Live Big Bang Theory fans were mesmerized by this moment between Sheldon and Amy

Sheldon Cooper and Amy Farrah Fowler, played by Jim Parsons and Mayim Bialik, had their share of highs and lows on The Big Bang Theory. In one episode, the live studio audience’s reaction was: Very wild That Parsons had difficulty doing his job. So, what was the scene that got the audience gasping, maybe even screaming?

In Jessica Radloff’s 2022 book The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series, Parsons, Bialik, and show creator Chuck Lorre commented on an infamous scene from the Season 6 episode “The Fish Guts Displacement.” “, in which Amy comes down with a bad cold and Sheldon is forced to take care of her. After Amy convinces the normally touch-averse Sheldon to help her (he even applies Vicks Vaporub to her chest), Amy continues to pretend to be sick to get favors from Sheldon, at which point Sheldon thinks it’s punishment, but Amy… no.

“I’ll never forget the beating because I couldn’t do it without laughing,” Parsons recalls in the book, saying that he, like Sheldon, was misled for the moment. “I couldn’t do it! They said: ‘Don’t worry, we won’t show your face on camera. It will be on Mayim and she enjoys being spanked.'” When it comes to actually shooting the scene, he finds out, Parsons said He was He would be in front of the camera, which made him angry. “I was spitting my fingernails, and I was so angry at these people who put me in front of the camera,” he explained. “And I couldn’t stop laughing, which made me even crazier because suddenly I couldn’t do my job.” Parsons struggled to tell the story without laughing, even after all these years.

“Mim will say: Oh! Oh!” And she makes these awkward sex noises that sound genius, so between her doing it and the audience’s reaction, I couldn’t put it together. I felt like this moment could never be this good. In some ways I never thought I’d have to do that on camera. It’s just… Stupid to look back on, what a strange act.”

The darkest part of this whole situation – without a doubt – is that Nor Mayim Bialik Little did Jim Parsons know they were going to do the whole thing in front of a live studio audience. For Bialik, this was a particularly bad thing, largely because she’s pretty sure her parents were at that particular recording. “It was completely off-camera when we rehearsed it all week,” Bialik recalls. “I was very relieved because doing it in front of people is very embarrassing. I think my mom was probably there, and so was my dad. All I know is we did it off camera through rehearsal, trying out the product, and then during the taping,” Chuck (Lore) said. ): “Let’s do it on camera.”

From Laurie’s point of view, he didn’t really see the problem – but he also admits that the whole situation was so ridiculous that he doesn’t even remember what else happened in the episode itself. “I probably thought there was no harm in shooting the movie so we had a choice in the editing room,” Lurie told Radloff. “Or maybe I was thinking, ‘This is funny! Why don’t we want to see this?!’ But I remember thinking, ‘How far can we go with this? At what point do we escape this or accept it? I can’t tell you anything else.’ “Anything happened in that episode other than that scene and I’m trying to be very careful about making sure we’re not being offensive or overstepping the boundaries with these characters.”

So how did this scene happen, and why did they decide at that moment to film the beating in front of a live studio audience? Director Mark Cendroxy spoke to Jessica Radloff about the book and revealed how it went. “It was kind of scripted like Sheldon said he was going to slap Amy and then we cut to her face, and you’ll see his hand coming from the background, and her reactions. But when we put it on camera during the show, the anticipation of Sheldon saying ‘Okay, I’m going to have to slap you’ was so funny. Just seeing him in front of On camera, Chuck and Steve (Molaro, writer and producer) and everyone said, ‘No, you’ve gotta be too funny not to do that.’ “The audience went crazy.”

Mayim Bialik has gone on record to say she doesn’t like watching any Episodes of “The Big Bang Theory” So what does she think about this…and the fact that it has apparently become a meme? “I don’t think about the faces I make at such moments, but people always ask me about my reactions. I say, ‘It’s just my face! This is what my face does when I act! I don’t do that.'” I don’t know!” Bialik also said that when she sees clips of the scene, she ends up criticizing her performance and appearance. She explained, “I was supposed to look bad because Amy was sick, but there’s still an arrogance for me as an actress even though my character is unadorned.” “Then it became a meme, something people talked about! And when I think about my children and how they might see this? Oh my God, the worst!”

“The Big Bang Theory” — including “The Fish Guts Displacement” and the beating scene — is available to stream on Max now.