The Big Bang Theory Scene That Jim Parsons Found Difficult To Shoot

Although “The Big Bang Theory” was relatively light and family-friendly, at least compared to its peers such as “How I Met Your Mother” or “Modern Family”, it still delved deeply into regular to sexual humor. Howard always has a dubious joke to tell and there is no shortage of jokes about Penny’s sex life. With Sheldon (Jim Parsons), however, the show bordered on G-rated; the character was seemingly uninterested in sex for the first few seasons, and even by the end of the show, evidence of his libido was still lacking. The Introducing Amy (Mayim Bialik) in the Season 3 Finale help explain that he’s heterosexual, although that label for Sheldon’s sexuality will always have a huge asterisk next to it.

Sheldon’s lack of interest or awareness of gender was what helped make one risqué joke in season 6’s “The Fish Guts Displacement” work so well. Her story involves Amy pretending to be sick in order to trick her into being more intimate with her. He eventually discovers the ruse, so Amy convinces him that some punishment is necessary. And so came the famous scene where Sheldon spanks Amy, oblivious to the fact that Amy does not consider it a punishment at all.

It’s a scene that could have been horrifying, but it works because of how asexual Sheldon (and to a lesser extent, Amy) has been throughout the entire show. It was difficult for the actors, however, partly because they couldn’t stop laughing all the time.

“I would say it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done because I found it really funny,” said Parsons. he said in a panel in 2013. The scene was originally supposed to be filmed off-camera, with a photo of Monkey Amy reacts to the sight serve as the punchline of the scene, so the last minute change complicated things a little.

“I was pissed, because I thought ‘Well damn it, I would have practiced how to control myself if I knew all week,’ but all week I was slapping that ass off camera,” Parsons said. He added of Bialik, sitting next to him, “You have no idea what a game it is.”

At the same panel, Bialik joked that there was “some redness” after filming the scene, due to the large number of people taking it. Parsons joked that the spanking needs to be real “to get the sound we want,” adding, “It’s all in the name of art.”

In another interview for Jessica Radloff’s 2022 book “The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive Story, Inside the Epic Hit Series,” Parsons elaborated on the experience a bit more, explaining how the last minute change with the scene made him feel: “I was spitting nails, I was so mad at these people for putting me on camera… and I couldn’t stop laughing, which only made me madder because suddenly I couldn’t do my job.”

In the end, the scene was one of the most memorable bits in the entire series, one that was referenced and meme-d a lot by fans. And there must have been something in the air around Hollywood at the time, because the animated sitcom “American Dad” pulled a very similar sequence in its spring 2013 episode “The Missing Kink,” which aired a few months later. That episode features housewife Francine (voiced by Wendy Schaal) tricking her husband Stan (Seth MacFarlane) into spanking her, with the no-nonsense, no-nonsense Stan not understanding the situation right

Of course, the version of the story we got on “The Big Bang Theory” was the more memorable of the two, given that its live action format meant that the actors had to put a lot more on the line. It was a dangerous scene for Bialik and Parsons to go through – maybe not as dangerous as a BDSM scene that got an episode of “The Big Bang Theory” banned in the UKbut still – and as far as “TBBT” fans are concerned, the gamble paid off.