We rehearsed some more this morning, and then did our run through for the producers and the network this afternoon.
Before I share what little I can about the actual work, let's get the important stuff out of the way: I trained hard to improve my ping pong game with Nolan last night (Nolan plays ping pong competitively, and is one of those freakishly good players who you'd swear are using telekinesis on the ball) and played a singles and two doubles matches today. I won my singles match by 3 points … but lost both doubles matches by 5 and 7 points, entirely because I stink at ping pong. Thus it is official: I have been ping pwned.
Okay, to the work, then:
I can't get into any real specifics, because we've reached that point in the production where any new insights or revelations that have happened (and they have) are all related to things that would certainly qualify as spoilers, or are observations that I feel would be unprofessional to share without the explicit permission of my fellow actors.
However, during rehearsal, I got to watch them take something that was already very funny, and then try several different approaches to one particular bit, each one funnier than the last, until they settled on something that I know is going to kill when the audience sees it. You know you're working on a tremendously funny show when the stuff they throw away is funnier than the stuff that makes it on air on other shows. I also have a new appreciation for how perfectly the writers on The Big Bang Theory balance the extremely geeky jokes that guys like me go crazy for, with the non-geeky jokes that people like my wife enjoy. It's a lot harder than it sounds to gently push a time machine through the eye of the comedy needle every week without touching the sides and making that one dude's nose light up … which sounds kind of funny, but trust me, is not.
The run through (for the producers and the network) was great, and I got a fantastic note from Chuck Lorre during one of my scenes that gave me +10 to funny. While I was delighted to get the note, and Chuck was obviously delighted to give it (he's a wonderful man, and is obviously having the time of his life making television people love), I have to admit that I was disappointed in myself, like I'd failed to do my job by not figuring out the particular acting choice he suggested on my own. Once I heard it, I could see that it was obviously there in the writing, and I just missed it. I plan to redeem myself on Monday by applying that note and one other, so I can perform my scenes without making that one dude's nose light up.
