con what Parsons had in mind when he envisioned being a successful actor while back in Texas? Not exactly, he replies. "Not because it's different, but because I don't think I had a very vivid image of what [success] would be. It's the same thing I feel about what will the future look like work-wise. I never go so far as to imagine – I only know that I will continue to try to keep working, and that's always paid off really well for me. I've always been very fortunate that everything's led to something – if not somewhat unexpected, it's always been so good and healthy. So no, it's not what I expected, but I don't know what I expected."

Sheldon has a rather distinctive personality. Did Parsons do any research to play him? "You know, I mostly keep it between the lines of the actual page, what they deliver. That being said – because so many people have asked – Sheldon has been my introduction into what Asperger's is." He is referring to Asperger's Syndrome, a form of high-functioning autism that makes it difficult for people who have it to connect socially with others. "People kept asking, 'Does he have Asperger's?' I said, 'I don't know what you're talking about.' And I asked the writers, 'Does he have Asperger's?' 'No.' And then Johnny [Galecki, who plays Leonard] found this book by Augustin Burroughs' brother, John Elder Robinson, Look Me in the Eye, and it's about his life with Asperger's. I was like, well, Sheldon may not have Asperger's, but there are a lot of similar traits."

Sometimes research can be difficult due to not knowing what to ask, Parsons points out, as when he got to meet a lot of science students at the California Institute of Technology, aka Caltech. "It was for TV Guide and they really wanted to get pictures at Caltech, and they wanted to get pictures of me with [the scientists] explaining or talking about apparatuses to me, and I mean, it's the same way I feel about most of the science I look at – it's so over my head, I wouldn't know what to ask. I think I did ask a couple of questions like, 'Why do you wear blue-colored gloves?', which I don't even remember the answer to now."

As far as what Parsons tapped into in order to play Sheldon, he says, "As strange as this may sound, I really feel like I let the words bring it out of me. Literally, especially with preparing for the audition [and] for the first show, the struggle to learn the words – I did this on TV once, showing people – I put a pencil between my teeth to help with articulation, because sometimes the constructs of the sentences are such that it's a full-muscle workout to get it out. But I have found that it really informs who [Sheldon] is. There is so much going on, he's so busy inside his brain, so in a weird way, having to [use] my own muscles to get all those words out, because I do not have brain activity as quick as he does, that's kind of my closest simulation to that ‘rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr' – that rapid-fire thing with those words."

Parsons acknowledges that he has a few Sheldon-like traits in real life. "Here's a good example that's very recent. When I got the TCA trophy. I didn't really get a chance to look at it until I was out of the ballroom." The Television Critics Association award is translucent. "I thought, 'This thing's going to show fingerprints horribly.' And I said that out loud, and a friend said to me, 'Okay, Sheldon.' I was like, 'You're right, you're right.' And it's where I do overlap with him. And you know what it is? It's always the same sort of thing – it's a little obsession about something that really doesn't matter in the larger scheme, but Sheldon does that, and everybody does that, to a degree. I've often said that. Sheldon doesn't do anything that most people don't do, but he does it to the nth degree on all of them. It's just exaggerated. Which I guess is the essence of comedy."

A bout of intense Christmas decorating in 2007 was perhaps more due to a desire to keep occupied during the uncertainty of the writers' strike (which shut down series television, Big Bang Theory included, for three months) than Sheldon-like fixation. "I always grew up with a tree at Christmas, but I was never real big into doing any Christmas decorating on my own, until our first season. The writers' strike hit right before Thanksgiving, and by December, I realized we were not going back to work any time in the foreseeable future and I frickin' threw myself into Christmas that year. I mean, to a ridiculous degree. And I don't think I'll ever hit it that hardcore again, but I enjoyed myself so much getting all that ready, that when I have time now, I'll make sure I get a tree again and do a little decorating."

Other people seem to recognize Sheldon more than see themselves in him, Parsons notes. "I used to feel – and I still do, to a degree – almost everybody who says anything says that they know somebody like Sheldon and I'm not surprised by that, because number one, I think that Sheldon has many, many good traits – very intelligent, I don't think he has a mean bone in his body. He can be snarky and self-centered and a little haughty, but he's not mean. But he is so unaware of things that people who are getting through the world in an average way need to be aware of that there is a stupidity with his great intelligence. He's socially ignorant and unaware. And I don't think most people want to be that way, which I understand," he laughs, "but for the same reason, I feel like anybody who was very similar to Sheldon may not be able to see it. I don't think they would identify with it."

At the time of the interview, Parsons is the only male member of the Big Bang cast not sporting massive facial hair, the result of the characters spending three months in the Arctic. "I probably selectively heard this, but I heard, 'Don't cut your hair,'" Parsons explains. "I didn't hear ['don't shave']. And then everybody else was all bushy-faced and I said, ‘What are you doing?' And they said, 'We're not supposed to shave.' When I found this out, it was two days before we were supposed to announce the Emmy nominations and I was like, 'I'm shaving for that. I'm going on national television, I really don't want to look like …' But the other thing too is that all of them grow honest-to-God beards. I just look filthy. I don't care that it wouldn't look pretty – it's not even a full beard. It's like – it's shameful. So [Big Bang co-creator/executive producer] Chuck [Lorre] told me that if they decided to go with facial hair for me, they would build something [in the hair and makeup department], they would make something work."

Parsons is hugely enthusiastic about his costars, both regular and guest actors. He cites Christine Baranski, who plays Leonard's mother. "She's incredible. We've been so lucky with some of the people we've worked with. Laurie Metcalf was the same way. They're actor's actors. They're so smart about their acting, they're so willing to play and they're so good and therefore they're confident, and they're confident, so they're good. You know what I mean? There's that willingness and ability to just go, just try, and it's like a good sparring partner. Everybody in the cast is. I say, though, just out of nowhere, the most surprising – not because I thought she wouldn't be, but [Kaley Cuoco as Penny] – I have had more fun doing those little dances with Kaley! I didn't know her that well before. I had worked with Johnny on the pilot – I just didn't know about her. And what a wonderful treat that's turned out to be, what a wonderful comedy partner. Chuck [Lorre] told us the first few episodes that the character would grow, but I think that that's the one who's really come into her own. I don't think anybody would say anything different. In the second season, especially, no one grew more than Penny. She's been fantastic. I mean, that's one of the joys of doing an episodic [series] like this, is that continual working relationship with the writers. You never know exactly who's gleaning what from who and it just keeps moving. The growth of her character is really in the end a testament to both [Cuoco and the writers] – them for listening to her, and her for inspiring them to make it grow. Because you can tell it's happening. They start hearing what's going to sound good coming out of somebody's mouth. 'I bet she can handle this' and sure as hell, she can. She had one moment specifically where she's fighting with the new neighbor, the girl. [Penny] says something about how the guys don't have shields.

And [the neighbor says], 'What?' And she says, 'In STAR TREK, when the shields come up – where the hell did that come from?' It was such an honest moment. I had chills when I retold it, because I can just see it. It's so genuine."

In real life, comic books are not Parsons' area of expertise. "I probably shouldn't admit this, but we have a local morning radio host who has been a friend of mine. If you're looking for something to download, try geekshowpodcast.com. But what kills me is, I'm there to be the TV guy. We had the whole discussion about, is it the Green Lantern in yellow before [a similar discussion] was on [BIG BANG]. And I'm sitting there going … I learned [about Green Lantern] from being on this podcast. It's all Greek to me. It's as foreign to me as the science is, at first blush. I have no idea what I'm talking about. I mean, a lot of the [comic book] characters I've seen or heard of, and they're all over the set for reference and what have you. But it is very foreign to me."

When did Parsons realize The Big Bang Theory was connecting with its audience? "I would say, obviously, once we were picked up for the rest of the first season and then the second season, all that, those are good signs that something is working. But really, viscerally, the first thing that I had ever felt that I could tell something had changed for us was towards the end of the first season. The live audience started coming in and laughing before the joke was delivered. And it was really weird at first. Not completely unpleasant, but it was weird. It was only completely pleasant when we all talked about it and realized what was happening – that they knew the characters and they knew what was coming. And I should have realized – oh, my God, it's the essence of television is, you want to tune in. It's like your friends, it's like your own family. I always say, you know how your mother's going to react to blah-blah-blah, you know how Uncle So-and-So is going to react to whatever. And that's what I think a lot of times, at least, we want to see from our characters on TV. It's not a movie, it's not a play, it's every week. And that was the first thing where I felt, 'I feel I'm a part of something now that I didn't even know about before.'"

The growth of the characters has been gradual, Parsons observes. "Chuck [Lorre] and [fellow co-creator/executive producer] Bill [Prady] always say that, 'Oh, they'll change – but it'll be the slowest, most painful growth you've ever watched in your life.' Much like real life, frankly."

Parsons says at some point he'd like to play a non-genius. "I would love at some point, next summer or something, to do diametrically opposed [to Sheldon. The character doesn't] need to be stupid, but I would love the chance to play something, next hiatus, maybe, that was more average."

Is there anything else Parsons wants to say about Sheldon and/or The Big Bang Theory?: "I just love getting to do it and as long as we get to keep doing it, I'm going to be very happy, I think."

Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons on learning lines, Emmy nods and cast ping pong deathmatches by Julie Miller

The superlative "breakout star" gets thrown around a lot these days, and The Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons has seen that appellation more than his fair share of times, especially since he received his first Emmy nomination in July. Movieline caught up with the lanky Texan at the Television Critics Association's CBS event last month, where he had just won the critics' award for "Individual Achievement in Comedy." Parsons was quick to share his memorization techniques for Sheldon's dialogue, his viciously competitive nature on set, and his constant fear for Chuck Lorre's life.

Congratulations on the Emmy nomination. I'm sure everyone is starting out their interviews that way.

Didn't you come to set?

I have not come to your set.

You look so familiar.

Well thanks. A couple quick questions. One, how do you memorize the dialogue because it's not only intricate but you do it to an extent where it almost seems like you actually know what you're talking about even though it was written by a team of guys who are probably constantly referencing textbooks.

I'll tell you. I try to find out what I'm talking about. When I first get the script, sometimes they define things in the script for me.

Literally, like a side bar?

Yep. A lot of the time, I'll go online. I'm very good friends with Dictionary.com and Wikipedia. And then as far as literally memorizing the words, I'll have note cards. I do note cards all week. And in longhand, I write out all my lines again and again and again. And on the weekends, I drill them. I walk around with my note cards for each scene and do one scene at a time. And I'll go to my computer, and I'll type the whole scene out on my word doc and then I'll go back and I'll do the second scene, and I'll type the whole scene out on a word doc. It's maddening. I will not lie to you. I literally want to kill myself sometimes.

What happens when a revision occurs and you get new pages? Do they put a whole new word in there like —

Yes, but it's pretty rare. They're really good about this. Our scripts come, more than anything I've seen or heard about, ready to roll, pretty much from the beginning. Every once in a while, something has to be reworded but normally it's such a minimal thing that it's not that bad. Sometimes it's bad. Most of the time it's really not.

While you've been on the show, have you gone over to Caltech?

I've been to Caltech.

I mean, you guys must be legends there because you're literally espousing the name of the university during the show. You didn't invent a university for the show like University of California. It's a real school.

Maybe they're embarrassed by us.

But it could be their fantasy actualization though: ‘Hey, we're going to get an apartment together and we're going to —

Aww. We do have a nice apartment, I feel. It's well-appointed, it's well taken care of.

I mean, it's a walk up but it's not that bad.

It is a walk up. You're right. Bad management. OK, that's fair.

You guys just started working again. Was there a morale boost when you came back to set? The show has Emmy nominations, you have a TCA award.

It is different. A lot of it's happened since we left work last, in April we finished. So there's been a lot of momentum shift and a time shift in the night. We come on after Two and a Half Men now, as opposed to starting the evening at 8PM. There's this built in audience sitting there, that hopefully you can take advantage of. So yeah, I don't know. You're absolutely right. I was very excited to go back to work, I'll say that.

Really?

Part of that is to play ping pong and I'm not lying. We have four of them on the set. We have tournaments.

So, who's the best?

The people who win, like major wins, you wouldn't know necessarily. The on camera people that win, Kaley [Cuoco] does pretty well. Kaley does very well. She used to play professional tennis though, so that's not fair.

She has inborn racquet skills.

Yes. Kunal [Nayyar] is very good. And Simon [Helberg] is pretty good. Johnny [Galecki] doesn't play at all. It's literally not his thing at all. I love it and I'm very competitive and I don't do very well. Sometimes, I have mad skills and get a couple of points. And then I'm screwed.

So after someone yells 'Cut,' you guys just sprint to the ping pong tables?

As soon as you see the stage manager start looking at his watch about the break, people start going, 'Dibs!' Literally. And there's running, you run. I'm not kidding at all. I'm not making any of this up.

And are they just off camera? Just to the left?

It depends. Sometimes you have to run and find them. They fold up, so sometimes you're like, "Where the fuck is the table?! We only have five minutes!"

When did you guys start playing — first season?

I didn't remember when it first happened. What happened for me was that there was a very Sheldon-light episode that I wasn't in that much. And I had these scenes off and I was like, 'Oh, what the hell!' I picked up a paddle and I mean, it's like heroin.

Not to get ahead of anyone here, let's say you win a major television award, or something like that. Monogrammed paddle cases are —

Oh, that should be given to me. If I win? They should give me things. [Joking] I'll expect some presents.

And your showrunner, Chuck Lorre, is also simultaneously running Two and a Half Men. I don't know what he drinks or takes but —

I know. I've often said this, and not in a bad way, but, "Please don't drop dead."?

Is there romance in Sheldon's future? by

The second season of "The Big Bang Theory" has received a lot of positive buzz, especially for Jim Parsons, who plays the quirky Sheldon Cooper, Ph.D. Parsons is considered to be a break-out possibility for an Emmy nomination this year, and has been invited by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences to announce the nominations, along with "Grey's Anatomy"'s Chandra Wilson, for the "61st Primetime Emmy Awards" on July 16. ET checks in with the funny man, who dishes on the possibility of Sheldon falling in love, the casts' favorite pastime and his favorite funny scene.

Are you superstitious? Last year both Neil Patrick Harris and Kristin Chenoweth, who announced the nominees, received nominations. Lightning could strike twice.

That would be the most delightful bolt of lightning to be hit with that I could imagine, but I have no idea. I was and still am so excited that they called me. It is not even something I would have ever dreamed of doing. It is not one of those goals where you say, "I think I want to announce the nominations for the Emmys one day." There could be that moment when you are not nominated and you feel awkward, and you could be nominated and you feel awkward. I don't care. I love TV. I have always loved TV and this is just such an honor, to use a cliché, to get to do this. The only downside to this is being picked up at 4:30 a.m. in the morning.

There isn't just Emmy buzz this year, but Matt Roush at TV Guide called you a "comic genius" and "the funniest misfit since Felix Unger," and USA Today hailed you as the "season's breakout comedy character." How nice is that to hear, and who keeps your ego in check?

I guess the ego is kept in check by having to do the job again and again every week. It is very real having to get it done every week, and it is very fun. It is very flattering to read that kind of thing. I try to not go trolling around for it. I wait until someone hands it to me to read, because it is crass trying to go looking for those kinds of comments about yourself. It makes you feel how you feel when you blush without actually blushing.

It has to be rewarding because everybody thinks that you were discovered on this show, but you actually have been working a lot prior to this.

I have. Even to this day, the strong majority of what I have done is in theater growing up, and there is no way that anybody could have seen it, except for 80 to 100 people at once. It has only been in the last few years that anybody outside of a one-room theater could have seen me. So in that way, it is very new. I understand where this thought process comes from. But you are right. I have been doing this for a long time, and I, obviously, enjoy doing it.

The burning question on everyone's mind is: Is there romance in Sheldon's future? How about a Penny (Kaley Cuoco) hook-up?

I am going to say yes to the first part. There has to be romance in Sheldon's future. Two things on that: That is not anything someone has told me, or I have read, so it may never happen, but I think it probably will. Two, I think it is a long way off. I think it seems far-fetched right now for him to be open to a relationship of that sort, or even cognizant of it.

As for the Penny equation, I would be jaw-dropped if that ever happens. That doesn't mean it couldn't. Opposites attract. It is a possibility, but, oh, that would surprise me.

You are good with the zingers with her.

The scenes with Sheldon and Penny are so fun to be a part of, and Kaley as a sparring partner as an actor is such a treat. What a welcome surprise. Not her, but the development of those two characters in the forced relationship that they are in because of the physical proximity and Leonard's (Johnny Galecki) much-more-open interest in her.

Last time I chatted with Kaley, she was saying what good buddies you all are, and that you play pool together.

Ping pong. You got the "p." We have tournaments. I have to hand it to Kaley. She goes far in the tournaments. And Kunal [Nayyar] and Simon [Helberg] go pretty far, too, in the tournaments. I do not, although, I do love it, and I am competitive, but I don't do well at it. And Johnny doesn't play at all.

What's coming up for the new season?

Not a clue. I think we are the most unknowledgeable set in TV. We don't get our scripts until the day before the table read. I am not sure if it is top secret, or because it is not finished.

What do fans ask you the most often?

The two things are the same answer: What is the hardest line you have ever had to do, and can you say, "Rock, paper, scissors?" That is the hardest line I have ever had to do, and the answer is: No, I cannot do it. I could barely do it the night that we taped it. I don't know why. It is not like I can repeat any of the science either. I don't know if it is because the science is so foreign to me and, therefore, I am divorced enough from it that rote memorization comes out of my mouth. Rock, paper, scissors, I knew what it was enough that I got in my own way long enough to describe it — and doing hand signals at the same time.

Are Sheldon's mannerisms and quirks based on anyone you know?

No. I am happy to say that a lot of it just comes out of what is happening in the script. A lot of it comes out of me naturally when I am trying to do it. That is good in some ways and embarrassing in others. If anything, I take my cues more from word choice and the rhythm of the Sheldon speak. There is a real click to it.

How was your visit to Cal Tech? Did you earn your geek creds, or did you feel out of place?

I don't think that earned us anything more than the degree that people could see you are not as smart as these characters. The one thing it did do is we realized that there is no stereotype of the people in science in general. There are certainly things you can pick up on, certain commonalities, certainly the common language, but they were just all different shapes and sizes and different types of people. It was rewarding as an actor to see how grounded in reality you could keep all this to a certain degree, and that the world was your oyster as far as the type of person you "wish to play." Of course, they are just human. But they are geniuses. And we put this nerd/geek thing on top of it.

What is your favorite funny moment from the show?

One of my favorite things we did this year is Sheldon was learning to drive, where they had a simulated car-type video game, where he could learn the rules of the road. It involved everybody in the cast, and it was just absurd. It just bordered on vaudeville. It was so much fun to do. It was one of the only times I had trouble keeping a straight face.