Talk Nerdy to Me: Simon Helberg of The Big Bang Theory Issue #44

The geek-niche actor, featured in our fall 2010 issue, spills on TV fame, fans, and aerospace engineer chic in this bonus Q&A.

By Amanda Hughes
Published: August 16th, 2010 | 12:05pm

Simon Helberg’s face is familiar to households all over the country—14 million of them, in fact. His show The Big Bang Theory, entering its fourth season on CBS this September, is the highest-rated comedy on television. This fact is even more impressive because Big Bang’s heroes aren’t the glossy, well-coiffed underwear models of most prime-time shows. They’re nerds—real, WoW-playing, Battlestar Galactica-watching nerds. And viewers can’t get enough.

In addition to playing Big Bang's aerospace engineer and aspiring ladies' man Howard Wolowitz, Helberg has tapped into geek culture with his role as soggy supervillain Moist in Joss Wheydon's cult-favorite Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, and shown some real acting chops in the Coen brothers' latest film, A Serious Man.

Venus Zine caught up with the actor to pick his brain on television super-fame, some very unlikely fans, and what it’s like to wear leather bell-bottoms to work.

Venus Zine: Over the last three years, The Big Bang Theory has become insanely popular. Are you surprised by how big the show has gotten?

Simon Helberg: Oh yeah, definitely. It’s been exciting because I haven’t been on a show in any steady way before, but my guess is that it’s not generally like this! I mean, every week we find out there are more people watching and our numbers are higher. Every time it has been a great surprise.

It’s weird, because it can feel insulated at times when we’re working. When we’re doing the show it’s just us on a sound stage. But then later you start to see the effects, people start coming up to you. It’s really amazing to see how much support we have. I don’t think anyone involved with the show expected it to be like this.

VZ: It seems like the show has a really diverse fan base.

SH: It’s really funny, you know. I’ll have 65-year-old men come up to me and say, “My father got me so into your show.” And I’m like, “Your father? That is just not biologically possible.” And then there are little kids who got their parents involved. I was driving around in a kinda bad neighborhood once and this enormous guy starts crossing the street and he’s got all these tattoos and he pointed at me, and I was terrified. And he was like, “I love your show!” (laughs)

It’s really surprising. Sometimes I want to ask: “What do you relate to on the show? You don’t look like somebody who’d get off on science nerds or comic book geeks.” But I think the appeal is general because the characters are real, you know? Tons of people tell me, “Oh my friend is just like your character.” Or they’ll say, “My friend’s just like Sheldon.” Of course no one wants to admit that friend is them.

And it’s true that everybody knows what it feels like to have like a hobby-slash-obsession, a passion. Everybody knows what it feels like to not totally fit in. In high school we all think, “God those guys are so cool.” But when those guys go home, they’re closet nerds, too.

VZ: Your character has a really out-there sense of fashion. Have you ever taken one look at one of Howard's outfits and just walked out of the dressing room?

SH: I’ve definitely had a lot of moments where I thought, “Really? Really?” I’ll ask the costume designer, “How do I get into that?” And she’ll say, “No, no, no don’t worry, we have a girl to help you.” Literally, there are people who are paid to peel off my leather pants, which is funny because, believe me, I’ve tried to pay a lot of women to take my pants off! But even I’m getting paid in this situation. It’s a win-win. It’s pretty crazy.

But when the cast goes to ComiCon, we look out in the audience and it’s like they’ve cloned our characters. There are just thousands of Howards and Leonards just staring back at us. It’s really amazing. It becomes touching, actually. At ComiCon, people really appreciate Big Bang, they really thank us for giving them a voice. That sounds high and mighty, but they’ve told me that themselves. You realize, “Wow, we were just doing a sitcom and kinda trying to be funny.” But these people feel like finally, we’re out there not making fun of them, we’re treasuring them.

See the story on Helberg in our fall 2010 issue, on newsstands now through November 1, 2010. You can also order copies here.