'Big Bang Theory' Star Talks Ladies, Lange, and Joining a Cult Phenomenon

By Brooke Tarnoff Posted May 18th 2009 01:12PM

Simon Helberg plays a socially inept genius on the hit sitcom 'The Big Bang Theory' but make no mistake about his real-life skills with the ladies - Helberg himself tells PopEater that he was the Warren Beatty of his kindergarten class. After discussing the mixed blessing of peaking early in romance, we chatted about his turn as Moist in Joss Whedon's rampantly popular musical web series 'Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog' - and the 'Mad TV' alum's take on Artie Lange's famous "pig story."

On the appeal of 'The Big Bang Theory' to nerds and non-nerds alike: "The showrunners have always said it's not necessarily a show about nerds - it's about these geniuses, these brilliant minds, these guys that are exceptional thinkers. It appeals to people because these guys are trying to fit in. I think everybody has that feeling in life, that you're always struggling a bit to fit in. These guys are brilliant in every way except in the social aptitude. Everyone's like, 'I have a friend that's exactly like your character...' but I think that friend is them."

On his character Howard Wolowitz: "I like him. I feel a little bad for him. All he wants is love, I think. Or sex. Or both. I still haven't figured out whether he really wants to get married or whether he just wants to sleep with a lot of girls."

"There's not much I have to do to look a little cooler [than Howard] in real life. I feel sort of guilty - I'm not that cool, but anything compared to what I look like and act like on the show is awesome."

On his off-set social success: "I always felt like I was kind of a dork. In elementary school, I got a lot of girls, whatever that means. You know, you write a letter that says, 'Do you want want to be my girlfriend - check yes, check no, check maybe - and then when she checks yes, I go, 'I got a girlfriend!' and then maybe we hold hands once, and then she breaks up with you, and you feel bad and you cry."

"In junior high, I was still rocking that confidence. I had girlfriends here and there. High school is more challenging, once you're more serious about things. It was like all the sudden, I didn't think girls liked me, and maybe they didn't. It took me a long time to believe I could maybe get a girl. I'd say my prime years were from ages 5 to 11. That's when I was the Jack Nicholson - the Warren Beatty of my kindergarten class."

On taking part in 'Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog' with Neil Patrick Harris: "It's pretty surreal. When I did 'Dr. Horrible,' I had no idea what I was getting into. I actually am one of the few people who wasn't a cult Joss Whedon fan. I just hadn't seen a lot of his stuff. What I'd seen, I really loved, but I have friends who own every DVD of 'Buffy'... but I didn't come into it with all this pressure in my head. I just thought, 'Oh, we're doing this thing for the Internet, hopefully some people will check it out.' I had no idea it was going to be this huge thing."

Check out this 'Dr. Horrible' deleted track, sung by Moist.

"I've done a bunch of stuff, a lot more 'high profile' stuff. Probably second to the 'Big Bang Theory,' I get the most recognition from 'Dr. Horrible.' It's unfortunate that the character's name is Moist. When people yell out, 'You're Moist!' I have a lot of explaining to do... No news on a moist spin-off, but I do think they're trying to make some more, some sequel or movie or play or something. I know they want to continue the legacy... Supposedly, they do have a story and it's going to happen at some point."

On whether Artie Lange's pig story made the rounds while Helberg was a 'Mad TV' cast member: "I never heard the pig story until probably a year ago when I heard it on 'Howard Stern,' I think when he was talking about his book. I never heard about Artie Lange ever, when I was at 'Mad TV.' It was a bizarre experience. I felt like I was never there. I didn't connect totally with everything going on there.... I never came close to an Artie Lange moment. The worst I did was some Red Bull during the show."

"It's a real hard situation, that show. There was a friend of mine on the show actually who had - not that experience - but had some similar issues doing drugs and losing control. I didn't get into any of that stuff. I remember there was a friend of mine on the show, who's totally clean now, who went to do a sketch and I think had a similar accident. The show just kind of beat you down."

Tags: artie lange, ArtieLange, simon helberg, SimonHelberg