Not only is Jim Parsons unfamiliar with many of Sheldon Cooper’s pop culture interests, but he’s also not savvy when it comes to science. In an interview with NPR, Parsons revealed that it took much effort to remember his character’s complicated scientific lines. “I really just [run] rampant around my apartment saying these words, this dialogue over and over,” he said. “I’d go outside and say it. I’d sit down and say it. I’d stand up and run while staying [sic] it. Because I thought ‘I need to be able to trust myself to have these words come out.'”
On “The Big Bang Theory,” it’s usually Penny who is confused when Sheldon and his friends make intellectual jokes. But behind the scenes, when the show’s science consultant, David Saltzberg — a physicist at UCLA — tossed in some science humor, it was Parsons who didn’t laugh. “He sends over this diagram on this white board [sic] and he’ll throw in little inside jokes that I don’t find funny because I don’t know what the heck he’s talking about,” Parsons said.
Still, Parsons’ acting chops — and pretending to be a genius “Star Trek” fan — paid off, with his portrayal of Sheldon earning him the Emmy for outstanding lead actor in a comedy series four times.
