Jim Parsons had a very specific process for learning his lines about the Big Bang Theory

For For 12 seasons and as many years, Jim Parsons played stubborn genius scientist Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory. — and, according to the oral history of the series, Parsons had indeed a unique process when it came to learning Sheldon’s long, hyper-specific monologues and diatribes.

In Jessica Radloff’s 2022 book, The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series, showrunner and creator Chuck Lorre told the author that Parsons always came to the set fully prepared to perform. “Jim’s process had to be wildly prepared,” Lohr recalls. “He made all the decisions the night before the table read of how he would read his script.”

Parsons confirmed that he had indeed been preparing quite a bit a lot, playing Sheldon. “I really enjoyed spending time, staying home on weekends and repeating those words,” Parsons said. He continued:

“It gave me great joy and pride to be able to use these multi-syllable words that they gave me and still find the comedic beats that they put into them. I enjoyed the chance to solve this puzzle. I’m not saying that I don’t get tired or tired at any point, but overall I really enjoyed it and it was just a joy to go into the day before the recording and the evening with that level of confidence that I know what I’m doing. That reminds me of a sports competition more than anything else when it comes time to skate for gold.”

There is something Parsons is not talking about here although … what he wrote everything his lines on note cards and posted them all over the set in case he forgot anything.

It’s clear that Jim Parsons wanted to make sure he memorized some of Sheldon’s most difficult lines – and it’s also pretty funny that the set was apparently covered in handwritten cards with his lines. According to Kevin Sussman, who almost played Howard Wolowitz in the series before playing comic book store owner Stuart Bloom (Of course, Howard ended up being played by Simon Helberg), Parsons was never without his vast collection of cards.

“When people talk about what Jim was like on set … although he was a lot of fun, he had the most work,” Sussman told Jessica Radloff in the book. “In every episode, he had these goddamn monologues with all this jargon, and a lot of what I remember about hanging out on set — which was basically like hanging out with friends at summer camp — Jim was constantly walking around with a big stack of cards. , going through his lines, I thought to myself, “God, he does this every episode.’“

Kaley Cuoco, who played Sheldon’s neighbor-turned-best-friend Penny, couldn’t believe how Parsons memorized his lines. As she told Radloff, “Jim was always recording everyone one line of it at the bottom of the note cards that struck me. You’ll open the drawer on the set and there will be note cards.’

Honestly, the idea of ​​putting the lines on note cards that he could study between takes – or even maybe use on the sly while shooting a take – is kind of genius, but as Jim Parsons also points out in Jessica Radloff’s book, one particular type of scene allowed he will cheat the system even more (so to speak). “There wasn’t a set that didn’t have my scripts or note cards. Now I rarely got to use them during a scene; it was always just a reference between takes,” Parsons began, previously saying his real trick was to use a notebook whenever possible.

You see, as a man of science, Sheldon might have been carrying around a notebook of equations or something (I’m not a scientist, so I can only guess) which allowed Parsons to just … hide his lines in there. “But how I loved the notebook!” Parsons opined. “It was such a rare scene where I had the sense to be with a notebook, but to know that you’re walking into a scene where you can see your lines all the time… what a luxury! This is a completely different style of acting! I’m not sure it was very pleasant.

Jim Parsons’ process on The Big Bang Theory was obviously pretty intense – with all the notebooks and flashcards – but every now and then he ran into a problem. After writing all his lines on his favorite cards for any scene, sometimes the lines themselves to changeand in Jessica Radloff’s book, Parsons admitted that he really, really hated these sudden script changes, and even gave one specific example of how he was driven crazy by the editing.

“It annoyed me a few times because it was frustrating to work on something for so long and then have it change,” Parsons admitted. “It sounds so childish in retrospect, but it was my honest reaction. There was one instance where they changed my stuff before we even did the take. I left and lost my shit. does that mean, I don’t know what we were doing the show, I just got angry and close to tears because I was rehearsing these lines and the director said, “Okay, we’re going to cut this, we’re going to change that.” I was like, “Wait, we’re not even going to hear that first?!”

Parsons also admitted that it didn’t happen often and that he trusted the screenwriters to always make sure the scripts were as perfect as possible, but he still…didn’t really like it. “But it was rare to get a change … and most of the time, it was really exciting because their changes were really good and you had something fresh to give the studio audience who had already seen the scene several times.” – said the actor. “And it was a lot of fun … if it wasn’t frustrating.”

The Big Bang Theory is now streaming on Max.