The Big Bang Theory brought a lot of people joy during its massively successful 12-season run on CBS. And, because of that, many fans still mourn the loss of the series, its easily referenceable inside jokes, and the cast of loveably oddball characters. I’ve no doubt that there are a lot of people who even think fondly about the very familiar apartment building sets where Raj, Bernadette, Howard, Penny, Amy, Leonard, and Sheldon spent a large portion of their time, but Kunal Nayyar (who played Raj) has recently revealed the sticky way in which co-star Johnny Galecki left his mark on the stairs for that set, and it involves gum.
What Did Kunal Nayyar Say Johnny Galecki Did To The Big Bang Theory Set?
I doubt if there were more than a handful of episodes of The Big Bang Theory, in all of its seasons total, where one or more of the characters weren’t seen trudging up and / or down the stairs for the apartment building that Penny, Leonard, Sheldon (and later Amy) called home for the entirety of the series. So, all of the actors spent a lot of time on that particular part of the set, and while speaking on Sunday Brunch (via The Independent) in the U.K., Kunal Nayyar let everyone in on how Johnny Galecki (who played Leonard) left a little bit of himself behind on The Big Bang Theory, while explaining how they worked on the stairs set:
The way it works is you go down the stairs and then they yell, 'Hold.’ They change the scenery from like if the apartment says 1a it suddenly says 2a or 3. They change the set, so it looks exactly like another floor. You run back up the stairs, that go nowhere, and then you walk back down as if it's a new floor. Down there is nothing. There's a wall there where Johnny Galecki, for 12 years, would stick his chewing gum on. I'm not joking. So, if any of you are Johnny Galecki fans and you want his dried chewing gum, I am sure it's for sale somewhere on the internet. Welcome to Hollywood.
OK. EWWWWW! Can you imagine? This was definitely one of many behind the scenes facts that I think we could have done without. I mean, even if Galecki only did this once a week while they were filming, that’s still a ton of old, dried, disgusting gum. As I mentioned earlier, the characters were always going up and down the stairs to get to their apartments, seeing as how the elevators in their building never worked.
If Galecki deposited gum on this mystery wall on set every single time they had to rehearse or film? Kunal Nayyar is correct that his fans would find a boon if they could gain access to even part of that wall. Honestly? Johnny Galecki better hope that whoever was in charge of breaking down the set actually put that wall in some incinerator, because otherwise an enterprising stranger might totally be able to clone him from all the DNA he left behind on The Big Bang Theory set.
You can rewatch the entire run of The Big Bang Theory on HBO Max, but you’ll be able to watch Kunal Nayyar in his first post-Raj role, on Apple TV+’s Suspicion, on February 4. And, if you need more to watch, be sure to check out the 2022 TV schedule!
