The Big Bang Theory recurring guest star who auditioned for the role of Leonardo

When it comes to The Big Bang Theory, there are a whole bunch of stories about the wild casting process. Although Simon Helberg was eventually cast as Howard Wolowitz, Kevin Sussman almost booked it … and still starred in the series by comic book owner Stuart Bloom. Kunal Nayyar, who plays the role of Raja Koothrappalli throughout the series, was almost fired before filming beganand Kaley Cuoco replaced the original lead in the series with her character Penny. Johnny Galecki ended up playing Leonard Hofstadter for all 12 seasons (and 12 years) of the show, but before he came on board, John Ross Bowie auditioned for the role. Like Sussman, he ended up with a recurring role … with a twist.

In 2017, in an interview with SpectrumBowie told the outlet that he did auditioned for Leonard, but understood why Galecki got him. “They saw just about every nerd in (Los Angeles) for the two leads, and I actually read for the part of Leonard,” Bowie recalls. “When I found out (Johnny) Galecki got it, I was unusually not upset! I didn’t know him, but I was familiar with his work and felt he was a good fit for the role.”

Here’s the twist: Creators Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady were looking very a specific type of actor. “They were looking for a (recurring) ‘villain,’ and Chuck remembered me,” Bowie said. “I originally played the character as an alpha nerdy bully, but Chuck and Bill felt he should have some vulnerability, so Chuck suggested he have a speech impediment. I tried something subtle, but it ended up being Elmer Fudd’s voice.’

The voice for the character, who eventually became Barry Kripke, a plasma physicist and string theorist working at Caltech with Leonard, Howard, Raj, and Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons), was created on a simple suggestion, and apparently even when Bowie said The Spectrum, which he thought was too much, Chuck Lorre really liked it. “Chuck had a very specific laugh, and he started giggling,” Bowie recalls of his audition. – The next day he started work.

Technically, Barry Kripke suffers from a speech defect known as “rotacism,” which is characterized by a person having trouble with the “R” sound (which is why Looney Tunes’ Elmer Fudd was brought into the conversation because he has the same question). However, Bowie told The Spectrum that he finds Barry’s lack of speech to be perhaps the least interesting aspect of the character, as it doesn’t define him at all. “For all his flaws, Kripke’s not a loser and he’s incredibly smart, so I think there’s something fundamentally empowering about that character,” Bowie said, even saying Barry “wins more than he loses” when it comes to his rivalry with Sheldon.

Not only did John Ross Bowie help voice Barry Kripke during his audition, but he did the whole thing character shifted slightly as Bowie came aboard. In Jessica Radloff’s book The Big Bang Theory: The Ultimate Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series, published in 2022, Bowie told Radloff the same story as The Spectrum, namely that he auditioned for the role of Leonard, lost to Johnny Galecki, but realized and then improvised a voice while auditioning that sealed his fate (in a good way) but added some details … including the fact that the famous Star Trek actor interrupted that audition.

After he made Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady laugh with his “Elmer Fudd” voice, Bowie recalls, “Then there was a knock on the door, and somebody poked their head in and said, ‘Chuck, this is Leonard Nimoy calling.’ Usually when I’m interrupted at an audition, this time I say, “Look, we’ve only just met, but luckily it didn’t affect Bowie’s audition at all.” the character actually changed a bit to accommodate his cold reading. “And then about half an hour later I was driving home and I get a call saying I have to appear at Warner Bros. day, and they want to keep the speech defect,” Bowie recalls. “They also changed the character’s name to Barry because it sounds funnier with a speech impediment.” Bowie immediately got down to business, and the rest is history.

The Big Bang Theory, including all of Bowie’s best moments as Barry Kripke, is now streaming on Max.