Melissa Rauch Almost Botched Her The Big Bang Theory Audition With One Move

Auditioning for major movies and TV shows is a pretty stressful prospect, even if you've done it a thousand times. You could absolutely whiff the lines provided to you in advance. You could start visibly sweating. You could maybe eve affect a bizarre, random accent that has nothing to do with the role or anything relevant at all. That last scenario may sound rather specific, and that's because that's what actually happened to Melissa Rauch when she auditioned for the role of Bernadette Rostenkowski on "The Big Bang Theory." 

In an interview with Glamour in 2015 — written by Jessica Radloff, the reporter who would ultimately go on to write the defining oral history of Chuck Lorre's hit sitcom – Rauch and several of her co-stars shared some behind the scenes anecdotes, including a really, really embarrassing moment from Rauch's audition. "I had to say the word about, but I kept pronouncing it a-boot," Rauch told the outlet. "This was actually during my callback, and Chuck Lorre said to me, 'Are you from Canada?' I said 'No, I'm so sorry!' He asked me to do it again. I did, but I pronounced it the same way! I said, 'I'm really sorry! I don't know why I'm playing this Canadian!'"

Bernadette is not canonically from Canada, and Rauch was born in New Jersey, so this impulse was inexplicable and weird, but thankfully, she booked the role anyway. As Rauch later told Radloff in her book, there was one flip decision during her initial audition that may have helped her snag the part of Bernadette.

Before showing up to her audition for "The Big Bang Theory" — which, as Melissa Rauch told Jessica Radloff in "The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series," was her first call for an audition in quite some time — Rauch decided on something last minute, and it ended up helping her book the role that catapulted her to sitcom stardom.  

"I wore glasses, even though it didn't say Bernadette wore glasses," Rauch revealed in the book, going on to say that she hoped a pair of fake glasses would ultimately set her apart:

"There were so many girls auditioning, so I thought, I need to do something a little different. I had crappy $10 prop glasses in the globe compartment of my car for auditions, so I decided to throw 'em in my bag just in case. And when I got there, there were so many women auditioning that I thought, I don't have a shot in hell. But I put on the glasses as a last-minute decision, and it wasn't until I got the role and was about to do the table read a few weeks later when [casting directors] Nikki Valko and Ken Miller sent a note to my agent saying, 'The glasses were really great in the audition; she should wear them in the table read.'"

Not only did the glasses become a huge part of Bernadette's character, but Rauch kept them as a memento after filming wrapped on the series ... which feels appropriate when you consider that she's the one who came up with the idea in the first place. Glasses or not, though, Bernadette helped improve "The Big Bang Theory" after she made her debut in season 3.

Bernadette Rostenkowski first appears in the season 3 episode "The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary," where she goes on a blind date with Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg), aided and abetted by her friend Penny (Kaley Cuoco) and her boyfriend, Leonard Hofstadter. At first, Bernadette and Howard don't really hit it off, but once they start talking about their domineering mothers, sparks start flying, much to Penny and Leonard's shared delight. The two keep seeing each other while Bernadette works at the Cheesecake Factory alongside Penny. Eventually, she gets her PhD in microbiology and joins a pharmaceutical company.

Both Bernadette and Amy Farrah Fowler (Mayim Bialik) join the cast in season 3, and Rauch and Bialik provide a much-needed feminine energy for a series that, up until that point, only featured one female main character. Not only is Bernadette an excellent friend to Penny, she becomes an invaluable partner for Howard, a man-child who has to change his ways to hang on to the woman he loves. Bernadette is spiky, protective of her loved ones, and she can even be harsh at times, but she's an incredible foil for Howard and rounds out a phenomenal trio with Penny and Amy. 

Luckily, that weird Canadian accent didn't prevent Rauch from booking the role of a lifetime ... and you can watch her performance on "The Big Bang Theory" on Max now.