Panel Nerds: Jim Parsons Beyond the ‘Bang’

Who: Jim Parsons, interviewed by Michelle Kung
What:  “An Evening with The Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons“
Where: Paley Center for Media
When: May 5, 2010
Thumbs: Up

After his interview with Michelle Kung ended, Jim Parsons accompanied the crowd upstairs and out the front doors to sign autographs for his adoring fans. We’d never seen an actor – heck, a panelist in any field – show that kind of caring for his followers. As the crowd surrounding Parsons represented how big an actor he’s become for CBS’ The Big Bang Theory,” his devotion for and interaction with his fans demonstrated how in touch he remains with his base.

This sentiment echoed some of Parsons’ first words of his introduction at the event. He said that too often interviews get cut too short and he doesn’t have the time to delve into the show as much as he’d wish to. Moreover, he stressed how much he enjoys hearing fans’ questions. He admits, though, that he doesn’t know much about what’s happening on the show – however he did reveal that Mayim Bialik will appear on the season finale (for which she had to audition, unlike many of the show’s guest stars). In fact, Parsons said that sometimes he finds out about surprise guest stars – that have included Will Wheaton – from reading blogs, or even the script.

When Kung asked Parsons to share his first impressions of the character of “Sheldon” and what drew him to this project,  he revealed that “Big Bang” was actually one of many series he read for that year. He did state that he was immediately struck by Sheldon’s communication skills (or lack thereof) and his awkwardness. What drives this show, he said, are the writers who are constantly asking him to memorize obscure and complicated references from both pop culture and science. They’ll also occasionally ask him if he can play the recorder (yes) or ride a unicycle (no, but he’s willing to learn) to bring a joke to life. He points to actors like Robin Williams and John Ritter as inspiration for physical comedy, and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” for its structure.

Parsons is particularly proud that there’s no “unfun pairing” on the show – anyone can make laughs with anyone else.

What They Said
“He’s a genius so I  don’t know how someone like that acts…If you say so, I’m willing to go with that too.”
– Jim Parsons explains how elastic Sheldon Cooper is

“I’ve enjoyed the arc of the continuing of ‘Bazinga!'”
– Jim Parsons is as surprised as anyone that Sheldon’s catchphrase has endured

“This part wouldn’t have been possible 30 years ago.”
– Jim Parsons acknowledges that he has to look up words, phrases and references on Wikipedia and YouTube while he’s learning his lines

“The thing that keeps me going may be the thing that gives me gas.”
– Jim Parsons says that dealing with anxiety is the hardest part of his job

“Those kids on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ aren’t doctors.”
– Jim Parsons responds to those who wonder how he can play a scientist without a science background

What We Thought

• We think that producers should listen to Parsons and get both Betty White and Lisa Kudrow to guest star on episodes. We understand how hard it is to schedule these sorts of appearances, but Betty White turns everything to gold these days.
• We thought Kung did a fair job as an interviewer. She gave Parsons a lot of softballs, but she smartly turned the questions over to the audience sooner than many others would have. We, and we could tell Parsons, too, like the uncertainty of what question will be posed next.

PANEL RULES!
Some audience behavior seems to repeat itself panel after panel. We’ll be updating a running list of “PANEL RULES!” that will help ensure that you are not the dweeb of the Panel Nerds.

Panel Nerds don’t like…Reality Freaks
One of the many callbacks that “Big Bang” makes is to a roommate agreement that Sheldon and Leonard have made (Parsons revealed that in an upcoming episode there will be a flashback to the agreement’s formation). That doesn’t mean that Parsons has any insights about what he’d put into his own roommate agreement. The question rightfully caught him off-guard, and he was forced to come up with a list of things that his former roommates have done that he would want fixed or resolved. It’s good to want to get to know what Parsons thinks, believes, and imagines. But we didn’t need to know that his former roommate had trouble keeping the common room clean.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.