Interview: Just Don’t Call Them Nerds, ‘The Big Bang Theory’

”Yeah! They were the mean ones! They wanted nothing to do with her” (meaning Penny). So….you’re saying that two super brainiacs wanted NOTHING TO DO with a gorgeous chick who lives right next door to them? Wow.

Someone actually dared to refer to Leonard and Sheldon as “nerds” and Penny immediately mighty morphed in Scary Over Protective Mother Tiger. “There are brilliant people in this world. They’re not nerds. You only call them nerds because you’re jealous they’re smarter than you.”

Damn! Ouch, woman!! Kindly dig your talons out of my arm! I’m not the one who called them nerds!!

After Kaley turns back into a human, she explains by saying “I think they’re more untouchable than the hot girl next door you think is never gonna sleep with you. They’re….they’re exotic! Sure, they’re a little socially awkward but we can work on that.’

[insert deviously mischievous grin here]

She then tells us stories of how people approach her and think she’s actually Penny. I was a little surprised when she said people from every walk of life would go up to her and not just the ones wearing pocket protectors…not that there’s anything wrong with wearing them. It’s very important to keep your pockets free of ink splotches. The die hard fans not only love the show but they know everything about it. That isn’t enough for them because they want to know more…like what Penny would do in a particular situation or what she’s thinking because “….yeah, they kinda think Penny’s real. I really don’t want to tell them ‘I don’t knooooow! I haven’t read the script yet’ because I don’t want to take that away from them.”

Aaaaww…that’s sort of sweet. But I’m thinking that must be kind of…what’s the word I’m looking for? Oh yes. Scary.

Speaking of scripts, we wanted to know if there’s any improv done on the show. The answer was a definite no. It seems like it but that’s because the writing is just so damn good. No one improvs a word on the show.

Really? Wow. I started to open my mouth to ask if the cohesiveness I see on set is also a product of excellent writing. Kaley must’ve read my mind because she beat me to it. “You know, it’s horrible now that Jim has an EMMY NOMINATION. [insert dramatic sigh] He won’t have anything to do with us. He demands his own trailer so that he won’t have to associate with US…just kidding. We are one happy cast and such a happy set. People come by all the time and they don’t want to leave. In fact, my Top 5 on my phone are…..let me see…yeah, people from the show. I don’t talk to anyone else. I have no other life and no friends. Oh! And we play games on set too. We play ‘Would you rather’. Jim is always Spock….but now he’s going to be ‘Emmy Nominated’.”

At those words, with another roll of her big eyes and a wink, Kaley pranced away to spread sunshine and humor elsewhere. The void she left behind was filled by none other than Sheldon….I mean, Jim Parsons…I mean, THE EMMY NOMINATED Jim Parsons at our table. That’s right. Emmy nominated. For someone so honored, he’s really down to earth. He said getting the nomination was “very unfathomable” because it meant people not only had to think of him but they also put in some thought when ticking the little box next to his name.

Overall, the Emmy experience for him was very sweet but not exactly personally important. Does this mean he’ll give it back? Throw it back in the committee’s faces? Omg, no. He got pretty animated when describing what he would do if someone even dared to think of taking it away. I’ll water it down a little for those of you with delicate sensibilities. It involved running away as fast as his legs could carry him so he could stick it on a mantle…but should anyone get close enough to physically wrangle it out of his kung-fu grip, he mentioned something about utilizing the statue’s sharp little golden wings and soft body parts. Oh my.

The most important part of the recognition important to him is “in relation to keeping the show on the air” and bringing in more viewers. A piece of advice he never forgot? He was once asking Chuck for suggestions on picking episodes and he said to Jim “Remember throughout this process that there are a lot of people with statues at home who don’t have jobs”.

Wow. Talk about no pressure.

Next thing on our mind was how does a person prepare to play someone who is a bonafide genius? Jim started watching and reading everything related to science. He bought “Physics 101” from the Smithsonian “because it sounded smart so I thought ‘Why not?’ Watch ‘Nova’? Why not?”

Like Kaley before him, he made it very clear that people like Leonard and Sheldon “aren’t nerds or geeks. Oh no. They’re GENIUSES!” After spending some time trying to geek out and channel his own inner, latent genius, he realized something. “It didn’t take long or much research into science of any sort to realize what a specialized brain it takes to really wrap around it.”

Needless to say, he sheepishly admitted that he didn’t progress very far in the “Physics 101” book.

You can watch the season premiere of “The Big Bang Theory” on Monday, September 21 at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.