The Big Bang Theory, besides becoming one of the greatest sitcoms ever, also earned a name for becoming a pop culture phenomenon. The intelligent humor and weird scientific jokes generated multiple iconic moments and memorable dialogues that are still discussed by fans. But from the entire series, Sheldon’s catchphrase Bazinga! is one of the most notable aspects.
Surprisingly, Sheldon Cooper’s favorite comic word was never planned for the script and has a strange origin story.
The term Bazinga has led to numerous notable and laughter-inducing moments in The Big Bang Theory. While the origin of the word in Sheldon Cooper’s life was discussed in the prequel spin-off series Young Sheldon, the word’s actual origin story is more bizarre.
How did Sheldon Cooper’s Bazinga come into existence?
Interestingly, Bazinga was not there from The Big Bang Theory‘s starting. The catchphrase was not heard in the Chuck Lorre show until the Season 2 finale. It was then revealed that the term was used by Jim Parsons when he implied that everything he said before was a joke.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the catchphrase originated in the writer’s room as a simple grapefruit joke by writer Stephen Engel. Engel reportedly used the term, a variation of the popular word ‘gotcha‘, whenever he played the joke on his co-writers. Bill Prady, the show’s co-creator, recalled an incident when Engel gave him a grapefruit to eat.
To Prady’s shock, the grapefruit was hollow and carefully taped together to prank him. Bill Prady said it was the moment when Engel used Bazinga, and the makers found a unique funny catchphrase for Jim Parsons’ character.
I’d open it up and Stephen would say, ‘Bazinga.’ It was Stephen’s word for ‘gotcha.’
The Season 2 finale titled The Monopolar Expedition, featured the catchphrase twice more after the opening scene. In a report by HuffPost, Jim Parsons stated that it was one of the last-minute improvisations while filming.
I remember it wasn’t in a script. It was one of those moments where we’d work on a scene and then you’d go and take notes from the producers and writers. If I’m correct, it was inserted right before a taping basically. It was like ‘That would work in here. What if he said bazinga after that?’
The last-minute improvisation played out so well for the show that ultimately the makers decided to make it a regular thing. Later the catchphrase garnered more fame and got a cult status with its repeated usage in the Season 3 episode The Einstein Approximation, commonly known as the Ball-Pit episode.
The makers had a complicated relationship with Bazinga
In Young Sheldon, it was shown that Sheldon Cooper got to know about the term when he spotted a toy company named Bazinga. The Ohio-based company’s tagline was “If it’s funny, it’s a Bazinga! ” which Sheldon found “interesting“.
Soon after its introduction in The Big Bang Theory show, Bazinga became a massive thing among the fans. Suddenly there were T-shirts featuring it everywhere. However, the makers never wanted their sitcom to be popular for catchphrases.
In The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series by Jessica Radloff, writer Steve Holland admitted that they almost discarded the catchphrase’s use after Seasons 4 and 5. They did not want it to be repetitive and one of the main identifications of the show.
We had a complicated relationship with bazinga because it felt like it was becoming a catchphrase in a sort of not-great way, so we retired it almost entirely. After season 4 or 5, we almost never said it, but it was always the thing that was associated with ‘Big Bang.’ And sometimes in a detrimental way, because people would use it to mock the show sometimes. We maybe said it 30 times — if that — over the course of 279 episodes.
Ultimately, they could not succeed in it, and the fan obsession over Bazinga rose. Chuck Lorre also agreed that the damage could never be undone and despite their unwillingness, the fans did not listen and continued using the catchphrase. As for Jim Parsons, he never cared much about it though it will always be associated with his character.
The Big Bang Theory can be streamed on Max.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
