No one does a running gag quite like the characters on The Big Bang Theory. With 12 seasons to its name, there were plenty of moments that were humorously repeated to poke fun at the Big Bang characters and their lifestyles.
Running gags aren’t arbitrary jokes added at random. They’re consistent jokes that poke fun at the characters’ personalities or behaviors. They become a shared moment between the characters and the audience that makes The Big Bang Theory special.
Sheldon’s Mother Had Him Tested
An ongoing gag throughout The Big Bang Theory was that Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) was so brilliant that he sometimes didn’t understand how to act in a social setting. Things like casual conversation and reading someone’s emotions proved hard for the genius.
He eventually learned that outsiders could potentially judge him, so he prefaced his behavior with, “I’m not crazy. My mother had me tested.”
The notion that Sheldon’s behavior was so out of touch that he could be seen as “crazy” was a true concern for the group. The line would eventually be repeated throughout the show’s 12 seasons, including by Sheldon’s friends when defending him.
Howard’s Mother Was Never Seen On Camera
One of the best running gags during Howard’s mom’s time on the show was that she could only ever be heard, not seen. Since Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) lived with his mother, Debbie, until her untimely death, he had multiple scenes with her in the background.
She was typically screaming for Howard from the kitchen, which prompted hilarious reactions from Howard since he was tired of her yelling at him. Small glimmers of her shadow or a quick outline of Debbie were occasionally shown, but that was it.
The idea of having Debbie in the background and never seen by audiences was intentional. Inspired by Carlton the Doorman in Rhoda, The Plain Dealer reported that Chuck Lorre made Debbie invisible to audiences as an homage to other sitcoms.
Although Debbie was never shown on TBBT, Howard and other characters did a great job of describing her appearance to match her New Jersey accent, so that viewers could imagine what she looked like. Sadly, Carol Ann Susi, the actress who voiced Debbie, died while The Big Bang Theory was still on the air, and thus, Debbie’s death was written into the show.
Emily Or Cinnamon
Raj Koothrappali’s love life was a constant struggle throughout The Big Bang Theory. While he had relationships, none worked out as he had hoped by the end of the series.
To help with loneliness, Howard and Bernadette gifted Raj a dog, whom he named Cinnamon. Cinnamon soon became Raj’s treasured companion, and she took the place of a girlfriend.
In season 7, Raj started dating Emily Sweeney. The two became serious, but Cinnamon was still the main lady in Raj’s life. Eventually, Howard started a game: Emily or Cinnamon. The idea behind the game was that Raj was so passionate about both Emily and Cinnamon that it was hard for the gang to decipher who he was talking about.
Howard would ask the group to guess Emily or Cinnamon after sharing a quote by Raj:
“Emily or Cinnamon. ‘I want you to know that the bed seems so lonely without you in it.'”
The game became a running gag amongst the group. Even when Raj grew tired of the jokes, the friends still found it hilarious that he would theoretically have a hard time choosing between the two.
Soft Kitty
A longstanding gag throughout TBBT is how bad a patient Sheldon is when he’s sick. When Sheldon comes down with a cold or the flu, the group of friends needs to be on call to assist him with his illness (much to their disdain). As different as Sheldon and Penny are, she soon became a mother-like figure for him when he was sick.
In season 2, Penny tried to make Sheldon feel better, but the only thing that would work was if she sang the song “Soft Kitty.” His mother sang “Soft Kitty” to him as a child, and it was the one thing that soothed him before bed.
The song soon became a running gag between Sheldon and Penny, especially when she didn’t sing it correctly. Sheldon would make Penny restart until she got it right. Whenever Sheldon came down with a bug, the “Soft Kitty” running gag was close behind.
Howard And Raj’s Possible Romantic Relationship
Sheldon, Leonard, Raj, and Howard are collective best friends, but they’re partnered up. Sheldon and Leonard do more things together because they’re roommates, and Raj and Howard are glued at the hip because of their similar sense of humor.
Because of their bond and how much time they spent together, there was a running gag that they were in a relationship. From living together to feeding each other, everyone from Mary Cooper to Barry Kripke assumed the two were dating.
Despite being straight men, Howard and Raj got annoyed at the jokes and didn’t always understand why people thought they were dating.
Sheldon’s Spot
Sheldon’s idiosyncrasies became well-known by season 12. His roommate agreement and daily requirements were well-drawn out for his colleagues and friends to make his day-to-day life more comfortable.
In the first episode, it became clear that Sheldon had a specific spot on the couch that only he could sit on. Whenever someone was close to sitting in his spot, Sheldon would quickly point and say, “You’re in my spot.”
While his close friends never sat in his spot because they didn’t want to deal with Sheldon’s meltdown over losing his sitting place, newcomers to the apartment were always thrown for a loop when they were told they couldn’t sit where they wanted.
The explanation for Sheldon’s spot was more complex than visitors imagined:
“In the winter, that seat is close enough to the radiator to remain warm, and yet not so close as to cause perspiration. In the summer, it’s directly in the path of a cross breeze created by open windows there, and there. It faces the television at an angle that is neither direct, thus discouraging conversation, nor so far wide to create a parallax distortion.”
Sheldon’s spot was a running gag that endured throughout the entire series and became one of the most hilarious moments whenever a new character entered his and Leonard’s apartment. Sheldon’s lack of understanding social cues always made the interactions more amusing because of how awkward they were.
Howard Being “Uneducated” Compared To The Group
Sheldon, Raj, and Leonard all have their doctorates. Eventually, when Amy Farrah Fowler and Bernadette entered the picture, they too had PhDs. Howard was the only “smart” friend in the group who had never gotten a doctorate; however, he never felt the need to have one as an MIT-trained engineer. He was even asked to go to space because of his job.
Despite an amazing resume and accolades in his field, Sheldon constantly ridiculed Howard for not being a doctor. It soon became a running gag that Howard “just” had a master’s degree. The main characters were all addressed as Doctor Cooper or Doctor Hofstadter before enunciating Mr. Wolowitz.
Elevator Issues
One of the biggest running gags in TBBT was the broken elevator. At the start of the series, the characters revealed that the elevator in Sheldon and Leonard’s apartment building was broken, forcing them to walk up three flights of stairs every day.
The walk up from the first to the third floor was a fun way to show the characters engaging in conversation as they climbed up to the apartment. The stairwell soon became a popular place for humorous moments because of how much time they spent walking up and down the stairs.
Interestingly, it was revealed in a flashback that Leonard and Sheldon are the ones responsible for breaking the elevator, as Leonard was conducting an experiment with rocket fuel that went awry, and Sheldon threw the fuel down the elevator to save his roommate’s life.
In a full circle moment, however, the elevator was fixed in season 12. Penny was seen strolling out of the elevator as Sheldon and Leonard bickered in the lobby.
Sheldon’s Poor Grasp Of Sarcasm
Despite having an IQ of 187, there were some skills that Sheldon lacked, like his understanding of sarcasm. Penny’s sense of humor was primarily sarcastic, and it took Sheldon years to catch on to her jokes. Oftentimes, he thought she was serious. His misunderstanding of sarcasm became a running gag, even after Amy tried helping Sheldon with key indicators.
Sheldon would eventually ask someone if they were being sarcastic because he genuinely was unsure. In season s6, Sheldon got a sarcasm detector to help him during interactions, and while it did help him pinpoint when someone was being sarcastic, it didn’t solve his problem.
Penny’s Check Engine Light
An ongoing theme with Penny’s character was how promiscuous she was after a few drinks, and that she wasn’t the best actress, despite that being her career path. However, Penny’s best running gag involved her car.
Before getting a job as a pharmaceutical sales rep, Penny struggled to get by as an actress and a Cheesecake Factory waitress. Because of her low income, she drove a car that always had the check engine light on.
Penny never fixed the problem, and it affected how often Sheldon got in her car for rides because of his fear of something happening while driving. The gag added to the humor in the wildly differing personalities of this fan-favorite Big Bang Theory characters.
