Mayim Bialik‘s guest spot on Melissa Rauch‘s Night Court featured a very major nod to their time on The Big Bang Theory.
“It wasn’t in the first draft of the script but it was in the second draft. I just thought it was a really cute nod,” Bialik, 49, exclusively told Us Weekly about how Night Court found a way for her and Rauch, 44, to mention The Big Bang Theory.
During the Tuesday, January 14, episode of the NBC series, Bialik played an exaggerated version of herself and mentioned her past sitcom roles in a conversation with Rauch’s character, Abby.
“You know, I have actually done a lot of things besides Blossom. Call Me Kat and The Big Bang Theory,” Bialik said.
Rauch replied, “You were in that? I only remember the girl with the high voice. She was great.”
Bialik was thrilled at the cheeky approach to her onscreen reunion with Rauch. “That’s part of hopefully the fun of comedy and the fun of being in that space where anything goes,” she added. “That is the fun of sitcoms.”
The duo shared the screen on Night Court after originally being costars on The Big Bang Theory. The CBS sitcom, which aired from 2007 to 2019, starred Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Johnny Galecki, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, Bialik and Rauch as a group of friends made up of scientists and their significant others.
After The Big Bang Theory came to an end, Bialik reunited with Parsons, 51, on an episode of Young Sheldon and has now done the same with Rauch.
“When I think of how long it’s been since The Big Bang Theory ended, this was a case of it felt like it hasn’t been long at all. Because we worked together for almost a decade, and you learn a lot of the person’s rhythms and a lot of their tendencies as a comedian,” the actress told Us. “So I know how her brain works and she knows how my brain works. We got to create fun and have reaction shots that maybe weren’t written into the script. That’s stuff that she and I are used to doing together. It’s being playful in that way.”
Bialik continued: “I know that acting is a job, but it’s also a craft. Like when you think about what it’s like to be in a school play, it’s kind of like that. It’s just, like, there’s a lot of cameras. So you do have that sense of play and creativity that happens. we definitely have an ease of that because we did it together for so long.”
Night Court also reunited Bialik with John Larroquette after they were costars on The John Larroquette Show in the ’90s.
“It was really wonderful to get to work with John again. But there’s also a certain amount of — I don’t wanna say pressure — but I put pressure on myself because I want to be professional. I worked on Call Me Kat for three years but I’ve not been working on a regular sitcom right now,” she noted. “It’s a little bit of wanting to be on my best behavior as a comedian and making sure that I don’t forget my lines.”
Bialik said there was “definitely a fear” going into the show, noting, “If I mess up my line, I don’t want John to think I’m unprofessional, which he probably wouldn’t. There’s definitely a bit of that. … It was just a great ensemble to be a part of, and that’s what I have missed about being part of a group of people making comedy that way.”
New episodes of Night Court air on NBC Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. ET and are available to stream on Peacock the next day.
