Report: Jim @ Paley Center, NYC

[juniperlane]

So um, if you follow us on Twitter, you might have noticed that fujiidom and I were at the Paley event last night. To call it epic would be an understatement. Here's a report (written by the both of us) with our impressions of the night, and our favorite bits and quotes.

I've also posted some (questionably noisy) photos at my flickr. (Had I know camera policy was so relaxed, I would have done things very differently. Oh well.)

• The moderator, Michelle Kung from the WSJ (who was really quite awesome during the panel and made a Star Wars Day joke), brought up Jim's first TV acting gig on Ed. They had a clip ready, and Jim pondered if he should set it up, but didn't. While we all watched the clip, JP turned in his chair and hooked his leg over the arm rest to be able to see the screen better and it was pretty much adorable (and there goes any attempt at this being even vaguely normal). He then realized he actually did want to set the clip up, and so he did it right after. He discussed how kind Julie Bowen and John Slattery were to him on set, and how they really engaged him and made him feel welcome. He did also mention his hair :D But he had a quick story about how he was talking with Julie Bowen and she told Jim that Slattery was all, "Watch that kid, he's going to do things." JOHN SLATTERY, YOU GUYS. And Jim was sort of amused they were all on TV shows right now.
• They got into a very long discussion about if Jim ever suggests anything for the show/his relationship with the writers, and a lot of it was a retread of stuff we've heard before, but he did say he trusts the writers, and he "doesn't want to stand in the way of something amazing happening." Or, basically: he doesn't want to suggest something for the character, and have the writers run with it, but have that stop the writers from coming up with something even better. He told the unicycle story again, to much laughter.
• Jim talked about the fact that he's a little shaky on Star Wars: he did the "It's a trap!" line twice and called Admiral Ackbar 'Colonel Ackbar,' which may have killed me in many adorable ways. He also owned up to never having seen any of the Star Trek movies, and as my friend Ryan (@sortathatboy on twitter) tweeted right after, there was an audible gasp. He then made the most precious face I can't even describe. The entire audience started laughing at it.
• Someone asked what "the best/worst parts of his job were" and he explained that things like the Q&A itself and talk shows, interviews, etc; put him on edge. He doesn't like that he doesn't know what's going to happen and can't prepare/control what goes on. On the flip side, he talked about the upcoming thing with Martha Stewart, and then got into bringing his nephew to Sesame Street as being one of the greatest perks of his job, if "tangential." He actually got really emotional talking about the experience, and how happy his nephew was, and wiped away a tear, and then APOLOGIZED for being emotional and laughed it off.
• Jim was completely effusive about his love for Kunal, and his respect for him as an actor. He said that Kunal is really underrated on the show because he has to be silent so much of the time, and that he really excels at the physical humor of his character. He also called him genuine, and nice, and the "un-bitchiest" person he knows. He did also say that Kunal was "a little wild, for his tastes."
• He told a story about Whoopi Goldberg sending the cast cookies, recently (although it was after they stopped filming, so Jim sad the cast just got a photo of the cookies and the card, lol). Jim was really confused and going, "Since when does Whoopi watch our show?" until he asked Simon, who reminded him that Howard asks E!WW about if he "hit that." And Jim was all, "Ohhhhhh." And then he was all, "I still don't think she's actually watching our show."
• There was a question about his strangest fan interaction had been, since the show's now grown to the point of him being recognizable. He took a minute to decide for one that would be considered bad since usually even at their weirdest, he loves fan appreciation. He talked about how he was once crossing a major intersection in Los Angeles, while walking (something that he does a lot of because he's lived in NYC and is a "freak") around town and a car stopped in front of him and honked loudly. He stood up and reenacted his shocked/horrified expression at the honking and then explained how he went on his way unsure of why someone would be so mean. Later, a friend/colleague showed him a website where someone had written a letter apologizing to Jim Parsons for stopping on the corner of Melrose and Fairfax and honking at him. They were apparently only attempting to let him know they love him and the show and didn't mean to frighten him. So, if that person is out there and didn't already know he's read that, he did. Although he still thought the honking was a bit much. Who honks at harmless pedestrians?
• Someone commented that his interaction with Laurie Metcalf (Mary Cooper) was fantastic and asked if she were planning on returning. He didn't have any casting insight to that besides his own hopes that they'd keep bringing back her and Christine Baranski (Beverly Hofstadter) would show up at least once a season, despite being busy on Broadway and The Good Wife, respectively. He loves what they've added to the show. He went on a tangent in between his response to this and the second part of their question over future guest stars he'd like to see, talking about how he'd been trying to convince people to bring in Lisa Kudrow as a relative of Penny's. He'd gone so far as to try and contact the head of Warner Bros., but as of yet she's either not been told or didn't want to. He also mentioned that sometimes he'll find out there's a new guest star when he opens his script for that week's episode and that regardless of who they could get on the show, he's always shocked that anyone's willing to come at all. He covered his mouth with both hands and gave a dramatic version of his reaction saying, "Really?! OUR SHOW?! You want to be on OUR SHOW?!" It was adorable.
• He brought up that in situations like Comicon, he was expecting their cast to get laughed out since many shows/movies that use it as a good advertising source are hardly what fit in with the target audience's interests. The moderator made a joke about Transformers and he said even something more out of place than that has been showcased there. Once they all sat there and watched an clip reel with the audience (which he likened to our earlier screening of The Plimpton Stimulation and how odd it is to watch television with such a large group always being strange, since you usually watch with just a few people on a couch somewhere) he looked at their role there very differently. They showed the clip of Leonard thinking their apartment was being robbed and walking out in his boxers with a lightsaber and how everyone in the audience cheered. To him, even though he'd never really thought it as outlandish before, realized that not only was it comedy based out of what super geeks would react in that given situation but the people out in the audience were the very people that he and the others were representing onscreen. He talked about how great it was to know that even though it's sometimes humor that pokes fun at geeky behavior, it's also written to be true to what they'd find funny and can relate to. He also mentioned that he thinks Comicon can be a little difficult for Kaley - or anyone who's female and isn't dressing up as Princess Leia.
• The moderator asked very early on if Jim thought Sheldon was "capable" of being in a romantic/non-platonic relationship (she did not specify with whom). Jim had some very interesting points that I think expanded on his earlier comments on the subject, which he himself mentioned - for instance, the frying pan situation. He got into the Sheldon loves science thing and that he's definitely chosen a life that cannot take time to be distracted or pre-occupied elsewhere. He really has no clue what direction they will take the character into (he discussed spoilers for the season finale that I will avoid), but he's open to exploring that avenue of the character. He did reiterate that character growth on BBT is notoriously slow, though. He does enjoy the consistency of the character and how Sheldon is that way, and will always be - to some extent, that way.
• When asked if he finds any of the science stuff interesting on a personal level, he sort of - not exactly shrugged it off, but then it got into a discussion of if people expect him to be able to talk like Sheldon. He noted that a lot of people will tell him, "Oh, I'm so like Leonard," or the other characters (even Howard!) but no one ever tells him directly that they are just like Sheldon. It's always a fan pointing at their friend like, "Oh my god, he's just like Sheldon!" This got into the line about how he manages to pull off all the science stuff, and he noted: "Those kids on Grey's Anatomy aren't doctors."

That's the highlights, but if anyone has any questions or heard about something on Twitter and would like more details, just comment and fujiidom or I will attempt to wrack our brains and provide more details! This will actually probably be edited as we remember additional moments of awesome.