These days, when I think of The Big Bang Theory cast I think of a family of people who spent nearly a decade together on set filming and off set doing interviews and other promotions before the show hit the TV schedule each fall. You’d doubtless have to get to know one another pretty well over that long of a period of time, but early on the cast were strangers to one another. Or nearly strangers, as Simon Helberg and Kaley Cuoco were loosely connected before the sitcom kicked off, and they can thank John Ritter for the honor.
In fact, there's a lot of backstory to how much John Ritter impacted the CBS show, even though the first episode aired in 2007, just over four years after his death.
Simon Helberg And Kaley Cuoco Both Have A Connection To John Ritter
Kaley Cuoco was a pretty notable star before she landed the role of Penny on the Chuck Lorre sitcom, though it is worth pointing out she wasn’t the actress to originally book the gig in The Big Bang Theory pilot. Previously, she’d worked with John Ritter on 8 Simple Rules, originally titled 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenaged Daughter. The show had been a hit for ABC in Season 1 when Ritter suddenly died in real life after an aortic dissection; it lasted two more seasons without its patriarch.
Meanwhile, in The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series, we learned that Helberg had a personal connection to Ritter as well. He was friends with Jason Ritter –whom you might also know from roles in Parenthood, A Million Little Things, Another Period, and Netflix’s Raising Dion, as well as voice work in Gravity Falls.
The two were pals from early on and even went to college together; as such Ritter had been a part of Helberg’s life before his untimely passing. It was a connection that meant he had met Cuoco previously as well. He said in the book:
Jason Ritter has been one of my best friends since our NYU days. His dad, John Ritter, played Kaley’s Father on the show. I met Kaley again when we tested for our Big Bang Roles.
Intriguingly, Simon Helberg would later direct his buddy in We’ll Never Have Paris, and the two worked together in I Am I, as well.
As for Helberg and Cuoco? The actress admitted it was the Howard actor who kept her in stitches while filming the sitcom together, mentioning, “Simon is, I think, one of the funniest people I have ever met.” It does make you realize that Hollywood is a very small place. Speaking of this concept...
Why It Was So Great When Billy Bob Thornton Appeared On Big Bang
The Big Bang Theory’s cameos were myriad, and include major figures from many different arenas. Stephen Hawking guest starred. Carrie Fisher and James Earl Jones guest starred. If you haven't visited all of these episodes with a Max subscription yet, the cameo that really spoke to Kaley Cuoco was the time Billy Bob Thornton showed up.
In 2014, Billy Bob Thornton appeared on the series as Oliver Lorvis, who mistakenly thought Penny was interested in him after she winked at him and then touched his arm “for two Mississippis” during a sales call. (Penny and Leonard were already a thing at that point.) He also happened to be a big fan of celebrities, and eventually invited the gang to his place to show off his memorabilia collection. Shenanigans ensued, and the Penny actress recalled how great it was to have Thornton on set.
But it wasn’t just because Oliver Lorvis was such a unique character. In real life, Billy Bob Thornton had a connection to John, as well. The two had famously worked early on in Hearts Afire and later met again on the big screen with the underrated Bad Santa; in fact Bad Santa 2 was dedicated to Bernie Mac and Ritter. Cuoco also spoke about the guest stint, noting:
Simon was such a great connection to John, so he loved John as much as I did. That’s why I was really excited when Billy Bob Thornton guest-starred on Big Bang because John was best friends with Billy Bob. I had never met him before he came on Big Bang, so when he came on the show, I was like, ‘I have to talk to you about John.’ His whole face lit up and we connected on this really sweet level of reminiscing about him. John has a way of bringing people together even from above. That’s just so him!
Other TV personalities like Tom Bergeron have spoken about their connection to Ritter before. But not everyone who was impacted by Ritter also got to have a moment with The Big Bang star on her show.
A few months ago, Cuoco herself shared a post revealing how she was keeping her 8 Simple Rules dad’s memory alive. From these additional memories on set, it sounds as if Mr. Ritter is still managing to connect people many years after his passing. Not a bad mark to have left on the world.
