Fancast: Inside TV

Who are all from Genius-land?
Yeah, exactly. I think what their (the writer/producers) assumption is, is that even though Koothrappali grew up in India -- all the Nerdmabelia, nerd movies, he watched. He grew up with a lot of that culture as well. In one of the episodes we are trying to get a fourth for our Physics Team for "The Physics Bowl," and he says, "why don't we get the girl from 'The Wonder Years?'" Even though he knows she is not a real person, he might think they could actually get her.

[watch this hysterical scene, "My People Invented Circumcision, in which Wolowitz and Koothrappali hit on Sheldon's sister]

Who are all from Genius-land?
Yeah, exactly. I think what their (the writer/producers) assumption is, is that even though Koothrappali grew up in India -- all the Nerdmabelia, nerd movies, he watched. He grew up with a lot of that culture as well. In one of the episodes we are trying to get a fourth for our Physics Team for "The Physics Bowl," and he says, "why don't we get the girl from 'The Wonder Years?'" Even though he knows she is not a real person, he might think they could actually get her.

All-time favorite episode?
Well, obviously because I have so much to do with this episode,"The Grasshopper Experiment." But I love the Halloween episode too. I think that's brilliant. Anyway, "The Grasshopper Experiment" is where I get set up on a blind date; when my parents set me up in an arranged marriage. You get to meet his parents, to see his life. He gets drunk to talk to a woman. It was the first time I got to stretch my comedy chops and I had a blast.

Were you scared, being the focus of the show, since this is your first TV series?
No. I'm a pro (laughs)! No, what I mean is I have performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company in England. I have been all over the place. I have studied theatre for seven years.

You have an incredible background -- do you hide it in Hollywood?
I moved to Los Angeles. I came here to do a play "Huck and Holden" at Dahlia Theater. I won a Garland award for it. I was here in LA, and I thought 'I am just going to stay.' I met a great agent. This was my first audition of pilot season actually. Long story short, I got the part. Series got picked up. I worked extremely hard to get here. Sometimes when you tell a person a story like that, they are like: "your first audition?!" But no one ever sees the sleepless nights, the years of studying and 14-hour days earning your dues. I spent three years isolated in an academic environment to be the best actor I could.

Any acting mentors?
I really loved Phillip Seymour Hoffman. I have watched his work from the beginning, unreal. I love the greats, of course, Marlon Brando, Pacino, Robert De Niro. There's an Indian actor Aamir Khan ("Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India"), I like him too.

Were you up to speed on the scientific side?
Obviously not. The stuff they talk about here is the stuff that geniuses talk about, people that are so advanced in that field. I only studied physics when I was a kid growing up. I don't know any more about physics than the layman does. But I am learning a lot from the show. Sometimes you get a term and you have no idea what it is. Then you'll have to ask for an explanation. They talk about a lot of theories. My mind is drawing a blank because my sinuses are exploding my brain. For example, "oh Barton's Theory" (MIT Physicist Barton Zwiebach has written extensively on the String Theory). A lot of the equations come up on the board; I have no idea what they are.

Do geeks write in and say, 'hey there's a mistake'?
Yeah. They all do. I'm sure David Saltzberg, our physics consultant, gets letters all the time. There's a lot of gray areas. Like: "you should have solved it this way, not that way," looking at an equation. I just show up to work and (the whiteboard) is there. I think it's funny.

Any scenes where you just totally identify with the realism of it?
(Chuck Lorre) always told me he tries to do a show where people care for the characters, and people laugh. In the Halloween episode, I dress as Thor, and the guys give me a hard time about it. I'm Thor the Norse God, and I'm like "What? I can't be Thor because I am Indian?" An Indian can't be a Norse God? How racist is that? If I am trying to fit in, and people go "you can't play Elvis." I say, "What? I can play Elvis."

Aren't you the guy who says "I want to be eight feet tall and ripped" as an alien?
I had a line in the last episode where Simon (Helberg as Wolowitz) in the end says "look at me, I am a fancy Indian man, I have pajamas." And I look at him and say "oh, look at me, I have a foreskin" -- no, "oh look at me, I don't have a foreskin" (breaks up laughing). I think that was one of the funniest. I really like it when I have to say things like that, poop and --

Nice contrast: intellectuals talking about poop?
Yeah, they're boys after all. Primal human nature is very funny. If I see someone get really angry, and in their anger throw something. It's pretty funny. Or someone trips and falls. Or someone farts and burps.

[watch the guys discuss how Spock was conceived]

Or farts, burps then says an equation?
Here's E=MC squared -- BRRT (fart noise)! There's an episode where Sheldon is sick. He wants soup. And he's like, "I have an IQ of 356," whatever it is, and says "don't you think if I wanted to get soup, I'd get soup?" He's at the Cheesecake Factory. Someone says something like 'why don't you just order in'? He says "I did not think of that." You can be the smartest guy in the world, and not have street smarts. That's why Penny (Kaley Cuoco) is the smartest character. She knows how to go about life. Get things done. Unpack. Build IKEA furniture. The guys (Sheldon and Leonard) when they try to build IKEA furniture are losing their minds to figure out the best way. It takes them 10 hours to do it. She does it like that (snap).

Ever catch yourself being Koothrappali off the set?
It's fun. Sometimes I'll be sitting with my friends; I'll say something Koothrappali-esque, and make a face. There is a lot of Koothrappali in me as a human being. A lot of mannerism, humor, mischievousness, my innocence. So I don't know if I bring him home so much as I bring myself to him at work.

Who is Koothrappali closer to Sheldon or Leonard?
Leonard. Even though he likes Sheldon a lot. They hang out. If he had a problem, he'd call Leonard. Like "hey my car got a tire puncture." He'd call Leonard, because Sheldon is not going to sit there and listen to you. He might give you great logical advice, but he's not going to give you emotional advice.

And the voice?
I have a dialect myself, it's more pronounced, because I have studied theatre and been in England. It's half-British, half-Indian. But on the show it is more like I would speak if I would go home to Delhi. It's like "oh Sri Krishna," more Indian than I speak in my normal tongue. "Unanimity" was a hard word for me to say. I kept saying "unaninit, unanmit, unaninin." I couldn't get the word out; as you know a lot of the lines are complicated to say. There will be a time in the middle of paragraph -- I will just stop and say "what is my line?" Because I don't even know what I am saying!

Which episode took the longest, highest number of takes?
Leonard buys a time machine from the movie "The Time Machine." He thinks it's a miniature time machine, But it's the whole effing thing. It shows up on the door step; it is huge. So we haul it up. We all take turns in it. That's also a great episode. [watch the complete episode] The writers are just amazing. It's usually about a four-hour taping, which isn't that long -- sometimes "Friends" taped till 2 in the morning. I never went to a taping of "Friends."

Ironically: the Time Machine created the longest show?
Well said. You know you could have two scenes left, and it could be 9:30; then something happens in that scene, they can't get coverage. Or they have to bring in the camera from the other side. Or this scene isn't working right for the audience. They could have to rewrite four lines, but those four lines take time. You're making an episode in four hours that 9 million people are going to watch, possibly 15 or 17 million across the world. So it's not just "whatever, we'll figure it out." You have to get this moment (perfect).

They must think the show is groovy in Delhi -- what have you heard?
It does show in Delhi. They love it. But the show hasn't come back since the strike. I think they haven't seen it since the eighth episode. I think they (can) download it off iTunes though. There are so many cynical people in the world, but if you give a show like "The Big Bang Theory" a chance you will love it. Because it is funny. It's a matter of opinion, what's funny and not funny. But the show is doing very well.